A new park in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood is set to open this week, and a federal grant will help Portland Parks & Recreation build another larger park nearby.

Construction crews from Wilsonville-based R & R General Contractors are wrapping up work on the 2.4-acre Khunamokwst Park, at Northeast 52^nd Avenue and Alberta Street, and a fence blocking public access to the site is set to come down on Friday, Portland Parks spokesman Mark Ross said. An official grand opening ceremony is scheduled for May 16 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Portland-based GreenWorks designed the $2.5 million project, which includes a playground, skate park and picnic area.

Portland Parks, together with community organizations Verde and Help Us Build Cully Park!, also recently secured a $500,000 grant through the National Park Service to build the 25-acre Thomas Cully Park on Northeast 72^nd Avenue, near the intersection with Killingsworth Street. With the grant, Help Us Build Cully Park!, a coalition of 15 community-based organizations, has now raised $4.85 million to transform the former landfill into a park, said Tony DeFalco, Living Cully coordinator for Verde. The first phase of the project is estimated to cost $6.7 million, he said.

Plans for Thomas Cully Park include an accessible playground, a walking trail with exercise equipment, scenic overlooks, an off-leash dog area and a youth soccer field.

ESA Vigil-Agrimis, which has a Portland office, is designing the park, and Portland-based Colas Construction will be the general contractor.

Initial site work is already under way on the project site and city officials hope to start construction by the end of this year, Ross said. The park is scheduled to open in late 2016 or early 2017, he said.

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Building a passenger rail line through a zoo was something new to Lease Crutcher Lewis. That’s why the construction manager-general contractor for the Elephant Lands project at the Oregon Zoo partnered with Salem-based R&R General Contractors, which had expertise in light rail projects around Portland and on the West Coast.

“It’s a complex and unique train system out there,” said Andrew Dykeman, Lease Crutcher Lewis’ project manager for Elephant Lands. “We knew that when we were going after the rail (work), and looked for others in the industry who had train and rail construction experience.”

Work is just beginning on the $1.6 million rail portion of the $57 million Elephant Lands project; 2,200 feet of track will be installed in a loop through a forested area into Washington Park. The biggest challenge came from building the elevated track with all manual labor, said Jesse Rodriguez, president of R&R, which is a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise.

“Typically, for heavy industrial rail, you have heavy industrial equipment,” he said. “They don’t make equipment for this type of rail construction. We had to go traditional with old-style air compressors, hammers and jacks.”

The new railway will feature all-new track, switches and ties, along with a roundabout trestle that will allow trains to either make a U-turn or continue to Washington Park. Rail passengers will be able to board at an elevated platform, see parts of the wildlife exhibits and make a big loop, or head out to the park, Rodriguez said.

“We had to accommodate the trestle and the grades of the track,” he said. “The train house is higher in elevation than the trestle.”

The complex alignment was designed by KPFF Consulting Engineers, Dykeman said.

Track construction is set to finish Oct. 31, with operations beginning Nov. 4, Rodriguez said.

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A new $1 million contract might account for only a tiny portion of the $1.47 billion Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail project, but for Bruce Watts, senior director of TriMet‘s Diversity & Transit Equity department, it represents a huge milestone.

That’s because , a certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contractor, has committed to sharing 100 percent of the money with subcontractors with the same designation.

“This is a first for us,” Watts said. “The young man running this company (Jaime Ramos) is tenacious. He’s all about inclusion. It really shows us that the next generation is starting to step up and take interest in diversity.”

The new contract, which will begin this month, follows a December announcement by TriMet that , also a DBE, set a record by sharing 77 percent of the money with other DBEs on its completed contract to build the $3 million Civic Drive MAX station.

The Ramos Landscaping contract, when the work is finished, should break that record, said Kimberly Sutton, a representative with TriMet’s Diversity & Transit Equity department.

“He (Ramos) says he’s going to make all his subs DBEs,” Sutton said. “If anybody can pull that off, he can.”

Ramos did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The contract involves boarding up buildings, erecting fences, performing security patrols, maintaining landscapes and shutting off utilities once the agency is ready to proceed with construction. About 90 percent of the buildings are commercial, and about 10 percent are homes, mostly in the Milwaukie area, Watts said.

And the contract to care for the 60 or so buildings is the largest contract of its type for TriMet, Watts said.

