A five-day closure of NW Naito Parkway begins tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. The closure is due to a City of Portland Bureau of Transportation project to repair the Union Pacific Railroad tracks that cross the road as it passes under the Steel Bridge.
The closure will last from tomorrow morning through 6:00 pm on Monday, August 8th.
PBOT will have a signed detour for north and southbound bike traffic (see map below the jump)…
Northbound bike traffic will head onto the path in Waterfront Park at NW Couch and use the path to cross tracks. Southbound bike traffic will be routed onto the sidewalk just north of the tracks, then it will be routed across Naito via the crosswalk north of the tracks onto the east sidewalk where it will join the Waterfront Path to continue south. Bike traffic can rejoin Naito at NW Couch or continue southbound in Waterfront Park.
I’ve asked PBOT for more details on what exactly “railroad track repair” entails. It would be great to smooth out the pavement near these tracks. (Many of you might recall these tracks because this portion of Naito Parkway was on the most recent Sunday Parkways route.)
More importantly, I’ve also asked if there’s a chance they will take this opportunity to finally stripe the bike lane and close the “Naito Gap” that has existed since June 2007. Currently there is a bike lane on Naito that ends just before the Steel Bridge overpass and then starts up again on the other side.
PBOT is already aware of the Naito Gap and has even shared plans on how they intend to fix it; but the gap remains.
I’ll update this story and/or post a separate one once I hear back.