markings are among improvements.
File Photo: 4/27/07
The Hollywood Transit Center, at the intersection of NE Halsey and 42nd (map), has gotten some bike love from the City of Portland.
The crucial north-south connection has long been a thorn in the side of cyclists trying to get over I-84. Southbound cyclists have been forced to contend with a TriMet bus stop loop and stairs leading up to a footbridge. The existing ramp was not designed for bicycles (but I think it’s fun!).
Thankfully, PDOT has just finished some upgrades. They have installed bike wheel gutters on the stairs and have added bike boulevard signs to help cyclists find their way.
New wheel gutters.
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This is the first place I know of where bicycle boulevard markings (those white dots) have been placed on the sidewalk. From the looks of this photo, it might take some time before people realize this is a recommended bike route.
The markings have also been placed at regular intervals on the entire length of the bridge (see photo).
File photo: 4/27/07
Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller says they also plan to install a ramp to make it seamless for northbound cyclists to come off the stairs and ride into the bike lane in the transit center. I’ll snap photos of that and do a full report once it’s complete.
I also hope to get more information on how Geller wants us to go from NE 42nd, south across Halsey. I noticed a stencil for a bike symbol on the sidewalk ramp on the SE corner, but the recommended way to get there is not clear. My hunch is that we’ll be advised to cross the street and then use the crosswalk via the SW corner.
Check out all the photos for more details.
Thanks for reading.
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Hurrah! It’s a good thing they are on the sides and not the center, otherwise you might get some crazy like me trying to ride it.
Good upgrades…but I’m with you, Jonathan – I like riding the ramp. Haven’t had to put a foot down yet in all my crossings of it! 🙂
Oh.
That’s what those are.
I’ve been carrying my bike there still.
I’ve never met a wheel gutter that was particularly usable, usually they are too close to the handrail.
Have they made any improvements at the other end (onto Senate Street)? Last time I went this way, I got to the bottom of the ramp to find a hard right turn to a wheelchair ramp. Unless one comes to a full stop at the bottom of the ramp (and what’s the fun in that?) one misses the ramp.
This is good news. I hope ACCESS to the actual transit center is also improved for bikers, pedestrians, and potential MAX users. I always forget it’s even there because one can’t see it from Hollywood Central. Out of sight, out of mind. Hollywood District is really car centric.
If there was better signage, like BIG signs or markings on the street, it would get used more, IMHO.
Hollywood has always been a huge cluster____ for all modes. Back when I drove, I hated going to Hollywood, because I never could figure out how to get around there, and always seemed to get funnelled in a direction I didn’t want to go. What kills it is the confluence of Broadway, Sandy and the Banfield, making way too many cars flow through there every day – as opposed to the much smaller percentage of traffic going to Hollywood.
But it also has so much promise as a mini-downtown: Unlike Hawthorne, Mississippi, or Alberta, it’s not just one strip but several parallel commercial streets. That configuration allows more businesses to be within walking distance of each other, and creates the kind of localized density that could do well in the post-car world. It’s also what makes it such a disaster now, in the last decade of America’s hydrocarbon addiction.
If Hollywood’s boosters want to help with the revitalization of their district, they would be well advised to be attentive to those of us who want to get there without a car. Part of that would be to connect better to the Transit Center, and the other important part is to make pedestrian and bike access easier across the freeway. The current overpass doesn’t work well, and is not enough.
I still avoid that area unless I’m specifically looking to take transit. It’s MUCH easier to cross at 28th or even 76th.
Wheel Gutters are ludicrous, and are not any kind of fix, nor are they easier than just carrying your bike….
I rarely use the pedestrian overpass to cross I-84 by bike. Instead, I brave traffic northbound on 39th (southbound on the sidewalk). If my destination is further east, I head east on Senate to the dedicated walkway along I-84 connecting to 47th, which has nice bike lanes all the way to Sandy.
I too find bike gutters pretty useless. The first place I experienced them was a staircase leading down from a part of the Historic Columbia River Highway that had been converted to bike path. Going up I can only imagine them being useful in cases where your bike is too heavy to carry/shoulder, such as a loaded touring bike or something with full panniers. However, the panniers would make the bike too wide to sit in the gutters. Plus it’s awkward to push your bike only from one side. On the one hand I’m glad they’re trying, but this ends up being pretty much just a waste of money.
Unlike lanO I do occasionally use the pedestrian bridge, particularly if I am coming from the Southeeast and plan on using MAX, in which case the 39th street bridge is a bit out of the way. When pressed for a better way to (cost effectively) make the bridge more bike friendly I pretty much come up blank, however. Better to make the vehicle overpasses all have bike lanes or wide shoulders, probably.
I have not even tried to use this bridge. I usually am on a tandem with kids or have a trailer. I’ve been told that it would be challenging on anything other than a normal bike. Is this true? Guess the city is still forgeting us families on bikes.
I’m not sure it’s a case of intentional neglect, it’s just that larger than normal bikes (trailers, tandems, extracyxles ectetera) are inherently more difficult to accomodate.
There’s no easy way to make this bridge bike friendly, and it seems best left as a pedestrian only area. I can’t see anything wrong with that. Very European.
Jonathan wrote:
“This is the first place I know of where bicycle boulevard markings (those white dots) have been placed on the sidewalk.”
I believe there is a Blvd sticker on the sidewalk at 37th and Prescott – to indicate that cyclists should pull onto the sidewalk before crossing Prescott heading north. This is because of that notorious blind corner there.