on SE Spokane St.
(Photo © J. Maus)
With their extensive plans for bike boulevards in the coming years (they’ve got 60 miles of them coming by 2013), it’s clear that the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has made residential street safety a high priority.
Residential streets don’t garner the media attention that projects in commercials areas do, but according to PBOT they deserve priority because most trips start at home and 70% of Portland’s streets are residential.
On Monday (1/11), PBOT’s top traffic safety specialist, Greg Raisman, will share their latest and greatest thinking on the topic at a presentation titled, Lessons From Europe: A Look at Residential Streets. The event is being hosted by the Land Use and Sustainability Committee of the Southeast Uplift neighborhood coalition.
Here’s a snip from the event description:
Come hear about residential traffic calming concepts that could take Portland to the next level, making our streets safer for children, seniors, and people with disabilities – and more attractive for walking and cycling. From “bicycle boulevards” to “Safe Routes to School” to “home zones”, there are a lot of ideas that could make our great neighborhoods even better.
And Raisman should know. He’s traveled extensively throughout Europe, camera in hand, documenting various types of roadway treatments. You can see a collection of his photos and videos (some of which only a true transportation wonk will love!) here.
Here are details on the event:
- Residential Traffic Calming Presentation
SE Uplift Land Use Committee
Monday, January 11th
7pm to 8pm
3534 SE Main St
Fireside Room
Thanks for reading.
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Just a heads up – the header says, “this Friday” and the details say Monday.
I think it is Monday, 11th.
Dang! Thanks for catching that Bill. I fixed the title — Jonathan
I wish I could be there. I like seeing the photos of Europe Greg has posted to his Flickr photostream.
Am I missing something here, or are two of the cyclists ingnoring the traffic-calming measures and still riding in the car lane? If you want to know why drivers get annoyed with cyclists, it is just this; the City spends thousands of dollars to make the streets more useable/safe for cyclists and they isgnore the enhancements.
Hi Steve, in our past coverage the guy who designed these has pointed out that these enhancements are intended to slow down car traffic, not to get bikes out of your way as you drive down the street.
Best,
Elly
Steve,
also, to clarify, PBOT has said the channelizer lane is option for bike traffic… now whether a traffic court judge would agree might still be a bit of a grey area.
The grey area concerns me. That story about the case of the cyclist that got hit by the driver and the case was thrown out because evidently the cop wrote the wrong ticket – scares me. I think about it biking and wondering, if I get hit, and if it is investigated, will the officer write the correct charge and then will the judge support the charge… a lot of ifs in the cyclists potential well being. Any follow up on that?
Would it be benificial for new traffic structures to have some signage that shows bikes on both sides and cars only on one side. I would see this more of a education piece for all encountering the new structure and are not sure of the expectations. It could potentially avoid the angry drive situation that another reader described.
Thanks for sayin that Elly!
OK…I did miss something; the fact that use of the diversion is optional…to be honest that just does not make sense to me…either you clearly separate cars anc cyclists, or you don’t…personally, I ride pretty fast and assert my right to the car lane when I need it for safety…this solution just looks ‘fuzzy’ to me, confusing, and asking for an accident to happen.
I cant tell from the pict. if this is a 2 way road or 1 way?