The Lloyd District Transportation Management Association (LDTMA) has conducted a survey of cyclists to determine potential solutions to a major problem in our bikeway network; getting through the Lloyd District and Rose Quarter.
The Rose Quarter is the name given to the jumbled mix of MAX, bus, bike and motor vehicle lanes that criss-cross around the Rose Garden Arena and Memorial Coliseum just east of the Steel Bridge. It is adjacent to the Lloyd District, a densely developed area that includes a major shopping mall and many high-rise office buildings.
The Rose Quarter has been a contentious issue between TriMet, local bicycle advocates and city planners for years now and there’s an ongoing debate over who should pay for and implement a solution.
Meanwhile many cyclists just avoid these areas altogether. I’ve noticed these “Avoid the Lloyd” stickers (photo at right) popping up on bikes around town.
Despite a recent bright spot, it seems like there’s still no solution on the horizon and it feels like budgetary politics will stymie any real progress in the near future.
Hoping to gather real feedback on the problem, the LDTMA conducted a survey last Wednesday and Thursday. According to LDTMA program manager Moira Green,
“The survey was designed to tell us more about the infrastructure ideas we’re considering. Specifically, we wanted to know how many bicyclists are passing through the Rose Quarter on an average weekday, what their origination and destination points are, how many ride through the district, how many bypass it, and if they bypass it, the reason for that.”
One BikePortland.org reader took the survey and said she was happy to help with anything that might improve the situation:
“When they told me that the purpose was to help create a better route through the Lloyd district, I was only too happy to help out. I have to deal with that section of town just about every day and it’s always a pain. There’s been progress recently (striping of bike lanes on Vancouver Blvd.)…but getting through the transit center is still a pain unless you happen to be coming from Interstate. And going through the Lloyd district itself is much worse in terms of exposure to traffic. I was thrilled to hear that someone is actually working on this problem.”
Ms. Green also said that if any of you bike through the Rose Quarter and want to take the survey, you’re welcome to contact her at moira [a] lloydtma.com.
Stay tuned for the survey results.
Thanks for reading.
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The Lloyd district is once again an example of TRI MET right of way screwing up perfectly good routes.
Importance was given to the trains and buses once again, where as it should be placed upon the bikes and pedestrians.
There should be no road in Portland where you cannot ride your bike. Absolutely every road should be open to bicycles. Every one.
To herd bikes across a bridge into a absolutely irritating and confusing section is rude. Plus, add to that the high ticket cost of not knowing where to ride, well, I am sure you get it.
BRING DOWN TRI MET. To their knees.
Dabby,
I appreciate your comments and I think you bring up good points. I agree that it is totally unacceptable that there is not safe and convenient bike and ped access through the Rose Quarter.
But Dabby, with all due respect for your perspective as a messenger, just remember that whether you like them or not TriMet is a major player in this situation.
If we create animosity and divisiveness between them and cyclists it will make working toward a solution much more difficult.
Aside from the awful black hole that is the Rose Quarter Transit Center, I think the worst part about the Lloyd District is that 12th Ave is one of the very few places you can cross I-84 from Southeast, but then that street dead-ends into the mall, and you have to go quite a bit out of your way in either direction to go north.
My brother lives in the Lloyd District, and when I visit him I always avoid the Lloyd and go around via 28th to Knott or Tillamook.
The Lloyd hooplah with buses and cars is very frustrating and exhausting to bike through…Many o’ time buses have no regard for the bike traffic in front of them…as if we are obligated to pedal on the bridge sidewalk, but then there is peds on that…cars don’t seem to care about bikes either especially at the light turning left to weed through the center to get to a descent street…after going around those “streets” through the center…lloyd has a bike lane, i think it is lloyd…and the others i saw none a lane specific for bikes…why is this? less focus on public transport expanding…there should be more work on REALLY making this a bike friendly town that the city promotes itself to be…
cheers!
I agree that access is rough for Peds, but the bike bypass is so short and simple that I don’t get what people are so bent out of shape about. It may add another 30 seconds or so, but it’s not that big of an inconvenience.
..on second thought – that would shorten the ride home.
i second andy’s thought – it’s not the greatest, but once you learn a suitable route through the area, the time it adds to your ride is basically negligible.
i work in the lloyd district, live in north portland and have friends in southeast so riding through the lloyd district is a fact of life for me. again, i really don’t think it’s that bad once you learn a route.
that being said, access to businesses in the area of mlk just south of burnside is terrible from the north. that i can complain about.
We are currently working with the TMA and players in the Lloyd District to a) improve bicycle access through Rose Quarter (FYI Tri Met applied for a grant to do this); b) create a great east-west route into the district from the Esplanade and Rose Quarter.
The District does have other issues that hopefully the TMA can help address.
Scott
BTA