Upgrades to six downtown blocks of Union Street NE will create a Family-Friendly Bikeway linking to other key Salem cycling routes.

Improving safety and accessibility for people biking and walking in Salem remains a top City Council priority. We continue to add and improve bike routes and pathways, sidewalks, crosswalks, and pedestrian crossing islands to make people riding and walking more easily seen.

The Union Street NE project is early in the design phase, which is expected to result in several different design options. Community members will be able to provide comments on the design in early 2021, through a virtual project open house. Construction on the project is expected to begin in spring 2022.

The project is being paid for by a combination of federal funds allocated through the Salem-Keizer Area Transportation Study and Salem Urban Renewal funding. It is in response to the City Council's Safe Community Goal.

Family-friendly bikeways are intended to prioritize bicycle traffic, while discouraging non-local cut-through vehicle traffic. They are located on low-volume and low-speed streets that have been enhanced for bicycle travel.

The upgrades will run from Commercial Street NE to Summer Street NE, and will include a new traffic signal at Liberty Street NE. Improvements will be made within the existing Union Street right-of-way.

This is a key corridor that connects to several cycling routes, including:

• the Union Street Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge to Wallace Marine Park,
• Riverfront Park, with connection to the Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge and Minto-Brown Island Park,
• the family-friendly Winter-Maple Greenway that provides a north-south rout connecting Salem to Keizer,
• the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, and
• the 12th Street Promenade near the Capitol Mall.

The main goal of these improvements is to provide bike facilities for both directions of travel along Union Street NE, between Commercial Street to the west and Summer Street to the east.

Each month, parking and lane restrictions may be required along different portions of Union Street as construction progresses.

Next:

• 2-inch road grind
• 2-inch hot-mixed asphalt pavement overlay

Coming Soon: 

• Traffic Signal Installation 
• Road line re-striping
• Landscape restoration

The project is expected to be complete in late fall of 2023.

Project schedules may be adjusted or delayed due to supply chain, inclement weather, and other unforeseen factor.