Streetscape: Washington Avenue, Portland

Portland’s Washington Avenue is a gateway to the Portland peninsula. Over the last 15 years, the corridor has transformed into a culturally and economically diverse mix of buildings and businesses and is a vital link to the city’s Back Cove recreation loop. But Washington Avenue remains a challenging thoroughfare. Cobblestone and tracks from the turn of the 20th century have long been paved over. This has resulted in an uneven and treacherous navigation surface for pedestrians, cyclists and at times vehicles.

Ransom has been selected by the City of Portland to produce a master plan for the entire on-Peninsula corridor, as well as develop a final design for the section between Congress and Oxford Streets as an LPA, PACTS-funded project.

Due to the complex, densely developed existing conditions, the project has required significant coordination with multiple stakeholders, including:

• Portland School and Fire Departments- to test the proposed design with temporary materials to help ensure maintenance of vehicle movements.
• Portland’s Water Resources Division – to coordinate with an ongoing sewer separation project and to determine how to incorporate green, cost-effective measures to help reduce CSO’s in a combined sewer area.
• Private property owners, including coordination to leverage proposed redevelopment projects, and to help to improve pedestrian safety at an existing 130’ curb cut while maintaining freight vehicle access.

The overall plan includes widened sidewalks, new crosswalks and upgrades to existing pedestrian crossings, such as curb extensions, RRFB’s, and potentially a raised crosswalk. A primary goal of this project is to overcome steep, challenging grades to provide ADA-compliant ramps, sidewalks and driveway crossings.   The LPA project also includes replacing and upgrading two traffic signals, as well as right-sizing the intersections of Washington Ave with Cumberland Ave and Congress St to meet the needs of today, while being able to accommodate additional turning lanes if necessary, in the future.

Additionally, Ransom is providing stormwater treatment opportunities which will mitigate stormwater runoff during and after the completion of construction, and at the same time provide a more visually appealing streetscape for all who utilize this major Portland roadway.

Services include:

• Civil Engineering
• Planning & Permitting
• Stormwater