“We’ve never had a need for that many buildings before,” Watts said.

TriMet’s program to help DBE companies has continued to succeed – so much so that it was touted by John D. Porcari, the federal deputy secretary of transportation, in a letter last year. He saluted the program’s work providing technical assistance and breaking up contracts into smaller chunks as a means to help minority contractors get a leg up before the bidding process begins.

“TriMet’s innovative approach to unbundling not only gave more DBE firms the opportunity to participate in the project and to support and train their workforces, it also provided multiple DBEs with exposure to, and the opportunity to become familiar with the contracting process,” Porcari said in the letter, which went out to a host of public transportation agencies around the country.

Surprisingly, Ramos wasn’t the only major percentage DBE bidder for the $1 million contract, Watts added.

“During procurement we had eight bidders, four on the short list, and two of those that were 100 percent DBE,” Watts said. “We were very happy to see that.”

This month, the agency plans to expand its services by kicking off a new internship program aimed at helping more minority students learn about the construction and light-rail industry.

That program, spearheaded by Sutton, was approved by the TriMet board in December. It asks contractors to have at least one minority or female intern on each project, ideally from the local community, she said.

“We ask for one, but we’ve had commitments from contractors for as many as four interns,” Sutton said.

The program is working with Portland State University and other educational institutions with high minority populations around the state.

Interns will split time between a prime contractor and subcontractors on a project as a learning experience, Watts said.

“Our goal will be that an intern will see how a project is built from a number of different levels,” Watts said.

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R&R General Contractors set a TriMet record for its work on the new $3 million Civic Drive MAX station.

The Wilsonville company and subcontractors captured the largest amount of Disadvantaged Business Enterprise dollars for any TriMet project so far, said Bruce Watts, senior director of diversity and transit equity.

In total, 77 percent of the funding for the project went to DBE‘s, and R&R President Jesse Rodriguez hired several minority-owned subcontractors to complete the work.

TriMet’s goal to work with disadvantaged businesses has made it somewhat of a national model for other states, Watts added.

“Our numbers compared to both local and national numbers are off the charts,” Watts said. “We are considered by many, both locally and nationally, as an example of how to do this right.”

The Civic Drive station opened this month.

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TriMet‘s soon-to-open MAX light-rail station in Gresham could be considered a $3 million piece of neighborhood-nurturing cheese aimed at luring lean, hungry development mice from their hiding places.

As least that’s part of the goal discussed by the transportation agency, regional government Metro and the city of Gresham when they decided in 2009 to build the new Civic Drive station between the Gresham City Hall and Ruby Junction stops, said Mike Abbate, Gresham’s urban design and planning director.

“We’re not in a big boom period for any kind of development, but Metro has started talking to people about their interest in parcels near the station,” Abbate said. “We decided (to) get the station in first, and that will help revitalize the Civic neighborhood area.”

R&R General Contractors broke ground on the site in May, and everything appears to be on track – pun intended – for a timely opening, said Jesse Rodriguez, project manager and company president.

“We’re just doing the final touch-up and punch list now,” Rodriguez said.

Total spending for the Civic Drive station will be $3 million, which includes $1.75 million in construction and $1.25 million for design, artwork, communications equipment and installation of ticket vending machines, said Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman.

The site was first considered in 1997, when TriMet and Metro installed foundations for a potential MAX stop. But the idea was put on hold until the surrounding Civic neighborhood area started to grow, she added.

“It was a promise of a future station once there was enough development to warrant it,” Fetsch said. “Before that it was a lumber yard. To transform that area into a pedestrian friendly, vibrant community really shows a commitment by Metro and the city.”

The area has grown since 1997. As Abbate looked out of his window at Gresham City Hall toward the new station, he noted that the surrounding neighborhood is now home to the Gresham Station shopping area, L.A. Fitness, the Center for Advanced Learning charter school and The Crossings upscale residential apartments.

Metro owns about 13 acres of land in the area – and the regional government plans to work with the city of Gresham to find a private company to develop those parcels, said Christopher Yake, the government’s senior planner for transit oriented development.

“We’ve had some talks with some interested parties, but it’s pretty early to say anything,” Yake said.

Once a developer decides to get involved, the city of Gresham will move forward with its commitment to build a $600,000 plaza next to the Civic Drive station, Abbate said.

“We’re holding our funds on the project until we get a private developer,” he said. “Then we can design the plaza in concert with that developer.”

