4 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
June 2018
Water Bureau joins project as partner, retaining walls being discussed
By Erik Vidstrand
The Southwest Portland Post
In early May, city of Portland trans-
portation staff provided updates on the
Capitol Highway improvement project
to the Multnomah subcommittee. Steve
Szigethy, project manager, and Cedar
Heinle, project structural engineer,
discussed anticipated components.
The city has removed street water
facilities, or bioswales, from the plans.
This allows more separation between
pedestrians and bicyclists on the east
side of the highway.
“Some on-street parking has been
added and additional off-corridor
improvements have been designed
on 42nd Avenue, Alice Street, and
Multnomah Boulevard,” Szigethy said.
“Soil sampling took place along
the corridor, a tree walk-through hap-
pened, and [we] initiated retaining-
wall designs.”
Chris Lyons, subcommittee chair,
announced that the Portland Water
Bureau is joining the project as a major
partner.
“North of Southwest Marigold
Street,” Lyons said, “the water bureau
plans not only to relocate the water
main, but also to upgrade the pipe
from six to eight inches. They will
also replace the water main in Carson
Street from 42nd Avenue to Capitol
Highway.”
“This would be a good time to let
me know if you are thinking about
updating or changing your sewer or
water lines,” Szigethy said.
Lyons said the city has completed
one-on-one property owner visits.
“City staff was able to reach 45 out of
100 properties,” Lyons said. “Remain-
ing properties will receive direct out-
reach from PBOT’s right-of-way staff
as they develop construction easement
documents.”
Heinle presented options for project
retaining walls. “There are mainly
three types of walls,” Heinle said.
“These include gravity, cast-in-place,
and sheet pile walls.
“Gravity walls are the very large
blocks you see along Multnomah Bou-
levard,” she said. “These are the least
expensive, have a short construction
time, and are good for low walls.”
But Heinle said they these have the
largest excavation footprint and have
the potential for graffiti.
“Some can be coated with anti-graffiti
paint; some will have railings or land-
scaping.”
“Over time these walls can get grun-
gy and weeds grow out of them,”
Lyons said.
“The city conducts wall maintenance
and inspections every few years,”
Heinle said. “There are over 600 walls
throughout the city with a staff of four.”
“We’re not the wall police, though,”
said Szigethy.
“Cast-in-place walls are medium
cost,” Heinle said. “They are made
A cast-in-place wall was the design that most residents along Capitol Highway liked.
Railings are required where a fall hazard is present. Residents preferred railing that
was painted black, which is designed to fade into the landscape.
(Post photo by Erik Vidstrand)
of concrete, can feature carvings, and
can be stained or painted. They have a
smaller excavation footprint and have
a more aesthetic look.”
“Sheet pile walls are the most expen-
sive,” she said. “They are made of steel
and have a rust look.”
Heinle shared photos of steel beams
driven into the ground. They are light-
weight but strong and are good for
moist soils.
“They may conflict with existing or
future utilities,” she said.
Most audience members preferred
the cast-in-place design.
Committee members asked a variety
of questions: Could murals be painted
on the walls by high school students?
Could neighbors chip in to help build
the wall type they want? How tall are
the largest walls?
“The tallest wall is about 10 feet in a
few locations,” Heinle said. “Some are
five feet, and the smallest are two.”
Szigethy said costs are aggregated
into the budget so it would be difficult
to portion out individual wall prefer-
ences.
N O R T H A M ER I CA’S
“If you see any walls you like,
though, please take a photo and send
them to us,” Szigethy said. “In the fall,
there will be office hours for residents
and recurring site visits.”
The final topic was trees. Urban
Forestry and other city tree partners
surveyed 1,191 trees along the corridor
and within 25 feet of the buffer area.
“It is our aspiration to keep as much
of the canopy as possible,” Szigethy
said. “We looked at native and healthy
trees, nuisance and unhealthy trees.
About 885 trees will be preserved, 145
will be removed on Capitol, and 161
will be affected off the corridor.
“We are in process of informing all
property owners about their losses,”
Szigethy said. “We plan to cut them in
winter to avoid bird nesting. The US
Fish and Wildlife Service will inspect
all trees before they’re removed.”
According to Szigethy, federal law
requires that private property owners
be compensated for their tree losses.
The 60 percent design will be com-
plete by July with final plans at the
beginning of next year.
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