Why the New Grand Avenue/MLK Viaduct Feels Like a Rollercoaster

By NIGEL JAQUISS

Drivers using the newly-finished, $95 million Grand Avenue/MLK Boulevard Viaduct in Southeast Portland—two years behind schedule and about three times the cost of the original estimate—may feel a little like they're on a ride at Oaks Park.

The road surface is wavy, and the sections of new sidewalk are visibly out of alignment.

But an Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman says the project is just as engineers intended.

roller coaster

WWeek 2015

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