Jackson Street Improvement Project

The City of Milwaukie and TriMet partnered to rebuild the Jackson Street streetscape from 21st to Main Street, added new, high-quality shelters and other amenities, and improved the area for transit users and the general public.

Civil construction of the Jackson Street improvements was completed in early December 2010. The street scape consists of new wider sidewalks, street lighting, ornamental street furniture (bike racks, benches, garbage cans), street trees, landscaping, and natural storm water treatment. Upon completion of construction, Jackson Street was reopened to traffic and bus service was rerouted from the temporary bus stops on 21st Avenue, Main Street, and Harrison Street.

Temporary bus shelters were installed on the northwest and southeast sides of Jackson Street while TriMet worked in conjunction with Milwaukie Staff and the Design Landmarks Committee to design, procure, and install the final bus shelters. The final bus shelters will be produced based on TriMet's most current high capacity shelter design (see attachment below for images). TriMet is expecting to be able to install these in late this spring. (The delay is due to the fact that the firm which was to produce the originally-selected design went bankrupt. This necessitated re-starting design and procurement.)

The project, in combination with future TriMet service changes to reduce layovers and the addition of new bus stops at Washington Ave., fulfills the highest priority transit project identified in the City’s Transportation System Plan.

The City and TriMet contributed funds to engineering; the majority of project costs was paid by federal ARRA/“stimulus” funds and Federal Transit Administration grant funds. The federal ARRA/”stimulus” funds are Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) monies, allocated regionally, and administered by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).

Total project cost, including the new shelters, was approximately $1.3 million. The City’s share is expected to be less than $40,000. Harper Houf Peterson Righellis provided design engineering and construction engineering services on the project. Civil construction was being performed by Civil Works NW. The streetscape elements were designed in accordance with the guidelines of the City’s Public Area Requirements.

The Jackson Street Improvement Project includes the following elements:

• Full reconstruction of Jackson Street and associated streetscape (i.e., sidewalks, etc.) between Main and 21st Avenue.
• Relocating utilities under-ground. (The picture here illustrates the visual impact of the existing above-ground utilities.)
• New bus shelters, consolidating the existing scattered grouping of bus shelters along Jackson and 21st Avenue to two high-quality shelters on Jackson. (The picture above shows the larger shelter, which will be on the north side of Jackson Street just off Main Street.)