Heading SW off of the Hawthorne Bridge

[toddwaddell]

Hi all,

Please help with the worst part of my commute.

I'm coming west bound off of the Hawthorne bridge. My final destination is PSU.

What I think I'd like to do is get over to SW Jefferson and take that up to Broadway or to the Park blocks. Unfortunately, if I come off of the bridge sidewalk and into the bicycle lane, I usually stymied by the flow of cars and buses coming off of Hawthorne and have a next to impossible time getting into the left lane to exit onto Naito for one block before turning onto Jefferson.

As I result I almost invariably end up on SW Main going up the hill, around the moose statue or whatever else it is, having to contend with a lot of vehicular traffic turning in front of me so they can go right onto SW 4th.

Or, I end up coming off of the bridge, taking the waterfront bike path over to Clay or something. This is certainly safer, but I seem to end up having to use a lot of pedestrian crossings or on the sidewalk (risking a ticket), which is just a drag.

Given the amount of bicycle and auto traffic coming off of Hawthorne, I'm surprised that there isn't a more self-evident way to do this safely.

I've searched the site and didn't see this question addressed elsewhere. If I've missed a previous thread please let me know.

Thanks very much for any help and info you can provide!!

Cheers,
Todd Waddell

[OnTheRoad]

If you can't make it across all the lanes of traffic, you can always continue to the far side of the intersection at 1st and stop at the corner and then proceed with the stoplight on 1st. Not very elegant, but works.

Also, if you keep going south on First there is a nice bike lane beginning south of Market that goes all the way to SW Arthur.

[fetishridr]

its direct, if you ride it fast you hit all green lights. The only tricky part is right when you come down the hill from the bridge and then you have to avoid all the cars turning right. usually there is no problem. When you hit the elk statue split the middle and avoid right turning cars again, and then the road is relatively free of traffic until broadway.

[toddwaddell]

Thanks to all who responded.

In response to On The Road's suggestion, I should add that I don't like trying to cut left on to south bound Naito. It's too hard to predict if there will be an opening in traffic and thus too hard to be predictable.

I think Fetish was right, the trick is to take the lane about the time you get to the elk, so you don't get caught inside right turning traffic.

I still don't like the area much. I think it squeezes a lot of cyclists and a lot of cars into a small busy area.

Oh, well, what's life without a little challenge?

[geoff]

Thanks for posting this. I've had this problem too, and taking the lane at the "elk" works out perfectly. It's no problem keeping up with cars in this section either!