could be mistaken for parking space.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)
The new northbound bike lane on 52nd Avenue between Woodward and Division replaced a parking lane, but since July we’ve heard from many readers that the stripe of paint hasn’t stopped people from leaving their cars and garbage cans there.
City traffic engineer Eva Huntsinger said in an interview Thursday that “no parking” signs will go into the commercial node north of Woodward after a discussion about the subject by city staff late last week.
Hopefully these signs will make things safer for people like reader David Ross, who got in touch in July to share his thoughts.
“As it is both car and bike lane are far too narrow,” he wrote in an email. “Parked cars straddle the bike lane line forcing bikers to veer in and out of a narrow lane of traffic made even narrower by the mentioned parked cars hanging out into traffic. To safely pass a parked car a cyclist needs to ‘take the lane.’ On 52nd? During rush hour? I was looking forward to the new lanes but the northbound side is the worst bike lane I’ve seen anywhere in a long time. It was safer for cyclists before the new lanes. The northbound side is a disaster waiting to happen and an overall bummer for northbound cyclist.”
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I was on 52nd yesterday a bit further north, between Division and Powell, and didn’t see any parking trouble in that residential area at the time. But it was easy to see why people might get confused about what the wide bike lane is for:
By contrast, here’s how much difference a fresh bike stencil makes on the lane itself:
We’ll continue to track this issue after the signs go in and see if they’re successfully changing people’s behavior. Meanwhile, here’s one resident who’s dealt with traffic patterns on 52nd by adding a sign of her own:
Various readers have written in that they like other new features of the almost complete 50s bikeway, including the southbound lanes and nice touches like these green turning boxes where the Woodward neighborhood greenway intersects:
As we shared in today’s Weekend Event Guide, North Tabor neighborhood advocate Terry Dublinski-Milton will lead a tour of part of the 50s bikeway on Saturday. That might be a good time to check it out and compare notes on how to keep the city informed about how it’s being used.
[Publisher’s note: People parking their cars in what are supposed to be bike-only traffic lanes is a chronic problem for PBOT. For more on the issue, re-read our 2011 post, Cars parking in bike lanes: How can we fix this problem? – Jonathan]
Thanks for reading.
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why no stencils?
This is the question.
It does seem like “bike” road markings should be more liberally used. Here and elsewhere.
Otherwise, hard to blame drivers for mistaking this unmarked curbside bike lane for a shoulder or for parking.
While driving down 52nd, just had an exchange of horns and hand signals
(aka the bird) with a minivan parked in the bike lane at 52nd and Woodstock. When driving down SE 52nd (I still use side streets on a bike)
I sometimes have to honk at other drivers, or drive in such a way as to slow
other drivers down around cyclists.
They need many, many more stencils. BTW- instead of the constant hating on cars- it would be nice if there were more cooperation. When I am in a car I can take on a pick up truck on your behalf- and I will. I am a good driver and the car levels the playing field with other drivers if they are acting poorly around pedestrians or people on bikes.
Except when you drive 52nd with cars and vans parked in the bike lane and you have to swerve into oncoming traffic because they don’t actually fit. That might have been their first clue.
Keil,
Not done yet? The bike lane marking standard is to place them about every 500 feet ~ 2 blocks (it was 1000 ft with the diamonds every 250 ft between). Sharrows are placed 250 ft apart, but opposite directions are staggered, so you see a symbol every 125 ft.
This bike route is not even close to that standard then.
Where are people supposed to put their trash/recycling/yard waste cans?
The parking strip.
makes sense, thanks.
Often it’s the garbage company who leaves the cans in the street. I put mine on the parking strip and always come home to them in the street.
Anywhere but a traffic lane?
but not a sidewalk…
Sidewalks are a traffic lane in this snark.
The shoulder of the road….oh excuse me I mean bike lane.
That’s ODOT’s definition, at least. The bike lane: that space at the edge of the road that keeps drivers from driving into a ditch when they text or nod off behind the wheel.
