PBOT will begin installing new 20 mph signs next month

Ginny Burdick with new speed limit sign

The wait is almost over.
(Photo: Michael Andersen/Portland Afoot)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is gearing up to install 300 new speed limit signs throughout the city. The new signs are the result of a law PBOT passed in 2011 that gives the city legal authority to lower speed limits by 5 mph on residential streets that have been specifically designed as bikeways (a.k.a. neighborhood greenways). Since these neighborhood greenway streets are already at 25 mph, the new law allows PBOT to set the new limit at 20.

The big unveiling of these new signs was in August of last year; but PBOT has yet to install any new signs. We asked PBOT spokesman Dan Anderson for an update on the project last week. Anderson says they plan to begin installing the signs early next month and installation should be complete by April or May. The 300 signs will cover about 70 miles of streets at a cost of $30,00 to $45,000.

The map of locations where the signs will go (which we shared last summer) closely mirrors where PBOT has focused neighborhood greenway projects in the past (PDF). No word yet as to whether or not PBOT plans to accompany the new signs with targeted enforcement actions; but that might be a good idea. As we all know, laws are only as powerful as the enforcement and compliance that accompanies them.

Another speed-related issue we’re following is the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s push to extend the 20 mph speed limit policy beyond Portland. As we reported earlier this month, the BTA has put lower speeds atop their 2013 legislative agenda. Specifically, they will lobby state lawmakers to allow all cities and towns in Oregon to lower residential speed limits to 20 mph. Stay tuned for that debate.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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K'Tesh
K'Tesh
11 years ago

Damn! Now I have a song stuck in my head…

Slow Down… Take it Easy…

Anne Hawley
Anne Hawley
11 years ago
Reply to  K'Tesh

Yeah, thanks for that. 😀

K'Tesh
K'Tesh
11 years ago
Reply to  K'Tesh

Just checked the lyrics… it’s actually “Slow Ride, take it easy”
Gonna have to add Foghat to my iTunes library

Randall Sewell
Randall Sewell
11 years ago

Oh man, I’m so excited about motorists not following these laws either!

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

woot nice signage 🙂 now all I’m thinking is please don’t pass me when I’m doing the speed limit, scary on narrow downtown streets when cars do it.
since they roll over the MAX train bumps as they zip past me

Spiffy
Spiffy
11 years ago
Reply to  Joe

even though they’re not allowed to drive in the MAX lane…

power corrupts…

El Biciclero
El Biciclero
11 years ago
Reply to  Joe

Sorry, Joe–my experience shows that most drivers believe that if you are on a bike, you Must Be Passed. I sometimes get passed even while I’m speeding and using the full lane. Seriously. I can recall one time I was going 29 in a 25 (it was downhill) and had two cars zip around me on a residential street. Another time on another residential street, I had a guy pull around and start calling out numbers (like he was my training coach or something–I’m sure he thought he was being “cool”) as he was driving parallel to me in the oncoming lane, “22! 23! 24!” All I was thinking was “If I’m going that close to the speed limit (25), why are you passing me?”

spare_wheel
11 years ago
Reply to  El Biciclero

illegally taking the lane on burnside and racing to the red light cam is $280 for the motorist and priceless for the cat-6 cyclist.

Spiffy
Spiffy
11 years ago

Jonathan, can you post a new link to the 20 MPH map? the one linked in the previous article points here: http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=50265&a=408315 and says the article doesn’t exist…

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  Spiffy

Hey spiffy, here’s the PDF of the latest map

http://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20mphMapPBOT.pdf

andy
andy
11 years ago

I would like to see it simplified: the speed limit is 20mph for any road which does not have lane markings, and as posted. (Or something like that.) More streets, less signage.

J-R
J-R
11 years ago

Any guess when PPB’s first speed zone enforcement action will be? I’m guessing early in 2015. Sarcasm.

I was almost struck again on Sunday as a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk with a flashing yellow.

It’s all BS until there’s some enforcement, some fines that make it hurt, and some publicity in the general media that makes it clear that traffic laws are real not just a suggestion.

Glenn
Glenn
11 years ago
Reply to  J-R

I agree on the effectiveness of enforcement. While the speed limit is being enforced, perhaps some enforcement could be extended toward cyclists who routinely blow through red lights and stop signs.

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

El Biciclero I hear ya bro, kinda freaks me out when ppl play games while I’m riding but have hard skin and let it roll off me or try too. one time I watched as this couple almost lost control right next to me as they passed. all to stop at a red light

Lenny Anderson
Lenny Anderson
11 years ago

20 MPH, a nice gesture, but it would not have saved my ass this AM when a big pickup seriously cut the corner at NE 7th & Tillamook and just about took me out as I waited to a make a right to continue west on the so called Bikeway. Tillamook is overrun with cut thru traffic and needs diverters at NE 7th and NE 21st.

