2 • The Southwest Portland Post
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Fax: (866) 727-5336
email: news@multnomahpost.com
BES should pay fair
share of storm water
improvements needed on
Capitol Highway
We have been actively advocating
for sidewalk and bicycle path improve-
ments to Southwest Capitol Highway
for almost 20 years. The SW Capitol
Highway Plan was adopted by City
Council on January 31, 1996, although
planning began many years prior to
that date.
The SW Capitol Highway Refinement
Plan Citizens Advisory Committee
recently updated the design for the
segment between SW Multnomah Bou-
levard and Taylors Ferry Road.
The updated design meets current
requirements of the Bureau of Environ-
mental Services (BES) for on-site storm
water management (17.38.040).
About half of the current cost estimate
of $19.1 million is due to the storm wa-
ter requirements, yet as we understand
it, the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT),
not BES, will be responsible for most of
that cost.
We need to find ways to reduce those
EDITORIAL
costs, through context-sensitive designs
and cost sharing. Just building half of
the project (one side of the full corridor)
only saves 18 percent of project costs
due to the need for on-site storm water
management.
Building the full cross-section in
phases will add 22 percent to the total
project cost. We need to find ways to
build needed infrastructure in a more
cost-effective way.
We want to build sidewalk and bike
path improvements in SW Portland, but
because there is no existing sidewalk
or storm water management systems,
not even curbs on most of our arterial
streets, it will be cost-prohibitive for
PBOT to absorb these costs.
BES needs to make a significant
contribution to storm water improve-
ments in locations where PBOT is
constructing sidewalk and bike path
infrastructure. BES needs to be more
flexible in its design requirements.
There is precedent for using citywide
sewer and storm water fees for local
improvements. In December 1992, the
City of Portland’s Clean River Funding
Task Force recommended, “All sewer
users regardless of area characteristics,
such as type of service received, should
help pay for the CSO facilities.”
Most of Southwest Portland did not
ever have combined sewers, yet we
have been paying for improvements
to these facilities in other parts of
Portland for almost 20 years.
Residents in SW Portland are also
paying for Underground Injection
Control (UIC) improvements, yet most
of the UICs are located in outer East
Portland. It is time for all sewer users
to pay for needed storm water manage-
ment infrastructure in SW Portland.
We appreciate that BES has been con-
structing many new watershed projects
May 2011
in our neighborhood. These swales help
improve water quality, and create some
improved public right-of-way surfaces,
but they do not allow people of all ages
and abilities to walk to their desired
destinations.
If BES were required to make all of
its improvements in the right-of-way
ADA compliant, it would significantly
add to storm water improvement costs.
We are asking BES to coordinate
with PBOT and share the costs of
achieving the win-win of improv-
ing transportation systems and
water quality associated with side-
walk and bike path improvements.
We need sidewalk and bike path in-
frastructure improvements in order to
meet the CIS’s goals to create healthy,
connected communities.
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Its about what we can do,
not what we can’t.
We need to be able to walk to shops
and transit stops and schools. We envi-
sion more flexible designs that account
for the local environment and other
unique situations.
The segment of SW Capitol Highway
between Multnomah Village and SW
Taylors Ferry Road is a key missing link
in the transportation infrastructure in
SW Portland.
It is a major north/south spine that
travels through the heart of SW Port-
land, with good bus service, well-worn
goat paths, and major destinations
within a half-mile in either direction,
and the Portland Community College
Sylvania campus to the south.
The full cross-section improvements
are needed to help people walk and bike
(Continued on Page 4)
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4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Phone: (503) 244-6933; Fax: (866) 727-5336
general email: news@multnomahpost.com
web address: www.swportlandpost.com
Editor & Publisher: Don Snedecor
Reporters/Writers: Polina Olsen and Lee Perlman
Retail Advertising Manager: Harry Blythe
Graphic Design: Leslie Baird Design
Printing: Oregon Lithoprint
© 2011 by The Southwest Portland Post. All rights reserved. The opinions of the artists
and authors contained herein are not necessarily shared by the publisher.
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(503) 292-7874
6630 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy.
Portland, Oregon 97225
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