A review committee from the Oregon Department of Transportation has selected the engineering firm of CH2M Hill as the lead consultant for the 82nd Avenue of Roses Implementation Plan.

That plan will identify transportation improvement projects along about seven miles of 82nd Avenue, from Northeast Killingsworth Street on the north to Johnson Creek Boulevard on the south.

For the next two months, ODOT will craft the language of the contract with the downtown Portland firm, negotiating the cost of various tasks. If all goes well, both parties will sign the final agreement in August. Then the firm will begin its 15-month job at a cost of about $300-$400,000, according to Mike Mason, ODOT’s project manager for the plan.

CH2M Hill vied with six other firms to win the contract after ODOT issued its Request for Proposals on March 31.

“There was a lot of interest in the proposal,” Mason said. “The proposals were very good, and CH2M Hill had an excellent proposal, but many of [the others] were really, really good, too.”

The review team scored all the applicants based on their responses to the Request for Proposals issued in March. CH2M Hill received the highest score, according to Mason.

ODOT staffers are currently preparing materials to recruit members for the community advisory committee to provide input and recommendations to project staff and steering committee, which will be composed of elected officials and managers who have implementation authority along the corridor. Typically, such a community group might contain about 15 to 20 business owners, residents and representatives of different local groups. Such organizations might include the 82nd Avenue Business Association, the 82nd Avenue Improvement coalition, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Oregon Walks (a pedestrian advocacy group), the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, neighborhood associations, freight and transit advocates and large institutions.

“We also really want people who live on the corridor or who work in businesses or who own businesses, because they have a big stake in improving safety on 82nd Avenue,” Mason said. “We’re starting the process so we can hit the ground running in August. We want a wide, diverse representation along the corridor. We’ll ask people to make a nomination and fill out a form and send it back to us. We have no doubt there’ll be a ton of participation, and we’re really excited to get going on it. I can’t wait until August to be up and running on the planning work.”

For more information about the community advisory committee, contact ODOT Project Manager Terra Lingley at 503-731-8232 or terra.m.lingley@odot.state.or.us.

To obtain a copy of the community advisory committee application, which is due by 5 p.m. July 15, visit the projectwebsite: www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION1/pages/82ndAve. If you don’t have a computer, but want to apply for the advisory committee, call Lingley to have an application mailed to you.