Terry D
Terry D
11 years ago
Reply to  Lenny Anderson

Absolutely. PBOT is way too shy about diverters. Salmon needs them at 11th/12th (like 86th and Stark/Washington) , 20th and 30th as well…as well as Clinton needing a few when the Division redo is over.

Mabsf
Mabsf
11 years ago
Reply to  Terry D

Ah, 11th and 12 th… My favorite wind tunnels…
I think bicyclists and pedestrians need to get organized and perhaps demonstrate what 20mph really means: having a day-long picnic long a 20 mph street with one 2 radar guns and then flushing friendly signs to everybody who goes faster…

gumby
gumby
11 years ago

Okay. So now the cars that are going through the neighborhood at 50 are going to slow to 40? Nice gesture, but I would be really surprised if these signs change anything. The people that will obey these signs are not the problem.

Peter
Peter
11 years ago

Thanks for checking in on this Jon. I’ll send you another email in a few months if nothing happens. It would have been nice to hear what the delay was for.

Skid
11 years ago

I still think this is ridiculous. 25mph is plenty slow enough.

On the other hand I will be able to keep up with traffic, although I may get a speeding ticket while going downhill.

niko
niko
11 years ago
Reply to  Skid

I agree that 25 is plenty slow enough. 20 can be painfully slow for drivers who are capable safe drivers who need to be somewhere on time- bank, post office, work, etc. It should not be illegal to travel quickly.

Art Fuldodger
Art Fuldodger
11 years ago
Reply to  niko

Interesting word choice, using “painfully”.

Chris I
Chris I
11 years ago
Reply to  niko

BS. Have you driven any of the streets they are proposing this on? They are all narrow, quiet neighborhood streets with cars parked on both sides. You may think you are being safe driving through at 25-30, but you are living a fantasy. Stopping distances increase significantly as your speed increases. I don’t feel comfortable driving faster than 20 on any neighborhood street, because I need to know that I can stop before smashing some kid that chases a ball into the street, or a dog that bolts across after a squirrel.

niko
niko
11 years ago
Reply to  Chris I

Yes, you are all correct. I am living in a very dangerous 25 mph fantasy land of death and injury.

niko
niko
11 years ago
Reply to  Chris I

There is good info there and on this wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_mph_zone

BUT- the research seems to be saying that 20mph is a better speed to be traveling if you are running over people. If I am not running over people I don’t see why 25mph is too fast. My argument is not that 25mph is appropriate for all road conditions (ie- parked cars on each side of a narrow street) in fact it is likely that I will slow to 15mph in these situations, but if there is an open road I dont see why 25mph is dangerous. 25mph is the speed limit- not the speed requirement.

Overall, I think I can safely drive 25mph when it seems safe- even on the streets on this map. But, yes, looking at the evidence, it is safer to get run over by a car only going 15-20mph and 20mph limits do seem to improve neighborhood livability according to the research:
” It is considered to be a space for people who live, work, play and study in the area, not for people who cross the zone to get somewhere else. The theory is to reduce rat running while improving the safety and quality of life in the area.”

OK- fine. Y’all can have some 20mph zones…

are
11 years ago
Reply to  Skid

look at the map again and identify a street on which it would be necessary to go 25 rather than 20. we are talking about side streets here. there is a faster street a block or two away. and if it is not in fact faster, you have motorists to blame.

Doug K
Doug K
11 years ago

Gee, if you need to be somewhere on time (isn’t that almost everybody?), then you should have left soon enough so that you could get there on time, AND obey the speed limit. Further, auto drivers shouldn’t be trying to make time on these streets anyway. They’re local streets, not arterials.

Hazel
Hazel
11 years ago

Has anyone had any success using this resource to report speeding?
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/299189
I agree that there doesn’t seem to be much traffic enforcement in Portland as it is. Not sure that this new signage will be anything but a waste of money if enforcement isn’t stepped up.

Ron
Ron
11 years ago
Reply to  Hazel

I have submitted several requests for enforcement on NE Fremont where the 20 mph limit is routinely ignored. They finally responded and said that they may get to it if enough people request. Enforcement is a joke in PDX.

Mabsf
Mabsf
11 years ago
Reply to  Ron

Ok Ron… so the first “This is a 20mph-zone” picnic is going to be along NE Fremont? Do you have a date in mind?

jim
jim
11 years ago

20 mph is fast enough for most of the streets the greenways are on, this could be expanded to more residential streets.

jim
jim
11 years ago

Are they making the speed bumps higher? Emergency services aren’t going to like that