August 2011
NEWS
The Southwest Portland Post • 3
Multnomah Boulevard paving and construction projects continue
By Stephen Sykes
Thank you for your patience during
the past year of sewer infrastructure
projects on Southwest Multnomah
Boulevard. The construction that began
in June 2010 on Multnomah Blvd was a
sewer replacement project.
That project impacted the water
delivery system in the same areas and
required the replacement of water main
and services. The sewer component of
that project was completed in Decem-
ber 2010 and the water component was
completed in March 2011.
Based on a change in the pavement
restoration scope, the roadway between
Southwest 31st and 45th avenues will
Virginia Stromer Indicted
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without a hitch due to our volunteers.”
The non-profit developed new finan-
cial policies and practices. Some board
members, especially Baack, Buhler and
Sharon Keast of Arnold Creek, put in
hours at the office that helped to offset
the loss of a staff member.
“From the very first minute the board
came together and worked as hard as
they could,” Bogert said. “Every board
member put in additional hours. No
one walked away from the table. Their
commitment to maintain the livability
of Southwest remained strong.”
Of his own work Buhler said, “Things
were in a shambles, and someone had
to do the work. It was an awful thing,
but all the people bringing support – I
did enjoy that.”
Marianne Fitzgerald said, “We tried
to turn a tragedy into an opportunity.
be repaved full width before this proj-
ect is fully completed. Currently the
contractor is preparing the pavement
for grinding of the existing asphalt and
installation of new asphalt.
The current work involves lower-
ing the tops of utility heads in prepara-
tion for asphalt grinding. The contractor
expects to grind asphalt the week of Au-
gust 1 and repave the week of August 8.
The construction activities that you
are seeing between Southwest 31st Av-
enue and Barbur Boulevard are related
to an upcoming sewer reconstruction
project that is related to the one men-
tioned above.
The Burlingame Trunk sewer recon-
struction project will officially begin
next week with signing of the project’s
12-month contract. In advance of the
sewer work that will replace a 50-year-
old trunk line, a variety of utilities will
be relocating their facilities to accom-
modate the sewer work.
The Portland Water Bureau has been
working in the vicinity of the 2600 block
recently. This sewer project will also
impact utility lines owned by Northwest
Natural Gas, PGE, and Level 3 (telecom-
munications); each of these companies
will spend time in the near future relo-
cating their facilities.
This project will include the closure
of the Interstate 5 on/off ramps to
Multnomah Boulevard for 45 days. The
ramp closure is necessary to accom-
modate sewer bypass equipment and
construction equipment and is expected
We learned our lesson – we had done
so well with our staff that we really
weren’t paying attention. Being on a
board like this is a responsibility, and
we all have to pay attention.”
For Baack, it was too much, too late.
“The board was largely responsible
for this,” he said. “On two occasions I
strongly suggested a financial review,
in 2009 I called for an audit, and noth-
ing was done.”
According to Baack, “Companies
go broke because they fail to do these
things. Now the board’s gone over-
board on financial controls. There are
all kinds of new rules that are largely
problematic. Energy will go into bean
counting, not projects.”
Baack did concede, “A lot of people
did step forward to right the ship, to
support Sylvia, and that’s fantastic.”
Amalia Alarcon is executive director
of the Portland Office of Neighbor-
hood Involvement, principal funder of
SWNI. “As soon as SWNI knew what
was going on they took swift and very
aggressive action,” said Alarcon. “We’re
working system-wide to help all coali-
tions manage themselves effectively
and implement some best-practices.”
Massage
Light Rail Line
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the transportation system we need for
the future, as an alternative to the car,”
she said.
Acterman also said she liked the fact
that the train will be designated the
Orange Line, and noted that Orange is
both a combination of green and yellow
(part of the route to Vancouver) and the
color of her alma mater, Portland State
University.
to begin in mid-September.
The Burlingame Trunk project will
upsize the gravity segment of sewer that
takes wastewater flows from the Fanno
pressure sewer.
Finally, a smaller third project got
underway on Multnomah Boulevard
this week. The Multnomah Boulevard
Stormwater Facilities project will install
five stormwater facilities at various loca-
tions on Multnomah Boulevard between
Southwest 40th and 69th avenues.
The contractor began working at
Southwest 45th Avenue this week.
Comparatively, this project will mini-
mally impact traffic as each facility will
be constructed within a few weeks and
much of the work will be performed off
of the roadway.
Nonetheless, there will be impacts to
travel lanes at times. The contractors,
and the city staff that are managing
these projects, are coordinating the
construction and traffic control plans
accordingly.
Here is the website that contains the
most information about the Fanno Basin
Sewer Improvements projects: www.
portlandonline.com/bes/fanno.
I am in the process of updating this
site to incorporate information related
to the paving restoration, upcoming
stormwater projects on Southwest
Multnomah Boulevard and the Burlin-
game Trunk Sewer Replacement. Please
let me know if you have additional ques-
tions about these projects.
Contact: Stephen Sykes, Portland
Bureau of Environmental Services,
503-823-7898, stephen.sykes@portland-
oregon.gov.
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During July, Portland Water Bureau construction work near the inter-
section of SW Naito Pkwy. at SW Harrison St. dug a huge boring pit -- more
than 16 feet wide and 40 feet long -- to insert a protective pipe casing under
the Portland Street Car tracks.
The two northbound traffic lanes
on SW Naito Pkwy. had to be closed
around the clock as the pit was too
large to place a steel plate over it.
With these lanes closed, traffic was
channeled – with the help of flaggers
stationed 24 hours – into one of the
south bound lanes to get around the
work zone.
The work caused some commuters
to have to wait five minutes or longer
to get through the intersection. Mo-
torists blocked the intersections of SW
Market and SW Clay streets causing
delays in other directions.
The Water Bureau engaged more
traffic flaggers to help keep intersec-
tions clear and had left turns restricted
to further improve traffic flows. The boring work was part of the second
phase of the Portland Water Bureau's Westside Header Project that will
install 5,000-feet of large diameter steel water mains to replace a critical but
aging supply pipeline.
The new pipe installation is slated to start in mid-September on SW
Naito Pkwy. at SW Clay St. This work will take place at night. Crews will lay
pipe south, about 100 feet per day in a rolling work zone.
Day work will occur on other affected streets: SW Caruthers St., SW
Water Ave., SW Baker St., SW Hooker St., and SW 1st Ave.. The project will
be completed by January 2012.
The Portland Water Bureau encourages commuters and bicyclists to find
alternate routes, if possible, to avoid delays to their destinations. The public’s
patience and cooperation are appreciated as the bureau works to upgrade
the city’s century old water system.