of the intersection where
Tracey Sparling was killed.
Last night, as part of a nearly $6 million surplus budget allocation process, Portland’s City Council approved $200,000 to fund bike safety improvements at 14 intersections.
These improvements include new, colored bike boxes and bike lanes at intersections found to be dangerous and in need of immediate treatment by Transportation Commissioner Sam Adams. The safety measures were fast-tracked in light of two fatal collisions and one serious injury collision back in October.
Adams’ transportation policy staffer Roland Chlapowski says the $200,000 includes some “contingency money” that would be used if the current projects on the table end up costing more than expected. On the other hand, he said that, “If we don’t use up that money we’ll probably be able to squeeze more projects out of it.”
Chlapowski also said that he is working on a large, more policy-oriented package to take to City Council in the next few weeks. I’ll have more on that soon, but you can expect it to include potential new equipment regulations for city trucks and several recommendations around community policing and the policy and practices of the Police Bureau.