Construction on a large-scale development is disrupting traffic flow on one of southeast Portland's main arterial thoroughfares.
Dennis Sackhoff's apartment complex construction is blocking a lane on SE 39th, backing up traffic for blocks. Just two weeks ago the sidewalk was intact and the street was open to traffic.
The City of Portland charges developers a flat fee of $37 per block for temporary lane closure related to construction, per week.
The sidewalk is also closed, and appears to be under reconstruction, which is an additional fee of $42 per week.
But as the United State Department of Transportation reports, work zones and lane closures have a much wider set of costs than the simple permit fee.
The study references “user delay costs, vehicle operating costs (VOC), crash costs and emission costs” as well as “other off-site components such as noise, business and local community impacts” related to work zones and lane closures.