I frequently see cars parked in that lane just south of Mitchell, near Toast. I hope Toast & the medical office there will remind their customers not to park in the bike lane.
This! I went by Toast around 11am Monday (a holiday) and there were 6 or 8 cars parked in the bike lane, several of them wide enough to severely overhang it. Once one car does it, others think it’s legit, I guess.
I called Toast today and the woman I spoke with thought at first that I was asking where I could park my car. She rattled through a well-rehearsed list of nearby places people can park other than the east side of the street — it was obvious she gets the question a lot.
Then I made it clearer that I was a reporter, and she confirmed that customers do regularly park in the bike lane. She said she thinks this is because there are no “no parking” signs there.
We’ve called them before, shortly after the lanes were installed. They sounded a little annoyed, as if they have had many complaints. I can only imagine how annoyed they are 2 months later.
Not only are there no “no parking signs”, but for the first month+ they left the old signs ups (that said that you couldn’t park 20 feet to the corner). This definitely gave the incorrect impression that you could park anywhere but those signed areas.
Just bad planning on PBOT’s part all around. Not enough stencil, on street markings, and no signs (even temporary ones would have been great).
A big change like this needed to be spelled out the general public A LOT more clearly.
I note that Toast chose to convert its parking spaces to tables. Now, on weekends, Toast customers park on the west side of SE 52nd and jaywalk to get to the restaurant. Sometimes there are bikes in front of Toast- but mostly customers seem to drive. Seems like the Portland way- externalize your costs & burdens to the neighbors while pretending that people don’t drive to restaurants.
Toast needs to sublet the parking lot behind the convenience store. If the cater to drivers (They do) they need to deal with the cars responsibly. I am really tired of the jaywalkers.
Toast also gave up their most prime parking space for a bike corral (which was often pretty full) before the bike lane was put in (which the lane had to remove). So I wouldn’t exactly demonize them at this point.
Not demonizing them- but the corral isn’t usually full. Toast is just one example of Portland’s failure to reconcile fantasy with reality. The reality of Toast is that there is a lot of jaywalking during weekend brunch. They have externalized their costs onto a residential area and they are on the brink of causing bad feeling with the neighborhood.
Do you know this for a fact? I go to Toast fairly consistently, and parking for them rarely extends past 100 feet or so from 52nd on the side streets (were one of these houses my home, I would view this as an okay tradeoff for having walkable access to a great place like Toast).
The “parking lot” you mention that toast uses for outdoor seating would maybe fit 2-3 cars maximum. And is jaywalking really a big issue? We’re you just posting about that we need to maintain slower speeds on 52nd?
I get that you’re not individually trying to blast Toast, but living in a city means some street parking. We can’t expect all businesses to provide their own parking lots.
I agree. The biggest problem is, one car does it, and all the other car drivers think it must be legal too.
I had a horrendous experience biking past the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens one time, when they had an open day.
There were FORTY-TWO CARS parked in the bikelane outside the park.
I called parking enforcement, but they were shut because it was a holiday (typical).
Called the police non-emergency line, and reported it. They said they would send someone out, but I hardly think they were going to follow up on a parking complaint.
Has anybody had any success with calling the police for parking violations? As in, have they actually showed up to ticket?
No, I own a building in NW with a parking lot. People regularly block it by parking in front of it. I’ve stopped calling because the police don’t really care. Note to everyone, if you’re having trouble parking in a neighborhood, just block someone’s driveway or parking lot. Portland police really don’t care so you get your pick of spots and there’s nothing the property owners can do about it. So now that I’ve vented, please don’t do that, it’s really inconsiderate and has caused me a ton of issues. If you’re a misanthrope and only care about what you can get away with, go forward with the blocking driveways plan. If you actually care about people, ride your bike or drive around in circles until you find a spot.
Yes maybe PBoT could put more no parking signs here as well? and start enforcing it? There are cars parked here daily, probably 2/3 times that I ride past.
have you called any in to parking enforcement? I’ve done this a couple of times.
