City will move forward with road diet, bike lanes on SE Division

Bike lanes coming soon.

The Bureau of Transportation has announced their intention to move forward on the re-striping of SE Division between SE 60th and 80th. The decision comes after a public meeting held Tuesday where neighborhood residents and other stakeholders expressed strong support for the “road diet” and addition of bike lanes as a way to improve safety on the street.

PBOT reports that 50 people came to the meeting and a “large majority” supported the Phase 1 improvements which include:

  • Removing paint and restriping the new three-lane configuration, including one travel lane in each direction, a center turn lane, bike lanes east- and westbound, plus a bicycle lane on SE 60th Avenue northbound to connect to the SE Lincoln Neighborhood Greenway;
  • Installation of a marked crosswalk with a pedestrian island between SE 67th and SE 68th Avenues; and
  • Signal improvements at SE 60th, 71st, and 76th Avenues, including pedestrian push buttons and loop detectors at 71st and 76th Avenues.

Graphic created by the BTA showing before and after lane configurations.

Those loop detectors will be key to maintaining traffic flow, even with one less standard vehicle lane. The signals at 71st and 76th, PBOT says, are currently timed and they changed regardless of whether cross-traffic is present. “The pedestrian push buttons and loop detectors are designed to keep traffic flowing on Division,” PBOT says, “Even with the removal of one travel lane, PBOT’s traffic model shows these signal improvements will provide a reduction of travel times for vehicles moving through the project area.”

This project came out of PBOT’s High Crash Corridor program which aims to tame major arterials that have a higher than average concentration of serious injury and fatal collisions. The re-configuration of lanes on Division is expected to improve safety for all road users, not just people who ride bikes.

PBOT has set aside $100,000 in the current budget for the project and it’s expected to begin this summer. Learn more at the project website.

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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Paul
Paul
10 years ago

Amazing! These improvements will improve things a lot for me, living a few blocks off Division at 70th. Using Division to get to Lincoln will be so much faster, and the ped/signal improvements will be excellent as we cross Division at least once a day walking to Mt. Tabor. Currently crossing Division sucks and walking that sidewalk with no buffer from 40+ mph traffic really sucks. Really happy to hear the project is moving forward!

spare_wheel
spare_wheel
10 years ago
Reply to  Paul

“with no buffer from 40+ mph traffic really sucks”

speeding is a mild form of sociopathy. if pbot and popo were serious about the enforcement of traffic statutes that *really* matter there would be far more enforcement of speeding.

ScottB
ScottB
10 years ago
Reply to  spare_wheel

PBOT doesn’t do speed enforcement, nor are they the ones to direct or budget for PPB. That would be the Mayor at this time.

spare_wheel
spare_wheel
10 years ago
Reply to  ScottB

ever heard of a speed bump, scott?

Andrew K
Andrew K
10 years ago

kudos to the people who showed up and expressed support for this.

whyat
whyat
10 years ago

This sounds fantastic and would be a great addition to this area.

Paul Tay
Paul Tay
10 years ago

Got widths?

are
10 years ago
Reply to  Paul Tay

something like eleven feet per travel lane and six foot bike lanes

dmc
dmc
10 years ago

It’s amazing how this section will be transformed from zero bike friendliness to a major artery with just some simple re-striping.

Chris
Chris
10 years ago

Went to the meeting, and must say that there’s a lot of enthusiasm for this project. PBOT did a great job with their presentation, and were good at listening to the concerns about the engineering. One woman recounted the history of this corridor, saying that the community has been waiting for improvements to safety through this corridor since 1972!

Eavan Moore
Eavan Moore
10 years ago

This is fantastic! I cross that street once or twice a day, and it’s a gamble with my life every time.

spare_wheel
spare_wheel
10 years ago

there is absolutely no reason they could not stripe a lane all the way to 39th. and its a tragedy that the division redesign from 7th to 39th did not include a bike lane. i bike division far more than i bike clinton.

NF
NF
10 years ago
Reply to  spare_wheel

Wouldn’t that remove on-street parking from 39th to 50th? I’d be hesitant to remove parking in an emerging business district.

ScottB
ScottB
10 years ago
Reply to  NF

Correct. Division east of 60th is 4 lanes and no parking. To the west it is two lanes with parking both sides, except at a couple busy intersections.

spare_wheel
spare_wheel
10 years ago
Reply to  NF

sorry but 39th to 50th is not twenty third or the pearl. and its about time that pdx started metering side streets and permitting neighborhoods.

ScottB
ScottB
10 years ago
Reply to  spare_wheel

You’re not, like, 12 years old are you? What about everyone else?

spare_wheel
spare_wheel
10 years ago
Reply to  ScottB

i find it amusing that you complain about “everyone else” and then accuse me of being a 12 year old.

zenriver
zenriver
10 years ago

This is great news! and I agree: the project needs to extend in both directions from the 60th/80th nexus. But this is an excellent start– much needed and appreciated.

Blake
Blake
10 years ago

Great to hear. I was just biking on Division today from the 205 path west and when the bike lane ends, it gets a bit hairy, so much so that I turned off of Division and (my fault) ended up on 72nd Ave right the side of Tabor as I tried to cut over to get to 60th. Would have been much nicer to take Division to 60th instead.

davemess
davemess
10 years ago

Great news. Glad this moved forward in such a timely (not that hassled) fashion.
Hopefully these good vibes can rub off on the restriping/streetscape project on Foster!

Todd Boulanger
Todd Boulanger
10 years ago

OMT! Finally PBoT et al …. is starting to chip away at the EW arterials … since all the low hanging fruit have been canned and made into jam. Good by 1940s arterials hello 2000. [Buy that house or business along Division now before prices go up once right sizing is done right.]

davemess
davemess
10 years ago
Reply to  Todd Boulanger

Yes, because Division is already so cheap……. 🙂

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
10 years ago

Excellent news! And the project starts THIS summer? That’s fast. I’ll be one of the first to ride it when it’s done.

Once we’re done with the streets on the High Crash Corridor list, I hope we get around to doing this on Hawthorne. Its 9.5′ travel lanes are below the minimum standard anyway.

davemess
davemess
10 years ago
Reply to  GlowBoy

It would be great to have a race to see which gets done first the 50s bikeway or this division project. Granted the 50s bikeway is a lot longer.

Paula
Paula
10 years ago

Kudos to the neighborhood associations and neighbors for not giving up! Will make this area so much different and accessible.