New uphill bike lane on Mississippi is ready to ride
Posted by Elly Blue (Columnist) on August 28th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
We've received word that the uphill bike lane on Mississippi Ave between N Graham and N Cook was installed this morning.
The lane runs northbound only, up the hill on a major bike commuting route between downtown and north Portland, is also a popular freight route. Plans for the lane were made, and preliminary markings installed, in the summer of 2008. Nearly a year later the lane had still not been striped, and we asked PBOT what had become of the project.
The project was delayed while PBOT bike planners and the maintenance arm of the bureau worked out a design that addressed safety concerns at intersections along the routes. The configuration installed today is what was agreed on to reduce conflicts between bikes and trucks.
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This is what a bike lane looks like! Not abutting parked cars. Perfect!
RecommendedToo bad about the four or five people I saw riding around the 'Road Closed' signs on their way down the hill this morning.
Huzzah for the few I saw heading for Vancouver (?) instead.
RecommendedI saw the preliminary skinny stripe when I rode up it yesterday. Thank you bp.org and PBOT for your work! I'm excited for a 33% increase in arterials to access North Portland (the other 3 being Williams, Interstate, and *shudder* Greeley). This is definitely steeper than Williams or Interstate but much less trafficy, and more shaded and spacious than Interstate, so it'll be a nice(r) option to have.
RecommendedAwesome. I've had a couple trucks buzz me in the past. This is a great hill to ride on my way home. Makes me feel like I have earned my beer.
RecommendedHooray! I can't wait to use this! Thanks, PBOT!!
RecommendedI saw the road closure from a good enough distance that I could hop over the Failing Ped Bridge and take Interstate down the hill. No way am I going to blow a road closed sign when they're putting in a new bike lane for us!
Recommended"The configuration installed today is what was agreed on to reduce conflicts between bikes and trucks."
The concern Jonathan refers to is around the downhill (southbound) direction, where bikes share the lane, the road curves around some of the freeway support columns, & there are a fair number of large trucks slowing down to turn left to enter the Maintenance Yard. Please be aware that in the downhill direction you could encounter a stopped truck (traveling in the same direction) waiting to turn left. There will be signing and pavement markings to try and alert cyclists and motorists to this, but the best thing to do is moderate your speed a bit on the downhill so you can stop safely should the need arise... & there's a stop sign at the bottom of the hill, anyway.
Probably nothing that BikePortland readers need to be reminded of, but please spread the word to other Mississippi cyclists to help us all stay safe out there.
oh, and if you ride that way, watch for a coffee & donuts event at the top of the hill sometime in the next few weeks.
Jeff Smith, PBoT
RecommendedHi Jeff - how about Tacos too? ;)
RecommendedThats nice but I think there should be a hard barrier around any right hand curve between the bikes and cars...
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