Oregon City's Molalla Avenue will be fully resurfaced from Division Street to Warner Milne Road starting Sunday, August 16, a year ahead of schedule. The project is expected to wrap up by Friday, August 28.
Crews will work overnight, with road closures and detours in effect from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night during the 13-day window, according to a city announcement published July 27.
Daytime access to businesses along the corridor will remain open throughout the project.
The city moved the repaving up from its original 2027 timeline after completing a $7 million water main replacement on the same stretch.
That project, finished in June, installed more than 4,000 linear feet of 30-inch water main to replace 16-inch pipes dating to the 1960s. With the road already torn up for utility work, Public Works accelerated the resurface.
Molalla Avenue is one of Oregon City's primary commercial corridors, lined with retail stores, restaurants, and banks between Division Street and Warner Milne Road.
The nightly closure window means shoppers and diners can still reach those businesses during regular hours, but evening and overnight commuters will need to follow posted detours. No detour maps are posted yet.
How it's funded
The repaving is paid for through Oregon City's Pavement Maintenance Utility Fee, a monthly charge on residential and commercial utility bills adopted in 2008 under Ordinance 08-1007.
The fee generated approximately $3.2 million in 2025, according to the city. Revenue from the fee can only be spent on road maintenance.
Oregon City maintains more than 146 miles of roads at an average paving cost of about $1 million per mile. Large projects like the Molalla Avenue resurface are contracted out; smaller jobs are handled in-house at savings of up to 50 percent.
The city did not disclose the total cost of the repaving in its announcement.
What's next
Work begins the night of Sunday, August 16. Drivers should expect nightly closures through Friday, August 28, between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. Updates are posted at orcity.org.
