Committee approves multiple streetscape, sidewalk and safety projects tied to bond funding

A municipal bond program committee approved a package of street- and sidewalk-related projects and heard brief informational updates on major upcoming works.

Aaron, the geobond program manager, presented five project funding requests that the committee approved during the meeting. The first was a 1.5-mile streetscape and resurfacing project covering Northwest and Northeast 6th Street (Walker to Walnut) and Northwest/Northeast 4th Street (Broadway to Lincoln). Aaron said the project will include new sidewalks, ADA upgrades, pavement-marking improvements and street trees and told the committee that "the all in project cost is 7.8" and that staff were requesting "2,800,000.0" to match additional ODOT/ACOG funding (the transcript does not specify units for the 7.8 figure).

The committee also approved a one-mile resurfacing and sidewalk project on Western Avenue (NW 63rd to Wilshire), a NW 36th Street extra-wide sidewalk project that requires regrading a sloped retaining wall under I‑235 (Aaron said the request was listed as "1.9" on the agenda), a fast-track repair for a rusted corrugated storm pipe under Northwest Expressway (Aaron requested 751,000 from unlisted bond funds to combine with CIP funding of 749,000 to form a roughly 1,500,000 project), and a school-zone traffic-signage/rapid-flashing-beacon program where Aaron said ODOT’s portion is 500,000 and the engineering request listed on the agenda is 1,125,000 (Aaron said the construction cost itself is $500,000 but the packet did not break line items out). Motions to approve each project were recorded by the moderator and the motions passed; vote tallies were not specified in the transcript.

Safety concerns were raised by an attendee identified in the transcript only as Speaker 3, who urged additional pedestrian protections for the NW 36th underpass and nearby intersections, saying, "This is my entrance to my neighborhood, and it is an extremely dangerous intersection." Aaron responded that the design intends the sidewalk to be offset behind curbs and structural columns beneath the bridge and that staff can consider additional protections where feasible.

In informational items, Aaron said Southwest 29th Street (Rockwell to McArthur) is expected to start construction after the new year and described a planned diverging diamond interchange (DDI) at Northwest Expressway and May Avenue as a roughly $15,000,000 project. He also noted the recently awarded Northwest 23rd Streetscape will remove a median and add trees and storefront-focused improvements. A finance update presented by Speaker 6 described a recent downward trend in rolling 12-month expenditures as existing projects finish, with larger widening and vertical-structure projects expected to push spending up again when they move into construction. Aaron said there remain about 21 projects from the 2017 bond at various stages of design or construction.

The committee asked for more transparency on unlisted bond allocations by ward; Aaron agreed to provide a breakdown by proposition at a future meeting. Several project timelines were described as contingent on ODOT and ACOG funding cycles, with many projects projected for 2027–28 delivery. No citizens spoke during the public-comment period and the committee adjourned.

What the committee decided: motions to approve the five described projects were recorded as passed; the transcript records movers and seconders by name in the meeting announcements but does not record numerical vote tallies. Next steps identified in the meeting include engineering and scheduling, staff follow-up on additional pedestrian protections for the NW 36th underpass, and a future presentation of an unlisted-bond breakdown by ward.