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The Portland Bureau of Transportation plans to complete three construction projects to help ease passage of oversize truck loads through Portland streets.

The projects are part of a larger effort undertaken in 2015 by the city and other metro-area governments to formalize the area’s system of 34 corridors for hauling over-dimensional loads. No such study had ever been undertaken, said PBOT project manager Robert Hillier.

“We wanted to have a better understanding of how these corridors affect our region, because we had no idea,” he said.

The Portland City Council on Wednesday accepted the outlining a strategy for improving oversize truck loads through Portland. Setting the construction schedule will be Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees PBOT.

The city has laws requiring amenities like light posts and trees for certain development projects. Haulers like Steve Bates of V. Van Dyke Inc. said the study was important because it draws a “line in the air” so the truck corridors are protected from future encroachment.

“If it were up to the engineers and developers, they’d put a lamppost right in the middle of the corridor,” Bates said.

Jana Jarvis, head of the Oregon Trucking Association, is involved in several efforts devising standards for hauling oversize loads, including with Oregon Department of Transportation. She said the OTA sometimes has to advise governments on which types of trees to plant because some will eventually prevent passage even to regular tractor trailers.

“We’re trying to get city planners better informed in advance, (rather) than after the fact,” she said.

The study identified preferred safe routes for over-dimensional loads through Portland and gaps in the system, and noted required clearances under overpasses and weight limits on bridges. Several projects are recommended, including three for PBOT, which will be included in the next update to the city’s Transportation System Plan.

In all, the study outlines 24 projects, including:

• Lowering Northeast Columbia Boulevard where it passes underneath the Union Pacific Railroad. The underpass is a snug 16.5 feet from the road, nearly a foot shorter than the recommended standard. Complicating the project is a jet fuel pipeline that passes under Columbia Boulevard.

• Raising the pedestrian bridge at George Middle School on Columbia Boulevard. The bridge is currently 16 feet above the road and the clearance standard is 17.4 feet. The highest permitted load recorded by ODOT between 2012 and 2015 was an 18-foot-tall transformer that traveled between Happy Valley and Oregon City.

• Retrofit or replace the North Portland Columbia Slough Bridge, which is constrained by a weight limit of 10,500 pounds, which prevents most permitted oversize loads from crossing. The heaviest load approved by ODOT between 2012 and 2015 was a transformer weighing 662,212 pounds.

ODOT requires a permit for loads with a width exceeding 8 feet 6 inches, a height exceeding 14 feet, length exceeding 40 feet or a gross vehicle weight exceeding 80,000 pounds.

About 30 percent of permits issued by the agency from 2012 to 2015 were for heavy construction equipment, including excavators, cranes and log loaders.