family friendly bike corridor.
(Photo © J. Maus)
The long-awaited 50s Bikeway Project — which will use $1.5 million in federal funds to build a low-stress bicycling environment along a 4.3 mile corridor from SE Woodstock to NE Thompson (near Sandy) along 53rd and 52nd Avenues — is entering its final phases of public outreach.
At a meeting of the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) last night, PBOT project manager Rich Newlands asked for the committee’s endorsement of the project (which they gave unanimously). Newlands said PBOT has already won support from seven of eight neighborhood associations the project runs through. The only remaining neighborhood left to vote on the project (Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association) is set to vote on it tonight.
The project itself splits nicely into two distinct sections separated by SE Division Street. To the north, traffic is relatively calm; but to the south, traffic volume is high and so are motor vehicle speeds. Because of that (and because installing a bike lane would require removal of on-street parking) Newlands said the project’s Citizen’s Advisory Committee spent a lot of time discussion alternatives to 52nd.
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In the end PBOT decided to put forward two routes in the southern section of project: a direct route on SE 52nd and an alternate route that weaves through smaller streets (SE 57th, 58th, 56th and 54th) to the east.
In the direct route portion, new, six-foot bike lanes will be installed between Woodstock and Division (a buffered bike lane was preferred by the CAC, but PBOT staff said the idea of removing both sides of parking to get the space required made them “nervous” so they compromised for the bike lanes, getting the extra space by reducing lanes from 12 to 10 feet). The alternate route in the southern section and the northern section will look and feel like one of PBOT’s neighborhood greenways with sharrow pavement markings, speed bumps, and so on.
Since the project launched over a year ago, its price tag has grown too. With too much to fund with the $1.5 million, Newlands announced last night that the “alternate route” portion in the southern section will not be funded immediately and will be a “phase two” to be built later (also in a second phase would be installation of bike boxes and bike traffic crosswalks, both of which are still experimental and cannot be funded with federal money).
At the Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting last night, BAC member Ian Stude praised the project, but said he hopes the City keeps their word on funding the “Phase 2” portion: “It will be on us [the BAC] to hold PBOT’s feet to the fire to make sure second phase is implemented.”
The “hot topic” (in Newlands’ words) of the project thus far has been PBOT’s plans for motor vehicle traffic diversion. PBOT wants fewer cars on 52nd and 53rd and plans to limit turning movements off of Burnside and Division. Some residents that live on adjacent streets have rallied against the idea, fearing more cars would use their streets instead.
PBOT says 52nd near Division gets almost 3,000 cars per day now and they’d like to get that number closer to 1,000.
After a meeting with PBOT about the diversion plans back in May, “a wave of opposition” to the idea spread among residents in the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association. Newlands said neighbors circulated a petition and rallied opposition to the idea. After another heated meeting a few weeks ago, Newlands said he expects a “big showdown” at tonight’s MTNA meeting where the project will get an up or down vote.
“Given the way they’ve been able to mobilize folks in opposition, I’m not necessarily anticipating we will get their endorsement,” said Newlands.
Another facet of the project getting a lot of attention is how to cross SE Powell (a major arterial) at 54th. Currently there’s just a median island and PBOT says they want a new signal. However, Powell is controlled by ODOT and they’ve told PBOT a new signal isn’t warranted. Despite several discussions to “plead our case,” Newlands says ODOT will only agree to a rapid flash beacon. “Even as a fall back,” Newlands says, “that would still be a significant enhancement.”
The Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association votes on the project tonight. Newlands says he’d like to go to City Council with a perfect slate of endorsements. What if the MTNA votes no on the project? “I wish we’d have the full package of endorsements, but it’s not critical.”
Learn more about the project here.