Sparse Canopy on 82nd Avenue:

Safety Improvements Coming But Where are the Trees?

With control over 82nd Avenue being transferred from the Oregon Department of Transportation to the Portland Bureau of Transportation by January 2022, the City has an opportunity to make that high-traffic, inhospitable, sometimes lethal street a better, healthier place for pedestrians and nearby residents. The agreement for the transfer involves $185 million to support the transfer and safety improvements. Of that total investment, $80 million comes from the Oregon legislature via federal American Rescue Act funds, $70 million from ODOT, and $35 million from the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). The transfer is welcomed by Jade District and other community groups such as APANO that have been advocating for safety improvements along 82nd for many years.

Trees for Life Oregon applauds the new safety measures but finds a blind spot in the plan—no mention of trees. How safe is it to walk down a major artery on a 120-degree day with no sign of shade?

Current State of 82nd Avenue Trees

Planting healthy, large trees to shade pedestrians and help slow traffic should be part of any improvement plan. To document the current state of trees along seven miles of 82nd from NE Killingsworth to SE Clatsop, TFLO’s Bruce Nelson and others recently inventoried what’s there. The team found that only 16 percent of tax lots have any street trees at all. Of the 343 trees documented, the dominant genera are Acer (maples, no longer on the city’s approved street tree list), at about 40 percent; and the short-lived Pyrus (flowering pear), at 39 percent. Only 10 of the 343 trees are Douglas-fir. Trunk damage, likely from vehicles, is present on 26 percent of all trees surveyed. The inventory takers found it unsafe to walk along parts of 82nd Avenue due to lack of buffer between narrow sidewalks and street traffic.

With help from Dave Hedberg of Outdoor History Consulting, Bruce will be writing a report about his tree findings along 82nd and a few other north-south arteries in East Portland that will include a history of the area between 82nd and 148th avenues and how these streets came to have little room for trees. The report will also suggest how large-form trees could be incorporated into a newly improved 82nd Avenue. Watch the TFLO website in 2022 for the full report.

Action You Can Take Now

Some of the 82nd Avenue safety improvements are just starting to be implemented; the entire plan is not yet set in stone and will take years.

Write to decision makers below now! Tell them that 82nd Avenue won’t be truly improved across the board until the City puts creating space for large trees into its plan. In light of last summer’s deaths due to the heat dome, in light of the City’s stated equity and environmental justice goals, omitting trees and space for them in its plan for a newly renovated 82nd Avenue is worse than a missed opportunity, it’s a travesty.

Here’s who to email — We’ve repeated the emails in a separate list below to facilitate sending your message to the entire group. Just copy and paste the list of emails into your email program.

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