I saw someone from Toast apparently telling a driver not to park in front, but often the cars are a little north, not visible from inside the restaurant. I’d rather see more stencils than have “no parking” signs adding to visual clutter.
While you’ll often see me saying that signs do not work, for parking situations I think both help. When people park cars in an urban environment they tend to be mindful of whether they’ll be towed or ticketed or not so tend to look for signs telling such details. On the roadway they tend to blend into the visual periphery, especially when distractions such as bicyclists are present.
503-823-5195 ext 3. Put it on your phone. Portland parking enforcement. Or you could be nice and put a sticky note on the car asking them not to park there because it’s actually a well used travel lane….
And 503-823-3333 (Police non-emergency line) for after hours/weekends.
it’s illegal to leave a note on somebody’s car…
River Road in Milwaukie could use some of this, too.
I actually wasn’t sure whether or not cars were allowed to park in bike lanes. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it were legal.
811.550 Places where stopping, standing and parking prohibited. This section establishes places where stopping, standing and parking a vehicle are prohibited for purposes of the penalties under ORS 811.555. Except as provided under an exemption in ORS 811.560, a person is in violation of ORS 811.555 if a person parks, stops or leaves standing a vehicle in any of the following places:
(23) On a bicycle lane. Exemptions under ORS 811.560 are applicable to this subsection.
(24) On a bicycle path. Exemptions under ORS 811.560 are applicable to this subsection.
https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2013ors811.html
Why is there no curb separating the bike lane from the car lane? This would eliminate the confusion.
Paint is cheaper than cement.
exponentially so.
And it also limits your ability on a bike to avoid debris or other riders in the lane, or to take left turn lanes.
Striping estimate: $1/ft per 4 inches of width; Curb: $20/ft + drainage impacts.
Then a bike would be trapped in the bike lane by the curb. It is important to be able to move between the two lanes, to pass slower riders, avoid leaf piles, make turns, etc.
Also, cars need to turn in/out of driveways, maybe Trimet and school buses need to pull over, street cleaners and plows need to do their job, etc.
A well-designed curb can still facilitate this movement. Make it shallow enough to ride over, but deep enough that it’s still obvious to people driving cars that this is a space not for them. This is how bike lanes are designed in Denmark.
Oh, I didn’t realize you meant a rounded, shallow hump. I think that will still be less effective in conveying “no parking” than roadway markings explicitly so stating. Since we don’t have those shallow humps here, most drivers won’t know what it is/means. But everyone knows what “NO PARKING” or “stick bike” means. Almost everybody.
During peak hours there is quite a bit of speeding. IMO, the stretch between Division and Powell needs some of the new speed bumps that are emergency vehicle friendly.
That segment is not currently a Major Response Route, but PF&R is requesting it be added as a secondary route, and such routes would be eligible for the fire friendly speed cushions.
I ride this route daily, and can’t say I’ve encountered a lot of speeding (esp. when the cars are backed up at peak hours).
heres an idea- someone prints and sells ready made notices. puting it under the windsheild wiper would be better than a sticky note so it doesnt fly away and cause trouble in wind.
I think calling PBOT is a great idea. today i called them about the lack of a sensor loop on 52nd and foster southbound for the bike lane (maybe i missed seeing it. if you notice PBOT has changed the style of loop for bike lanes on 52nd making them diagonal instead of boxes, also they have started to place them more forward instead of 2 feet back from the white stop line. this is a story in itself i think.
i agree getting ‘no parking’ signs, especially infront of businesses would help. we could either call PBOT or if someone wants install it themselves DIY. that may be illegal i guess. geez i love to bike on that street now with those lanes, although im more upset about the cars that wander in and out of the bike lane while driving than i am the people who park, who i can forgive unless they live on that street, then they should know right?
it’s illegal to leave a note on somebody’s car…
I cannot find an Oregon law that corroborates that. It’s probably illegal to leaflet cars, but that’s different than a note. In fact, OR DMV says you’re required to leave a note under certain circumstances: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/pages/driverid/accidentresp.aspx#unattended
I have been leaving notes on parked cars that I encounter. I would rather not have them get an $80 ticket for what may well be an honest mistake. Perhaps this is illegal, but I don’t care.
