The bike lane on SW Broadway between Montgomery and Harrison will be closed for up to a week due to a busted sewer line.
Here’s the story from KGW:
The city is just beginning its investigation into the burst pipe but says auto traffic will narrow to two lanes and a popular bike route along the SW Broadway corridor will be closed for up to a week, according to city spokeswoman Sheryl Cook [correct spelling is Cheryl Kuck — Ed.].
And the Oregonian reports that,
Traffic will be able to use two lanes, including the parking strip, but the bike lane is closed.
O.K., so the bike lane is closed, but cars (and bikes I presume) can still use two lanes? Maybe not.
The KGW story has this from PSU’s communications director Scott Gallagher:
Gallagher said the university would coordinate with the city to make sure bicyclists were aware of the lane closures on SW Broadway and found alternative routes downtown.
Alternative routes? If two lanes are open to “traffic”, why would bikes (which are also traffic) need an alternative route?
So far, no details have come from PDOT. Stay tuned for an update.
UPDATE – 10/23, 8:15am:
And here’s more information from PDOT’s Cheryl Kuck about the bike lane situation:
“We have not recommended that bikes take alternative routes. We have simply closed the bike lane and parking lane to allow room for the sewer repair work that is necessary. We have moved traffic to the west side of Broadway, keeping two travel lanes open.
There is no separate bike lane right now on Broadway between Montgomery and Harrison…we recommend bicyclists be especially careful through this stretch of Broadway and motorists be on the look out for bicyclists as this is a popular bike route downtown. We made no recommendation that bicyclists seek another route.”
(I’d also like to note (as a commenter did below) that it’s great to see PDOT and PSU officials immediately consider and acknowledge the impacts of this on bike traffic.)
[Thanks to readers Tait and Rachel for the heads up.]