With 'Get Portland Moving' Initiative, Portland Agencies Team Up to Save Time, Money

The Portland Bureau of Transportation hopes to make travel during downtown construction periods a little easier.

At a press event Thursday, city Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman announced the Get Portland Moving initiative, a program designed to improve commute times and safety in the Central Business District and Cully neighborhood by coordinating the construction and maintenance projects of eight agencies throughout the next two years.

“In the coming year, (the partnered agencies) will be undertaking over 70 projects in Portland’s Central Business District,” Saltzman said. “All that construction is going to have an impact, there’s no getting around that.”

That’s why the Bureau of Transportation, the Bureau of Environmental Services, the Portland Water Bureau, Portland Parks & Recreation, Multnomah County, the Oregon Department of Transportation, TriMet, and Portland Streetcar are now working together to meet Get Portland Moving’s two primary goals: Lessening travel impacts by timing projects so they’re completed more efficiently, and protecting the safety of road construction workers and commuters, including pedestrians and cyclists.

“Safety is the number one priority for the Bureau of Transportation, and indeed of all the agencies (involved),” Saltzman said. “This construction season isn’t going to be easy, but I believe the short-term pain will be more than worth it for the long-term gain.”

An example of this new coordinated effort, Saltzman said, is how Parks & Recreation has changed the timeline of its project at the Pioneer Square South MAX Station to better align with the Bureau of Environmental Services’ major sewer repair work along Southwest Yamhill and Southwest Morrison streets, Multnomah County’s Burnside Bridge project, and TriMet’s planned Morrison-Yamhill MAX Improvements project.

“So instead of two separate disruptions to MAX service, we will have only one,” Saltzman said. “If we’re going to tear up the street, let’s get all the work … done at the same time.”

By timing the projects together, MAX service will only suffer one interruption throughout construction from April 30 through May 20, and Portland Streetcar’s service will be negatively affected only during the projects’ first two weeks.

Also benefitting from the partnership are three historic downtown drawbridge repair projects, according to Multnomah County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson.

“We’re working to minimize inconvenience to commuters by coordinating schedules so lanes will be closed on only two bridges at a time,” Pederson said. “We are also working with TriMet so that both agencies can complete repairs when the MAX station under the Burnside Bridge is closed this spring.”

And to offer one more layer of assistance to the whole partnership, Saltzman said the Bureau of Transportation has also partnered with Waze, a free traffic and navigation app, and BIKETOWN, Portland’s bike share coordinator.

The bureau will provide Waze road closure information for its more than 175,000 Portland subscribers, while BIKETOWN will offer discounts to new riders who take advantage of the ride share program during major road closure events.

“This construction season we’re going to have to go through some short-term pain for some long-term gain,” Saltzman reiterated. “This is why Get Portland Moving is so critical. With eight agencies working together –– a really unprecedented level of coordination –– we minimize the disruptions and maximize the results for Portlanders.”

Photo courtesy: Dylan Rivera, Portland Bureau of Transportation