Esplanade near OMSI to close for 14 months beginning May 1st

This detour is actually pretty darn convenient still. Less scenic though.

Just in time for summer!

But in all seriousness, maybe this detour should be the new, permanent alignment for this route. The two trails are forever connected by surface streets, so the only major difference it makes is a positive: no more sludgy mix of cross/through traffic along OMSI.

Its all good…..we are getting an awesome new bridge and connection to the south waterfront. A little detour is a small price to pay.

I’ve been using this detour as my main route since they re-opened Water Ave. Nice new asphalt, no little kids darting about. What’s not to like?

Everyone start your stopwatches for the duration the detour is actually in place.

Folks — there’s a serious engineering deficiency and safety risk on the Clay St. connecting path — two sets of bollards, both of which are substandard. (“Bollards” are those posts that keep cars from driving onto paths)

If all the Esplenede traffic is diverted on the Clay St. Path, folks will have difficulty negotiating the squiggles through the bollards. Some will crash, some will break bones.

I’ve made a request to the Portland Transportation Safety Hotline once about these, and a rider on the AROW “Transport Your Activism” ride last summer did the same, yet the bollards are still there.

Help us all out — send in an email complaint and ask that they fix these bollards ASAP before the increase in traffic occurs.

Here’s what you do:

send an email to safe@portlandoregon.gov

Subject line: Please fix the bollards on the SE Clay St. Path between the Willamette River and SE Water St.

Message:
The bollards are improperly located, and are a hazard to bicycle and pedestrian navigation. Can you please remove these bollards, or reconstruct them to the standards found in the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan,

Specifically:
* maintain a 5′ minimum width between the bollards
* configure the bollards so there is a single bollard in the middle of the path, or an even number of openings (to reduce head-on conflicts)
* set bollards back 20′ from intersections
* paint them a bright color with reflective markings for visibility
* paint a striped “envelope” around the bollard on the pavement
* consider using flexible bollards, rather than steel bollards
* install stop signs on the minor streets crossing the path
— all cited from (OBPP p. 7-15 – 7-16, 7-11)

ftp://ftp.odot.state.or.us/techserv/roadway/web_drawings/HDM/Appendix_N_BikePedDesignGuide_Web.pdf

Ted Buehler

Couldn’t one also go through the OMSI parking lot south of Clay?

There is a SE 4th Ave.? You learn something new every day.

Don’t turn at Clay. Proceed down Water Ave and take one of the other left hand turns that cut over to the river.

This is a perfect example of why I feel so lucky to live here: anywhere else there would be no consideration given to the needs of people on bikes during construction like this, much less a formal detour.

WOW, just rode the new Water Avenue “detour” this morning. But now, it’s super wide and will be a very nice detour, especially once the bike lanes are striped.

Over the fast few years, this street and 2nd Place have variously been open and closed, had bike lanes and not had bike lanes. Car traffic through there is relatively sparse but relatively “angry” from cut-throughs fleeing traffic congestion elsewhere. In other words, at times I’ve found it a sometimes less-than-pleasant place to ride, and I would still take the waterfront path despite that route’s own hazards. With the latest iteration I’ll have no complaints about the detour.

I agree that the left turn onto the path at Clay can be tricky, but in practice I haven’t had any problems. That light is on a pretty short cycle, so even if there is oncoming traffic you rarely have to wait long for a red light. Once you find yourself there on the red and left-turning traffic (if any) from Clay has cleared, you can just turn left into the crosswalk inches in front of you, and enter the path well before there’s any chance of conflicting with oncoming cars.

I do agree with Ted about the bollards, and those have always irritated me even though I couldn’t necessarily say why. Thanks for quoting the standards.

Even worse, the bollards right at Water Ave are painted a fairly dull color and have NO reflective striping to make them visible at night. I can guarantee you someone will ride into these sometime this winter when it’s dark and rainy and there’s lots of glare from the cars on Water they’re trying to avoid. At least the (nonstandard) bollards further on in the parking lot have strips of reflective tape, just a 2″ DOT strip around the top but a LOT better than nothing.

Turning left onto the esplanade when northbound on Water is a hassle for sure. There’s not a particularly good place to do it. With such a long closure of this section of the esplanade, a left turn signal for bikes at Clay would be a good idea.

For those who want to skip the left turn (and the crowds on the esplanade), Water Ave is actually pretty convenient & safe (there’s a bike lane); it’s part of my preferred route north from the OMSI area to the Rose Quarter.