I will of course call parking enforcement on repeat offenders, but I haven’t seen any yet.
Who cares. It’s illegal to park in the bike lane, not to mention exceed the speed limit, not come to a complete stop at an occupied crosswalk and all the other selfish idiotic things people do with their cars. Letting them know about it is the least of anyone’s concern with regards to the letter of the law.
Like John said, there may be laws against leafleting, but I’d be surprised if leaving an individual note an individual car is illegal. In fact, I think you could make a strong case that it is constitutionally protected speech, at least in Oregon.
If you look at the design document the city released, it shows that the bike lanes running between Foster Rd and Powell Blvd are spec’d to be solid green. I was really excited for this – thought it would bring a nice presence to the neighborhood. Anyone know if they have not finished painting/signage on this stretch?
they need to fix the pavement in the northbound lane next to Plaid… huge holes of broken pavement… they need to fix that before they paint…
Call it in the the pot hole hotline! I called it in about 3 weeks ago, but I’m sure more calls would help!
I try and avoid 52nd on a bike..its pretty much a grid between division and flavel.. go a few blocks east or west and you have a nice neighborhood street to ride on..
I take this route daily for work, and I disagree that the northbound lane is dangerous. Probably once every 2-3 days I would encounter a car parking in the bike lane (usually the Toast block as others have described). Other than that I have only run into a handful of cars parked in the lane. I have yelled at a few who have been (one guy was actually sitting in his, and pulled up next to me a few blocks later and asked me what I was yelling about. I explained that he was parked in a new bike land, even though they were poorly marked. He took it surprisingly well) parked illegally. It is very annoying to have to go around these cars (which is a good bit more difficult than it used to be on the old road).
One minor quibble with the article the section between Powell and Division has only be finished for a couple of weeks (so people couldn’t have been complaining about it since July). Before that it was an unwelcome torn up road for 4+ months.
I’m really curious where the “commercial node North of Woodward” is? North after woodward it is almost exclusively residential. By far the worse section has been the Toast section around Steele that others have described above.
The bike lane on 52nd just shows how much work we have to do in SE, I take side streets and greenways over that jam anytime or day.
Can you share why you don’t take the bike lane? Supposing that cars aren’t illegally parking in it (which definitely doesn’t happen all the time), what are your reasons and fears?
My partner prefers bike boulevards over bike lanes because 15-20 mph speed differentials make her uncomfortable. IMO, this is why we need to reduce traffic speed on roads with bike facilities (even protected ones).
I’m not sure that what makes some cyclists in a bike lane “uncomfortable” should determine the acceptable speed in the adjacent car lanes. Some cyclists ride very slowly and have a very low threshold of discomfort. If someone is poking along at 10 mph and is uncomfortable with a 15 mph speed differential, they might demand that cars drive <25 mph. 25 mph is a reasonable car speed limit for a narrow urban road, but on a wide road with a wide, well marked bike lane, that is slower than what even careful and considerate drivers will naturally drive, and is slower than what is actually necessary for safety. I'm not familiar enough w/ this particular road to say what the speed limit should be.
I think the marked 30 is okay. I personally don’t encounter a lot of speeding, and the new bike lane is pretty wide. If someone is riding at 10 mph then I could see this being uncomfortable, but isn’t that why we try to have different types of facilities for different types of riders?
Spare, I hear you. But I think if we are demanding a reduction in speeds for all roads with bike facilities we may just see PBOT balking at adding facilities to major roads.
25 seems like plenty to me on this road.
Unfortunately, I believe it is illegal to put flyers on cars for any purpose. I think it would be a good idea to make an exception for things like this.
I ride the Woodward to Lincoln stretch of 52nd every day. It’s much better than before and I wouldn’t go back, but I do wish something was done about all the sewer caps, water valves, and drains in the bike lane. Not a one of them is level with the asphalt. I don’t know what it takes to level such things, but it would be a lot safer if they were. I leave the NB lane at one point, it’s safer than hitting them. Come winter, they are going to be no fun at all.
