South Willamette Street Improvement Plan

Project Description

Investments on South Willamette Street to improve safety and pavement condition have been long-awaited following a successful 2016 Pilot Study that added a center turn lane and bike lanes. The final South Willamette Improvement Plan improvements, completed in 2022, were installed to make it easier for people to safely walk, bike, bus, or drive in the South Willamette shopping district from 24th Avenue to 32nd Avenue. 

Why Improve South Willamette?

The goal of this project was to elevate South Willamette Street into a vibrant urban corridor accessible by foot, bike, bus, and car. Willamette Street is heavily used to reach many popular shopping destinations yet, prior to the 2016 Pilot Study, it was uninviting to people walking, biking, busing, and driving alike. For years, many residents and business owners had shared complaints about the poor conditions on South Willamette Street for walking and biking and the need to do something about it.

The original street design was two travel lanes in each direction, with no left-turn lanes to access businesses and residences on the majority of the corridor. The narrow sidewalks were filled with many obstacles, such as mailboxes, utility poles, trees, and landscaping. Nearly 70 driveways crossed the sidewalk in this area and created potential hazards for people walking and biking. People driving stopped in the outside travel lanes, blocking traffic.

Design Elements

The final South Willamette Street Improvement Plan (travel lane in each direction, a center turn-lane, and bike lanes on both sides of the street) offers a complete street design for the corridor and aims to:

• Elevate South Willamette Street into a vibrant urban corridor accessible by foot, bike, bus, and car
• Support businesses and the shopping district’s vitality
• Improve user safety and street pavement condition
• Build a balanced multi-modal transportation system
• Foster a well-informed and involved community 

Design elements include:

• Street repaving and restriping to fix pavement condition 
• Reconstructed, accessible driveways and corner curb ramps to improve business access 
• Over 2000 feet of widened sidewalks to enhance the walking experience 
• Pedestrian-scale lighting to increase visibility for all street users 
• Pedestrian countdown timers at intersections to make crossing safer 
• New traffic signal at 27th Ave. to make turning from Willamette Street safer 
• 47 trees planted throughout the corridor to make the shopping district more inviting 
• New rain gardens to clean water runoff from city streets 
• New conduit for communications (for future high-speed fiber) to support connectivity throughout the corridor