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Multnomah County presents Halsey Street cross-section plan with $57 million multi-jurisdictional buildout estimate
Summary
County planners described a 10% Halsey cross-section and street-design plan that includes raised bike lanes, new crosswalks and two commercial/residential cross-section alternatives; long-term buildout across the corridor is estimated at about $57 million (Fairview share roughly $27 million) with near-term restriping options priced at about $371,000 in Fairview.
Irini Farrell, a Multnomah County transportation project manager, briefed the Fairview City Council on Nov. 20 about a 10% design for the Halsey Street cross-section and street-design plan that the county hopes to advance to the planning commission and city council for formal adoption.
"This is a project that was grant funded and it's a partnership between the three cities and Multnomah County," Farrell said, describing the plan’s intent to make Halsey more comfortable for people walking, biking and taking transit while preserving traffic function for drivers.
Farrell outlined context-sensitive cross sections: a residential treatment with travel lanes, a center turn lane, a six-foot landscape strip, a raised six-foot bike lane at the sidewalk level and a six-foot sidewalk; and commercial alternatives that either provide parking on one side or parking on both sides with a narrowed curb-to-curb width and no center turn lane. The plan emerged from about two and a half years of outreach, technical advisory committee input and roughly 750 public inputs via tabling events and surveys.
On bicycle facilities, Farrell said raising bike lanes to sidewalk level creates a protected space for less-experienced cyclists while still accommodating stronger riders who may prefer riding in the travel lane. She noted the design team evaluated placing the planting strip between the bike lane and sidewalk and concluded both options had tradeoffs.
Crossing improvements include a set of new and enhanced crosswalks organized as near-term ("green") treatments that could be implemented without a full construction project and longer-term ("orange") crossings that would be part of larger buildouts. Farrell said spacing aims to bring crossings into recommended ranges, targeting average spacing between roughly 600 and 650 feet.
Farrell presented cost estimates in 2024 dollars: fully building out the proposed cross section inside Fairview is just below $27 million, with the full longest corridor stretch across jurisdictions about $57 million. For near-term changes, a restriping-only option for the Fairview city limits is estimated at about $371,000; additional resurfacing (grind and inlay) would raise costs.
Councilors and residents raised practical questions about on-street parking, delivery-truck access to businesses, loading zones and the effect of removing a center turn lane in some sections. Farrell said the cross-section plan offers alternatives and is not prescriptive at this stage; staff suggested staged implementation tied to redevelopment or targeted restriping when pavement overlays occur.
Next steps, Farrell said, include hearings and a council decision on whether to pursue near-term restriping or to focus on long-term construction. She asked the council for direction on implementation priorities and noted the Village-to-223rd long-term buildout for the proposed cross section would cost about $4 million.
