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City to launch safety campaign focused on ”high crash corridors”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward


SE 122nd and Division is #2 on the City’s
list of most dangerous intersections.

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is set to launch a new safety campaign based on “high crash corridors,” which are wide streets with fast motor vehicle traffic that have a higher than average amount of crashes.

According to PBOT, funding for the new campaign comes from $260,000 of new state revenue taken from the Jobs and Transportation Act (HB 2001) that passed during last year’s legislative session. Mayor Sam Adams (who oversees PBOT) will launch the campaign at a press event at SE Foster and 108th tomorrow morning.

Here’s a first-look at one of the new banners that will be hung in clear sight of road users on these dangerous streets:

PBOT has identified 10 high crash corridors, but in order to make an impact, they will focus limited funding on four of them:

PBOT’s Crash map of
SE 122nd Ave.

In addition to the “See Kids” banner, PBOT has a series of banners with different subject matter including someone on a motorcycle, on a bicycle, and one that refers to the enforcement consequences of distracted driving/cell phone use.

PBOT traffic safety staffer Mark Lear says the campaign will be a “comprehensive look at safety in each of these corridors.” Lear also says these new safety efforts will be similar to their 82nd Ave of the Roses High Crash Corridor Safety Project that wrapped up in 2008.

As detailed in today’s Portland Tribune with the headline, Danger! It’s getting more dangerous to cross Portland streets, PBOT, with funding and collaboration from ODOT, are trying to tame Portland’s widest, highest-speed streets. To do that, PBOT will focus on the “Three Es” of traffic safety; education, enforcement, and engineering. On 82nd, among the changes were new median islands and other crossing and intersection treatments.

For more on Portland’s high crash corridors and most dangerous intersections, read this in-depth story by Peter Korn of the Portland Tribune.

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