Overlook Neighborhood Update (Dec. 7) – Overlook Neighborhood Association

1) Annual Overlook Neighborhood Holiday Potluck party on Friday

Catch up with your neighbors and meet new friends at the Overlook Neighborhood Association’s annual holiday party on Friday, Dec. 13, 6-8 p.m.

The brand new Arlo Apartments (at the intersection of Interstate and Ainsworth where the old Interstate Lanes bowling alley was) has kindly offered to host the party in their recently completed common room. Overlook residents will be among the first to see the inside of this new anchor building on Interstate Avenue. We’ll have balloons by the door you should enter.

Plan to bring your favorite dish to share if you are able and any adult beverages you would like to consume. This is a family event. We’ll have door prizes from local businesses.

2) Santa visits the Overlook House on Sunday

Join Santa Claus and his elves on Sunday, Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for their annual visit to the Historic Overlook House (3839 N Melrose Dr.). Santa will arrive via firetruck at 11 and will be available for pictures, wishes and holiday cheer. Local favorites Olive and Dingo will perform live, and Overlook’s favorite face painter has her brush ready.

As always this event is free to neighbors, but the Friends of Overlook House welcomes donations that make this and other events throughout the year possible.

3) Highway ramp and road closures

The Overlook Neighborhood will face some significant traffic disruptions during the next few weeks as the Oregon Department of Transportation continues to work on ramps and the Fremont Bridge approaches. Closures next week are:

Intermittent on the I-5 south to I-405 south ramp and the N Going Street on-ramp to I-5 south from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday to Thursday.
N Interstate Avenue south between N Skidmore Street and N Russell Street from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday nights.
N Greeley Avenue south to N Interstate Avenue south from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday nights.

For the Wednesday and Thursday night closures of local streets, ODOT recommends detouring by taking Skidmore to MLK south to Russell. (Your newsletter editor suggests going down Mississippi or Vancouver to Russell and saving some time.) Click on the map to see ODOT’s recommended detour.

Note that all of the work is weather dependent. Please drive extra carefully during these closures and try to be patient with lost drivers who don’t know their way around North Portland streets as well as you do.

ODOT also plans to install real-time notification signs on I-5, and that will require closing the I-5 northbound on-ramp from N Alberta Street and the I-5 southbound off-ramp to Alberta each for a week. Dates for the northbound on-ramp closure will be announced later and are tentatively scheduled for mid-January. The southbound off-ramp will close at 9 p.m. on Jan. 5 and re-open at 9 p.m. on Jan. 12. We will include a reminder and detours in the weekly update closer to the closures. (Spoiler: They will send everyone to ramps at N Rosa Parks Way.)