The Port of Portland is ramping up urgency of a major expansion of NE 82nd Avenue to meet what they say are future demands at Portland International Airport (PDX).
At a meeting of the Portland Bureau of Transportation Freight Advisory Committee this week, Aaron Ray, the Port’s senior manager of aviation long-range planning, said PDX has rebounded well from a drop in travelers during the Covid-19 pandemic. That, combined with recently completed investments in their terminal facilities, have PDX planners nervous that traffic backups on 82nd (the only road into the terminal) could hurt the passenger experience.
PDX expects 27 million passengers a year by 2027 and says that number will grow to 34 million by 2045. When Ray’s presentation touched on how larger airport crowds would impact traffic on surrounding roads, he mentioned the intersection of NE Airport Way and 82nd Avenue as a pinch-point.
“We are looking at investments to 82nd and Airport Way to fly traffic over that intersection. The idea is that traffic coming from I-205 to and from the terminal won’t have a need to use the [existing] signal, they’ll fly over it,” Ray said.
This project idea isn’t new. The Port has eyed more driving capacity at this intersection for many years. It was also on a top priority list for investment as part of of Metro’s failed 2020 transportation bond measure.
In the Port’s 2024 Transportation Improvement Plan, the project is estimated to cost $119 million, $5 million of which would come from the City of Portland and $73 million of which remains unfunded. Here’s the brief description of the design provided in that plan:
“Grade-separate Eastbound Airport Way over 82nd Avenue to reduce intersection signal phase competition, merge northbound left-turners with westbound traffic without a traffic signal and reduce cross traffic exposure for bicycling and walking across Airport Way. Provide efficient movement of traffic to PDX properties.”
When this project was included in the package of investments in the Metro T2020 bond measure proposal, a coalition of environmental and transportation nonprofits strongly opposed it. The Getting There Together Coalition asked Metro to remove the project due to their concerns around how it would add new lanes and increase driving capacity.
At the freight committee meeting on Thursday Ray sounded confident about the project’s prospects, saying the flyover on 82nd Avenue is, “The next major landside investment that we’ll do.”
If you’d like to learn more, the project will be discussed at the Port’s Community Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday, May 6th.