NEWBERG, Ore. — The City of Newberg held an open house March 9 detailing design options for the planned reconstruction of South River Street, drawing concerns about tree removal, property encroachments, and bicycle infrastructure as city engineers presented three preliminary design options for what officials describe as Newberg’s worst major road.
“We had a couple of really constructive remarks and questions,” said Newberg City Manager Will Worthey. “We also had a lot of people there who were in favor of not doing River Street at all because they want to preserve the frontage.”
The listening session was the first public airing of design concepts for the project, which would fully rebuild River Street from East Third Street south to 11th Street, replacing the roadway along with curbs, sidewalks, stormwater infrastructure, and water and wastewater lines. Each design would, at minimum, require removal of the street’s trees planted in planter strips.
A city council vote to formally proceed with street design is expected at the April 20 city council meeting.
Options 1 and 2 show a street width of 36 feet, including bike lanes. Option 1 features a traditional design with bike lanes on either side, while Option 2 includes two-way auto traffic lanes and a two-way cycle track separated by a three-foot barrier.
Option 1 would require the removal and relocation of high-voltage power lines, extending the project by several years due to required coordination with Portland General Electric, Worthey said.
Option 3 proposes two-way auto lanes, five feet of sidewalk on one side, and 11 feet of multi-use path on the other. Each design includes a 5.5- to 6-foot planter strip stormwater facility. The smallest design, Option 1, requires 46 feet, including sidewalks. The largest, Option 2, requires at least 53 feet.
City representatives said Option 3 was preferred among attendees as the least impactful. The current street width is 24 feet curb to curb, with five-foot sidewalks on either side.
Worthey said a fourth option — doing nothing — exists, but he believes it would result in greater long-term spending through repeated incremental repairs to the aging street.
“If we don’t do anything this year, we’re looking at spending $400,000 to grind and inlay River Street at this year’s prices,” he said. “And then in another three years at that year’s prices, and then in another three years, so on and so forth forever and ever.”
Encroachment Into Properties
Residents raised concerns at the March 9 open house about apparent encroachments into the city’s right of way. Some property owners have installed landscaping, fencing, or driveways that extend beyond their property lines.
Staff said design work would seek to minimize those impacts but acknowledged some flexibility would be needed along the final corridor.
Under Oregon law, the city holds a public right-of-way easement along River Street, giving it authority to remove any structures, landscaping, or driveways residents have placed within that strip — even if those improvements have stood for years.
“To be clear, this is not property that actually belongs to the homeowners,” Worthey said. “It is in the public right of way already, and would reduce the apparent footprint that people have in front of their houses.”
Residents who have fenced, paved, or planted within the right of way retain underlying ownership of the land but have no legal claim to keep those improvements in place when the city needs the space for road construction.
“There’s no need for an eminent domain action on River Street, because the property already is in the public right of way,” Worthey said. “It belongs to all the residents of Newberg, not just those who live on River Street.”
Should homeowner improvements need to be removed, Worthey said the city is considering forming an ad hoc committee to address concerns on an individual basis, providing an avenue for homeowners who unknowingly built within the public right of way to request compensation.
“The engineering design part of what makes it so expensive is going to choose the way that’s least impactful,” Worthey said. “We’re not bureaucratic monsters.”
Trees and Bikes
Residents questioned whether trees lining the corridor would survive the project. City staff said the trees would need to be removed regardless of which design option is chosen, noting that many are at the end of their useful life. Residents said the mature trees are part of the street’s character and make the neighborhood more desirable.
“Any attempt to rebuild River Street will involve the removal of over 100-year-old concrete, which lies under River Street,” Worthey said. “If we’re going to commit to redoing River Street, there’s no way to do that without removing that concrete, which will, in turn, mean that those trees have to come out — trees which are at their end of life anyway and have already been cut up pretty badly by PGE.”
Other questions focused on driveway lengths, which a proposed multi-use path could shorten, and safety at the First Street and River Street intersection for bicyclists and vehicles. Staff said both issues would be addressed during the design phase.
Some residents said they opposed including bike lanes on River Street. Staff said state law requires bicycle improvements for a street of River Street’s classification and noted the facilities would support a planned riverfront district.
ORS 366.514, known as the Oregon Bicycle Bill, mandates that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure be included in any road construction or reconstruction project in the state. Oregon enacted the law in 1971, making it the first state in the nation to impose such a requirement.
Why River Street?
Worthey said River Street is consistently ranked by multiple groups — including residents, engineers, and police — as Newberg’s worst road.
“Ever since I started working (as the city’s Public Information Officer), especially with the city’s social media, any post that is shared broadly to the community, there’s at least one or two comments about River Street,” said interim Public Information Officer Emily Salsbury. “It’s about as common as people saying, ‘How’s Rex Hill?’”
The project has been in planning since 2022-23, when the Newberg Urban Renewal Agency first designated River Street as its priority infrastructure investment. Engineering pre-design work, including ground-penetrating radar scans of the roadway, was completed in December 2025. A citywide LiDAR survey confirmed the street’s deteriorated condition, consistent with a June 2024 worst-streets survey.
River Street may also serve as a corridor connecting residents to employment if the former Smurfit Westrock Paper Mill site is developed, and as direct access to the city’s planned Riverfront development. It currently functions as a collector street for south-side residents accessing Oregon 99W and for river users reaching Rogers Landing County Park boat launch.
“If there’s any street in this town that’s critical for those developments, it’s River Street,” Worthey said.
Worthey said the city can afford one project of this scale per decade. The last comparable project was Elliott Road, which spanned five years and ran $1 million over budget. He said River Street will be this decade’s project.
The project will be funded in part through System Development Charge revenue, Transportation Utility Funds for ADA accessibility, and an intergovernmental agreement between NURA and the city establishing a bond to be serviced by NURA tax increment funds. The project is expected to span two budget cycles, or over four years.
Worthey anticipates the project will be on the agenda at the April 20 city council meeting, at which point councilors may vote on whether to proceed and which design option to pursue.
Learn more at the City of Newberg’s project page.
