concept under consideration for SW Multnomah Blvd.
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) are teaming up on a project to add sidewalks, stormwater management and bikeways to SW Multnomah Blvd between SW 21st and 31st Avenue. This project is just the first phase of a plan to re-design Multnomah Blvd from SW Barbur all the way through Multnomah Village.
At an open house next week (2/17), the City will seek input on three designs — including a new concept that would separate the bike lane from the motor vehicle lane via a 4-foot wide “infiltration trench” (see graphic above). This design is the latest collaboration between PBOT and BES to combine stormwater management techniques with better bikeways. Some funding for this project is a result of Mayor Adams’ mandate to integrate bikeway improvements into sewer and stormwater projects.
In advance of the open house, I asked PBOT project manager Rich Newlands to share the three bikeway design options that are currently on the table.
One concept under consideration is 7-foot cycle tracks on each side of the street that are raised above the roadway via a curb and separated from a 12-foot sidewalk (not shown in detail below) by a bioswale:
And here’s the new concept that would use an “infiltration trench” as a buffer between the motor vehicle lanes and the bicycle lanes:
A third design is a hybrid of the two:
All the designs under consideration include new, 12-foot sidewalks on the north side of the street (download PDFs of the graphics above for full cross-sections).
The City of Portland is hosting an open house on this project on Thursday, February 17th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Multnomah Center auditorium (7688 SW Capitol Highway).
In case you haven’t been paying attention, there’s been a lot of news coming from SW Portland lately and this project is a perfect opportunity to get involved.