I do like the bike boxes at Woodward, seems to be much clearer to everyone what to do and who is going where.
The right turn lane NB at Division likewise works well, everyone seems to know what to do and where to go. The no cars northbound of Division is nice, people are still driving it but I expect that will decrease with eventual signage and paint when the intersection is done.
There is also going to be a concrete island at the north part of the division intersection (you can see the outline drawn on the street). This should reduce (though not eliminate) cars driving through.
Don’t mean to state the obvious, but there are no bike stencils visible in the lane in almost all of the photographs.
People who park in the lane then use this to their advantage. I know this, because I’ve confronted people parked in the bike lane, and they always turn to me, and say, “Where does it state it’s a bike lane?”.
To which I have to concede, “Nowhere”. Because there are no bike stencils.
It makes me want to grab a can of white spray paint and a stencil, and go put my own stencils in.
Technically it’s still a bike lane even without the stencils. The white line is 8″ wide and that designates it as a lane marker, not a shoulder, parking or fog line. I had this same argument with a cop once when he challenged me on the fact that Broadway has a bike lane from Hollywood to PSU (bridge MUP excepted) when he asked, “where’s the bike stencil?”
Yeah but no one knows this except bike geeks.
Is there ever a white lined 6 foot parking strip though?
I think that’s one of my main beefs. If you car is clearly over the white line and doesn’t fit, why do you think the city designed this as a parking lane?
The same thing is happening on SW Vermont near Wilson High. PBOT put in a nice wide bikelane where there used to be parking a few months ago and it has been a parking lot ever since. It’s close to two schools, sports fields, swimming pool, famers market. PBOT has done a lot of enforcement and people are warned by the schools, famers market etc. I guess habits die hard. And one person starts to park the car there and then the others follow like sheep without paying attention.
Whenever you encounter cars using a curbside bike lane as a parking lot, send an email to safe@portlandoregon.gov and ask them to implement some of their off-the-shelf countermeasures to better mark the bike lane.
You can just say
*****************
“Hey, there’s cars parked in the bike lane in the 123 block of XYZ street. Can you add some more pavement markings or signage?”
Love,
A. Regular Bicyclist
******************
Or you can cut and paste this:
******************
Dear PBOT —
The bike lane in the 123 block of XYZ street often has cars parked in it. Can you add some markings from the MUTCD or PBOT’s Bicycle Engineering and Design Guidelines?
MUTCD Section 9C.04 says the bike lane stencil, if used, should be
placed at the beginning of the bike lane and periodically afterward,
based on :engineering judgement.” In my engineering judgement, there aren’t enough of these. Can you take a look at this and see if you think more should be put in?
But, the diagram associated with bike lane markings, Figure 9C-6,
visually shows that a bike lane against a curb can have, in every
block,
* a bike lane painted stencil
* a bike lane sign, and
* a “no parking” sign.
This whole package deal would be really helpful in letting cars know that this is a bike lane.
Also, PBOT’s own “Bikeway Design and Engineering Guidelines” has two
additional authorized markings to clarify bike lane vs. parking lane
confusion.
1) Page 33 recommends adding series of diamond stencils between the
bicycle stencils, which “helps with the enforcement of no parking in
bike lanes.”
2) Page 34 offers a “Right Lane Bicycle Only” sign to “be used
sparingly, in cases where clarity is needed.”
If you could install some of these signs and markings, either MUTCD or PBOT certified, it would go a long way toward keeping me and my peeps safe on our bicycles.
Love,
A. Regular Bicyclist
links:
MUTCD bicycle chapter: http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009r1r2/part9.pdf
PBOT Bicycle Guidelines:
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=40414
There’s also a block on the stretch of Multnomah that’s being rebuilt with new raised-concrete bike lanes, where people are parking in the new bike lane. Probably isn’t properly signed yet.
That’s awesome! Is there a link to this project with more info?