Work on the new station included removing much of the original foundations installed in 1997. The old design didn’t fit with what was needed for a modern station, Rodriguez said.

“We essentially had to construct a new station and add new infrastructure, electrical, communications, signal work and quite a bit of structural concrete,” Rodriguez said. “We were only able to use part of the old structural platform edge.”

But Fetsch said the old foundation had some use as the new station was being built.

“Having the foundation in place shortened the construction window and saved money,” Fetsch said. “It also made it easier to construct the platform along an active track with trains most hours of the day.”

R&R General Contractors also installed a new road, passenger shelters, pedestrian crosswalks and benches. And workers modified storm drains and installed security cameras, Rodriguez said.

“With any (train) platform, it’s not a typical station like a bus,” Rodriguez said. “With a train you need signalization so passengers know when a train is approaching (and) you need road crossings; it’s a lot of data and communications.”

TriMet plans to perform final tests at the site over the next two weeks. Trains will stop at the station without opening their doors or allowing passengers to enter or exit, Fetsch said.

Civic Drive will be the 85th station in the MAX train system. Train service will begin after the official opening ceremony on Dec. 1 from 1 to 1:30 p.m.

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Gresham’s budding got one step closer to embodying the concept of transit-oriented development today, with work starting on the Civic Drive MAX light-rail station. The station is scheduled to open this fall.

R&R General Contractors is the prime contractor on the project, which has a construction budget of $1.76 million.

The Civic Drive station had been planned for years, but development hadn’t reached a point where another stop on the blue line was needed. “We committed that we would build the station if development would support it,” said Mary Fetsch, spokeswoman for transit agency TriMet.

“It’s the city of Gresham and (regional government) Metro’s vision for that Civic Neighborhood,” Fetsch said. “The Civic Neighborhood is a very vibrant place, and there really is enough development now to make it ready for a new MAX station.”

The future MAX stop will serve residents of The Crossings, Gresham’s tallest building. Developer Mike Rossman of Peak Development said he built the building with transit in mind and hopes MAX traffic boosts the building’s retail businesses.

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The new Morrison Bridge pedestrian and bicycle path is now open. The path has been under construction since January 2009.

Improvements to the bridge include a 15-foot-wide path, a concrete barrier to keep the path separate from motor vehicle traffic and a two-tube, crash-resistant, metal guardrail. A new off-ramp helps keep bridge traffic separate from exiting freeway traffic.

Wilsonville-based R&R General Contractors was the prime contractor. Originally scheduled for a December 2009 completion, the $1.9 million project hit delays and construction instead mostly wrapped up this month.

Some work remains, with the sidewalk from Southwest Second Avenue and Alder Street closed until April.

Before the project, the bridge’s sidewalks were just five feet wide. Despite the narrow sidewalks, the bridge proved popular with cyclists. The new path is wide enough to allow cyclists and pedestrians to pass each other.

Bridge owner Multnomah County will celebrate the project’s completion at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Southwest Naito Parkway and Morrison Street. A drum corps will then lead a procession across the bridge to Southeast Water Avenue.

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Delays have pushed back the completion of the Morrison Bridge pedestrian path project into early March, according to the prime contractor. The project, to widen the bridge’s narrow sidewalk for bicycles and pedestrians, originally had been scheduled to be finished last month.

Work on the $1.9 million project started in January 2009. Wilsonville-based R&R General Contractors is finishing up the improvements, which include 15-foot-wide paths, a concrete barrier to keep the path separate from motor vehicle traffic and a two-tube, crash-resistant, metal guardrail.

�ճ�ܰ����岹��,�� Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen as saying the county would seek to recover some money from R&R as a result of the delay. Pullen later said he was not in a position to comment on the matter, but that delays aren’t unusual when an existing structure is modified.

“There have been some parts of the project that have been redesigned, as is typical of any project where there’s a structure that has already been built,” Pullen said.

Pullen maintains that R&R has a claim pending, although he said he hasn’t seen it. Although Multnomah County owns the bridge and manages the construction contract, the Oregon Department of Transportation awarded the contract.

Jesse Rodriguez, president of R&R, said he hadn’t filed any action against the county and he hadn’t been notified of any action against his company.

“We’re not in a claim,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the first I’ve heard that Multnomah County is going to file a claim against anybody.”

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