A short but crucial bikeway connection between downtown Portland and SW Barbur Blvd will get a bit nicer thanks to the Bureau of Transportation. PBOT announced today that they’ll begin a lane re-striping project that will re-allocate roadway space on SW 5th Ave and SW Sheridan in order to make room for bike lanes.
On SW 5th, plans call for a new, standard bike lane to be striped between 6th and Caruthers and then a buffered bike lane between Caruthers and SW Sheridan. PBOT is also set to add sharrow pavement markings on Caruthers and Sheridan between 5th and 6th.
Here’s the before…
And the after…
In a press release about the project, PBOT referred to the changes as necessary to “provide important bike lane connections.”
Southwest Portlander Keith Liden, a veteran citizen activist, has pressed PBOT for these changes for several years. “I think I first brought this up in 2006,” he told me on the phone today. Liden says he’s “thrilled” to finally see it happen. “It’s an important connection because we have these disconnects in this area. Now it [bikeway on SW 5th coming south from downtown] just ends and it’s sort of like, good luck getting to Barbur.”
PBOT spokesperson Cheryl Kuck says the striping components of the project will cost about $10,000 and were budgeted for several years ago through funds set aside out of the Affordable Transportation Fund created by Mayor Adams in 2009 (it was originally called the “Bicycle Infrastructure Improvement Fund”). According to Kuck, PBOT crews will also be re-paving 3.4 lane miles of SW Barbur (south of Sheridan) at the same time to the tune of $520,000.
Work on this project is set to be completed on October 17th.