Collisions are up at SW 3rd and Madison.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

New data released by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) yesterday shows that collisions have gone up significantly at four of 11 intersections where bike boxes were installed in 2008. While longer-term policy and infrastructure changes are in the works for next year, PBOT has announced interim measures aimed at improving safety at those four intersections — one of which is SW 3rd and Madison where Kathryn Rickson was killed back in May.

After Rickson's death, PBOT was (once again) forced to address critics and rising concerns that they have not done enough to reduce the number of right-hook collisions throughout the city — an issue that has plagued PBOT for years. The announcement of new safety measures and the increase in right-hook collisions came in a letter from City Traffic Engineer Rob Burchfield to the Federal Highway Administration's Transportation Operations Director Mark Kehrli. The letter is a progress report related to the City's ongoing FHWA experiment with bike boxes and colored bike lanes. (more...)

Bike traffic on NE Wheeler Avenue
near the Rose Quarter.
(Photo © J. Maus).

The City of Portland is moving forward with a slate of projects that will have a huge impact on the quality of our bikeway network. Tomorrow, City Council is expected to approve a $214,900 contract with Alta Planning + Design to begin the public outreach and design process on five projects in North and Northeast Portland.
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A sharrow in action on
NW 9th in Portland.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation and TriMet are discussing the idea of installing shared lane markings (a.k.a. sharrows) on the entire length of the new downtown transit mall.

Sharrows are a type of pavement marking that are placed on streets with relatively heavy and/or high motor vehicle speeds, where there is not sufficient space to put a bike lane, and where bikes and cars share the same travel lane (for more on sharrows, see this fact sheet published by PBOT).
(more...)