Vancouver between Broadway
and Weidler will become a bus/bike
only lane.
(Photos © J. Maus)
The Stakeholder Advisory Committee for PBOT’s Lloyd District Bikeway Development projects has reached a decision on how to improve North Vancouver/Wheeler Avenues between Broadway and the Rose Quarter.
This project — which includes what we’ve referred to in the past as the “Vancouver Gap” — is one of three the committee is working on (the others, the 12th Avenue overcrossing and a bikeway on NE Holladay are still being hashed out). The committee made their official technical recommendation to the Portland Bureau of Transportation on May 19th.
Below are the recommendations (taken directly from PBOT project staff document):
Bike Left Turn Lane (from Broadway onto Vancouver):
Concept: provide a two-stage turn facility for cyclists turning left from Broadway (similar to the two-stage turn from Weidler onto Williams Avenue)
Recommendation: that the project team investigate creating a two-stage bike left turn facility from Broadway onto Vancouver Avenue.
Vancouver Avenue (Broadway to Weidler):
Concept: convert the westernmost travel lane into a bus/bike only lane.
Recommendation: that PBOT conduct a test of a bus/bike only lane between Broadway and Weidler, subject to the consent of affected agencies (e.g. ODOT, TriMet). If consent can not be obtained or if the test is unsuccessful, this section will be marked with sharrows.
Restriping of the Curve (Weidler to Winning Way):
Concept: provide additional space to southbound cyclists and more definition of motorists’ travel space.
Recommendation: that the section between Weidler Street and Winning Way be restriped to provide additional space to southbound bicyclists. The exact dimensions will be subject to an engineering analysis. Add green bike lane and/or dashed bike lane lines through the intersections of Wheeler with Center Court and Winning Way.
Buffered Bike Lane into Regular Lanes (Winning Way to Multnomah Street):
Concept: separate cyclists and motorists at the north end of the segment and provide facilities that best accommodate the multiple users of the street at the south end, including transit buses, right turning vehicles, and Rose Quarter event traffic.
Recommendation: that the section between Winning Way and the Rose Garden service driveway be restriped to provide additional space for southbound and northbound cyclists using buffered bike lanes; and that the section between the Rose Garden service driveway and Multnomah Street be restriped to provide more space for northbound cyclists and, for southbound travellers, to provide two travel lanes: a shared right lane (marked with sharrows) that becomes a shared right-turn-only lane, and a left lane that becomes a shared left turn lane.
(Investigate adding a bike box and/or bike lane to facilitate bike movement from southbound Wheeler into the Rose Quarter Transit Center. Investigate adding a two-stage left turn for bicyclists from westbound Multnomah into the Rose Quarter Transit Center.)
Committee member Paul Manson tells us that these improvements are contingent on approval from ODOT. The City will have to demonstrate successfully that the changes will not affect access to I-5 (which has on-ramps in the vicinity). If all goes according to plan, the changes will be made this summer and will be officially considered a “test” for two years before becoming permanent.
We’ll have more on this and the other Lloyd District projects as developments warrant. For more coverage, see our Lloyd District Bikeway Projects tag.