Community weighs in on SW Capitol Highway design finishes while construction firms submit proposals
This summer, community members in Southwest Portland had the opportunity to weigh in on design finishes and aesthetic choices for the upcoming SW Capitol Highway: Multnomah Village – West Portland project. This input is helping the project design team complete the 95% and final design plans. To gather this feedback, PBOT and Bureau of Environmental Services staff administered a “Visual Preference Survey” in two formats: First in an in-person session with 40 members of the volunteer Capitol Highway Subcommittee on June 25, 2019; then through a web-based survey completed by 195 people throughout the month of July. For a topic as subjective as aesthetics, the survey results were surprisingly conclusive. Below are some of the key takeaways from the Visual Preference Survey results:
For cast-in-place concrete walls that will be common along SW Capitol Highway, people liked the “random rounded” pattern modeled after historic rockery walls found throughout Southwest Portland. The Subcommittee members, many of whom live along Capitol Highway, preferred this pattern more than twice as much as the next most popular pattern. In the web survey, respondents liked the rounded pattern at essentially the same rate as a vegetation-themed form liner.
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Project staff learned earlier in the design process that community members favor black powder-coated railings over standard steel highway railings. Looking at specific product choices, 77% of web survey respondents and 51% of Subcommittee respondents preferred a black square tube railing with vertical spindles.
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Advising us on what material to use for the buffer area between the curb and the elevated bike lane and multi-use path, a majority of respondents (including 83% of Subcommittee members) preferred a stamped concrete surface rather than plain concrete or bark chips. This area will serve as not just a buffer from traffic, but also the place to put waste and recycling bins and mailboxes.
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The northbound bike lane on the east side of SW Capitol Highway will be constructed of methyl methacrylate (MMA), a plastic overlay on concrete that is available in different colors. PBOT can approve either black or green MMA for the bike lane, and community members strongly preferred black MMA. Green will still be used to indicate conflicts at intersections, however.
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The survey sought feedback on street tree characteristics rather than particular species, because multiple species will be required for canopy diversity. Results were less conclusive on this question, but the most popular tree characteristics were “fast growing” and “spreading canopy.”
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The project team has committed to reestablishing privacy shrubs along SW Capitol Highway and provided a list of approved shrubs for planting. Subcommittee members vastly preferred arbor vitae; the broader public liked ceanothus & pacific rhododendron. Similar to the street trees, multiple species will be planted in the project area.
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A PDF version of the June 25 Visual Preference Survey presentation can be downloaded here. For full survey results, please contact the project manager at steve.szigethy@portlandoregon.gov.
CM/GC proposals
In other project news, City Procurement on August 6 received proposals from three large, experienced construction firms to compete for the role of Construction Manager / General Contractor (CM/GC) on the project. Rather using than the typical low bid process, the project team in 2018 received City Council approval to use a qualifications-based CM/GC solicitation. This method allows the contractor to join the project prior to the completion of design engineering plans to offer advice on cost saving measures, constructability considerations, construction sequencing, and traffic control. The project team is currently reviewing the proposals and anticipates announcing the successful CM/GC in early September. The CM/GC will perform pre-construction services throughout the remainder of 2019 and perform early work packages (such as tree cutting) as early as November. Heavy construction will begin in late winter 2020.
Upcoming events
Finally, come see us at Multnomah Days on Saturday, August 17th. PBOT is a title sponsor of the event this year, and we will have a booth near the Multnomah Arts Center. Project representatives and other PBOT staff will be on hand, and we will have a roll map of the latest project design. If you can’t make it, we are planning on having a project open house in the fall with the CM/GC, with a major focus on the construction schedule and sequencing.
Steve Szigethy / Capital Program Manager
Portland Bureau of Transportation
steve.szigethy@portlandoregon.gov
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