River Street

River Street Project Update
Check back here often to see the latest moves on the River Street project!



There has been considerable progress made towards a complete re-build of South River Street a project that will cover two biennia. First the Newberg Urban Renewal Agency (NURA) has accepted the recommendation from their Community Advisory Committee that two sections of River Street would make great candidates for early NURA public improvements.

An intergovernmental agreement (IGA) has been formed between NURA and the City to agree a bond that would be serviced by NURA tax increment funds. The engineering department has started scoping preliminary design options - but actual design and construction work will need to wait until the item comes before our city council for a motion to proceed. This is slated to occur in April.

In the meantime there have been a series of meetings between staff members and staff one on one sessions with our council to get them up to speed on initial concepts. On March 9th 2026 there was an initial listening session with many residents of River street. This forum raised the following questions and remarks:

1. Are the high-power utility poles relocated in Alternative 1? Yes this is correct.
2. Will the 1^st Street / River Street intersection be improved?  Several cited concerns regarding the bicyclists / vehicular movements at this intersection. This will need to be part of the design work.
3. Will trees be removed?  If so, will they be replaced? Several cited that the trees are what gives River Street its character and why they wanted to live there in the first place. Yes the trees will need to be removed to carry out any of the three options.
4. Comment that strong consideration needs to be given by City regarding "apparent" yard takes, with the understanding that many residents have landscaped, fenced, or have driveways that extend into the city ROW. Design work will need to do its best to minimize these impacts.
5. Comment that a wider multi-use path will decrease some driveway lengths, potentially making them unusable, and there are some driveways short enough that cars already park over the existing smaller sidewalk. Here also design work will need to try to take account of this factor, there will be some flexibility in the exact course of the final street.
6. Comments that a few people don't want to see bike lanes on River Street, not really a "Newberg" thing. State law requires bicycle improvements for this class of street and it will benefit the future river front district and recreation possibilities.
7. Comment that multi-use path in River Street is very forward thinking and will create connectivity with ODOT bypass multi-use path, making this a much more usable travel way for bicyclists and pedestrians. Staff agree with this assessment.
8. Several comments related to the existing trees, their condition, and the feel they give the area. Staff  noted that many are end of life trees and that repairs cannot occur without removal.
9. If the road is the same width, how much green space beyond existing sidewalks will actually be taken? Staff noted this this will vary based upon the exact location.
10. Is an 11-foot multi-use path a minimum width? Staff noted this this is a safe option for strollers and bikes to share the same space. 

Concern regarding proposed street section width, it was noted that the preferred Alternative 3 is least impactful of 3 options. Staff agree as this section is more narrow overall.


Here are very preliminary design concepts for River Street

Option 1 that involves moving the high voltage power lines:
Please see link to: Large Rolled Plan
Warning due to the large size of this file, it may take a few minutes to load or may have trouble rendering on some devices. These also may take up significant space if you choose to download. 




Option 2 Bicycle improvements on the road surface:
Please see link to: Large Rolled Plan
Warning due to the large size of this file, it may take a few minutes to load or may have trouble rendering on some devices. These also may take up significant space if you choose to download. 




Option 3 Separated multimodal path:
Please see link to: Large Rolled Plan
Warning due to the large size of this file, it may take a few minutes to load or may have trouble rendering on some devices. These also may take up significant space if you choose to download.