Looks to me like they were chosen based on recent headlines (82nd), with a sop to the west side. Meanwhile, we've got people living on dirt roads in outer southeast.

Hooray for sidewalks along NE Glisan! I'm hoping there was a typo and the sidewalks will be between 122nd and 148th (not 48th)where it's a 40 MPH zone (although the cars routinely do 45-50) and there are no sidewalks, just a dirt path next to the curb. Families walk to school (Menlo Park, at 130th & Glisan), and if Mom's pushing a stroller, Mom's either shoving it through the mud or pushing it in the street. Wheelchairs/motorized carts are also relegated to the street.

On top of that, we need crosswalks with pedestrian-activated lights out here in the hinterlands! There is 1 marked crosswalk between 102nd and 122nd, and NONE between 122nd and 148th.

So much money is spent making bigger and fancier bike lanes and bus lanes and streetcars downtown. What about us out here?

Aren't property owners billed back for sidewalk construction? This maybe why Cully isn't going to ever get paved roads.

They were chosen very carefully, in a process starting back in March having to do with safe walking routes to mass transit. There was no connection whatever to the recent tragedies on SE Foster. PDX City government doesn't move that quickly.

What is really interesting is that for the west side, there will be about $ 450,000 spent on actual dirt digging and concrete pouring. A very slightly larger amount
will be spent on the east side.

PDOT received just a tad in excess of $ 2.2 million pass through by the State transportation folks of federal taxpayers stimulus dollars for what were to be "shovel ready" projects to put folkst to work "...right now..." as April Bertelsen said in March.

Not a shovel of dirt will turn, nor an cubic inch of concrete pour until mid 2010. And folks who served on the CAC still can't get a straught answer as to what happened to the almost $1.4 million that isn't going to pay folks to dig an dirt and pour concrete.

Cynics have noted, though, that PBOT has had no raft of layoffs of planners like BDS and BPS have had.

Gotta' love using federal stimulus dollars to preserve pencil pusher jobs in PBOT.

Actually, Steve, good news! Today on OPB Radio's Think Out Loud show, somebody from PBOT was talking about all the changes that are going to be done on NE Cully. Sidewalks, wide bike lanes, (probably no parking for cars) and repaving. And she sounded like it was going to start soon. Goodness knows it sure is needed!

Related?

On the short SW Capital Hill Rd the city recently added 11, count them, eleven,
large rounded speed bumps in 6/10s of 1 mile.
There are no sidewalks (or shoulders) on either side but there's now 11 speed bumps within just over half a mile.

Who lives there? Fritz?

Beb -

Related? Nope, not at all.

And the Cap Hill Road bumps are not courtesy of the Cop>

Folks in the area raised money to do them, and had a huge internal to the neighborhood political fight within the Neighborhood Association to make the decision to go ahead with the project.

If you live in the area I urge you to get involved with the Neighborhood Association.

See, http://swni.org/multnomah

Fritz is a neighbor of mine in a very different area of SW. And no, we don't get benefits like speed bumps or sidewalks.

We do, however routinely get screwed by the folks at BDS and PBOT.

And the budget figures for the bike lanes is $500 MILLION or about $1 million a mile. The person on OPB wants to 'encourage seniors to bike".
Well isn't that just dandy??? In 2030 I'll be 80 years old with who knows how many plastic parts! and I'm supposed to ride a f*#king bike?! in the rain! in the winter! up hill!

Actually, I think if there's going to be stimulus money, building sidewalks is one of the best things a city can do.

Sidewalk construction is fairly simple -- almost anyone in the construction trades can do it. The plans aren't complicated, so the money can get out on the street faster. And it's democratic (with a small "d") -- everyone can use them, and they typically benefit no special interests. And a neighborhood with new sidewalks can gain a new sense of pride.

You're being too tough on a good thing.

I'll take sidewalks any day over Streetcars, Trams, soccer stadiums, baseball stadiums, Convention Center hotels, "Sustainability Centers", that stupid wind turbine tower at Waterfront Park, and the other 24,395 stupid ideas that came out of City Hall in the last few years.

Didn't the City promise sidewalks (and other improvements) when it annexed all of East Portland back in the '80s and early '90s? Whatever happened?

So who exactly is doing all this sidewalk construction?

Several cities in Oregon have been able to keep their new construction inspectors on the payroll by having them do the stimulus funded work that most taxpayers thought was intended for private contractors.

Now they have constructor/inspectors all in one. Think of the reduced paper work not to forget the gas savings.

Golly, that is Green!

Having moved to a suburb in another part of the country without sidewalks -- and having lived in several neighborhoods in different cities WITH sidewalks -- I can't tell you how important they are in building community and, yes, that hated word, livability. So I think if you're getting federal stimulus money, this is not a bad thing to spend it on.

And I agree with the previous poster who said sidewalks are better than street cars and trams.

The greatest thing, SP_RedElectric, is the puff piece that Bud's people did back in the 90's for the annexation. It was CITY (Civic Involvement Takes You). Other than being slightly odd (taking you? really?) it also promised Parks, Sewers, Street improvements like sidewalks and paved roads and Police and Fire coverage.

Thankfully, the CITY has come through with a brand spanking new fireboat and five precincts (for a little while - guess it's three now but I do see ppb in east pdx)...

And hey - maybe someday streetcar/planningtastic smith will give you, wait for it, a streetcar on FOSTER!!!! Super fab...

Abe - from what I understand reading the tea leaves that pass for transparency - the work will be bid out to contractors for the sidewalks. So look for your new Stacy & Witbeck Sidewalks (TM) "Now with Streetcar Tracks" coming to a neighborhood near you!

So look for your new Stacy & Witbeck Sidewalks (TM) "Now with Streetcar Tracks" coming to a neighborhood near you!

Will this be like Seattle's Metro Tunnel - now with rails for future light rail? Which then had to be completely ripped out and rebuilt when they got around to running trains? Or the Hawthorne Bridge - rebuilt to accommodate light rail trains, but now we're going to build a new bridge instead?