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Walking south from his home, Jonah Paisner, president of the South Tabor Neighborhood Association, soon reaches the edge of a road with three separate identities.

To the state, it鈥檚 Highway 26, carrying traffic from the Oregon Coast to Mount Hood. To the city, it鈥檚 Powell Boulevard, one of few major east-west routes through east Portland. But to neighbors, it鈥檚 a place to shop, walk along and, sometimes, even cross, Paisner said.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 act like we live in a place that has a prison wall to the south that is not permeable,鈥� Paisner said. 鈥淧eople do travel across the street.鈥�

The Powell Boulevard paving project, scheduled to begin construction early next year, will bridge these overlapping worlds. Construction is expected to cost $4 million, on a total project cost of $6 million. The bid closing date is Dec. 10.

The Oregon Department of Transportation often works in at least two different worlds. Most cities have state highways running through them, said spokesman Dave Thompson. Often, that state highway is also called Main Street.

鈥淏y definition, the uses can be in conflict,鈥� Thompson said. Typically, ODOT wants traffic to move smoothly; city and business officials want it to move slowly and provide pedestrian access.

鈥淭hose conflicting uses might not always be compatible,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 absolutely critical to find a compromise that serves both needs.鈥�

While ODOT maintains Highway 26 from curb to curb, the city is responsible for the sidewalks. That sets up a complicated series of exchanges for the paving project, the first repaving east of 50th Avenue since 1983.

The city Bureau of Transportation will pay $100,000 for ODOT to help make curb ramps accessible.
ODOT will build eight vegetated basins along Powell to catch and treat storm water. The basins require ongoing maintenance, typically four visits per year. Under an agreement with the city, ODOT will pay the city Bureau of Environmental Services up to $50,000 to keep the storm water basins in good shape over their 40-year life.

鈥�(The basins) sit behind the curb, but they鈥檙e managing or treating ODOT state highway runoff, so that was the rub,鈥� said Dave Nunamaker with Environmental Services鈥� transportation interagency program. 鈥淭he city didn鈥檛 want to appear to be, out of the goodness of our nature, taking on an obligation to treat the state highway runoff.鈥�

Nunamaker said future project teams can look to the Powell agreement as an example of how to meet both agencies鈥� needs. 鈥淚t was a way we could set a good precedent for getting vegetative storm-water treatment along a state highway that runs through the city,鈥� he said.

Recognizing neighborhood concerns, ODOT will build two new pedestrian crossings, near Southeast 57th and 75th avenues. The crossings consist of crosswalk striping and several signs, including cantilevered ones hanging over the road, and others instructing drivers to stop well before the actual crosswalk.

鈥淭hese are positioned between pretty lengthy stretches of Powell that don鈥檛 have lights,鈥� said ODOT spokesman Mike Mason. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the strategy: to give someone who lives within a ten-block or five-block stretch of Powell a place to go.鈥�

It鈥檚 another compromise between stopping the highway with traffic lights and providing no crossing at all. And it鈥檚 a compromise that neighbors understand, Paisner of the South Tabor association said.

Neighbors aren鈥檛 pushing to stop traffic with crosswalks every block, he said. They just want to cross the road safely and, ideally, get drivers to realize that they鈥檙e not on Interstate 205 anymore.

People who live here are quite concerned that drivers moving along the road, who do treat it as a highway, realize that while it鈥檚 here, it鈥檚 a city street.鈥