(Photos © J. Maus)
Improving on a dangerous situation where right-hooks were common, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has changed the lane configuration and striping on N. Broadway at Larrabee.
You might recall back in October 2010, when we pointed out that after the Eastside Streetcar project came through, PBOT put the bike-lane curbside for the length of Broadway just before Larrabee. With many large trucks turning right (north) on Larrabee from Broadway, this created a lot of potential for right hooks. Broadway is a very busy bike route with people traveling straight in the bike lane through this intersection to get on the Broadway Bridge.
In December, volunteer activists with Active Right of Way listed the intersection as one of several bike safety concerns along the new streetcar route and in February, we shared helmet cam footage of one man who was nearly hit by a right-turning truck.
Today I noticed that changes have finally been made to the intersection to address this situation.
The new configuration is similar to how the striping was before the streetcar came through. Midway on the block leading up to Larrabee, the curbside bike lane drops and people on bikes merge over one lane in order to continue straight. In the new configuration, right-turning motor vehicles are to the right of through traffic.
PBOT has also added a “Copenhagen left” or two-stage turn box at the northwest corner of the intersection. This was done to help people on bicycles turn left (south) onto Larrabee from Broadway (now that streetcar tracks now occupy the left turn lane).
Leading onto the Broadway Bridge, PBOT has also re-striped the bike lane.
In my observations today, the new configuration seemed to work well and every person I saw managed to make the merge to the new bike lane without any problem.
Glad to see this finally get done. Please share your experiences with the new striping in the comments.