Contemporaneous newspaper articles were pretty good at documenting when abandoned streetcar tracks were covered over by asphalt, which was more often than not. Paving was cheaper and quicker than removal of track that was often embedded in concrete. Even today, historical track pokes up through the road surface all over Portland.
The first major repaving program began in 1936 immediately after the abandonment of a number of streetcar lines. Aided by WPA labor and federal funding, track was removed more often than with subsequent programs where funding was not as easy to obtain because of World War II or post-war austerity.
The Portland Traction Company’s “modernization” franchise required them to cover up track within five years of the date of abandonment. In practice, they paid their share of the cost for repaving a road to the city, and the municipal paving plant did the work. Major thoroughfares were paved curb to curb, while less-traveled streets just had a strip of asphalt laid down to only cover the tracks.
During World War II, most of Portland’s historical streetcar track was slated for removal for steel needed for the war effort. The Portland Traction Company and the City of Portland ceded some 3,500 tons of rail to the U. S. Government for the token sum of $1 in 1942, and bids for its salvage were let. However, estimates for removing the rail ran from $80 to $100 per ton, while the going rate for scrap steel was just $15 to $20 per ton. It just didn't make any economic sense to pull it out of the ground, even though steel was badly needed. The government returned the “gift” of the rail, and the paving program resumed in July 1943—now with extra work needed to catch up with where it was meant to be by that time. 1943 saw the paving over of large parts of the 13th, 16th, Beaumont, Rose City, St. Johns, Mississippi and Irvington lines.
See also: Historical Track Removal