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After years of planning and construction delays, crews are at work again on the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Gateway and Heritage Markers project in Northeast Portland.

The $400,000 project will create a display of the area鈥檚 cultural diversity on the grassy island where Northeast Grand Avenue turns into Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

鈥淓very type of ethnic group has lived in the north and northeast area. It鈥檚 the first neighborhood for a lot of people,鈥� said Irene Bowers, senior project manager at the . 鈥淲e want to form a gateway into the neighborhood that will celebrate that diversity.鈥�

The plans include a small plaza, new landscaping, bio-swales and four, 20-foot-tall illuminated markers inscribed with personal and historical stories from the neighborhood.

Construction began in December, but unforeseen sewer problems caused the project to take longer than expected. is the general contractor. The firm expects work to wrap up this summer.

The small plot of land is not meant to serve as a 鈥渉ang out鈥� spot, according to Bowers, but instead to provide a visible marker so that people traveling through the area recognize its cultural significance. To that end, the city increased its efforts for MWESB participation on the project. Fifty percent of the subcontractors on the job are MWESB certified, and if InLine鈥檚 self-performed work (approximately $75,000 worth) is also included, that number jumps to 75 percent.

InLine鈥檚 subcontractors:

• KOLA for Metal Work (MWESB) – $145,000
• Affordable Electric (MWESB) – 聽$25,000
• Pete鈥檚 Landscaping – $55,000
• C&W Grading Civil (MWESB) – $35,000
• LaRusso Concrete – $55,000
• COAT Flagging (MWESB) – $7,500
• Compass Engineering Survey – $5,000

Total subcontract value – approximately $325,000