Someone just sent me a text with the two photos above. The location is N Williams and Beech.
According to the Portland Police, there were two motor vehicles involved and one of the drivers ran away from the scene. (He’s described as a tall, thin, white male, 40-50 years old with gray hair.)
But seriously… How can two people possibly operate their cars at this location in such a way that would result in so much damage and leave one of the cars facing the wrong way in the bike-only lane?
Beech is a tiny residential street and this section of Williams is in a commercial zone where it’s one-way in the northbound direction and there’s one lane intended for driving and another lane intended to be shared by bicycle riders and people accessing auto parking or making a left turn on that block.
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Given that this is one of the busiest bike lanes in the city, seeing this type of carnage is very disheartening. Steve Bozzone, a local resident and neighborhood activist said via Twitter that, “You need to get some speed going for that. See these crashes with frequency around here, especially near Skidmore & Williams.”
It’s a good thing this didn’t happen at 5:30 when hundreds of people riding bikes pass by this location every hour. We hope no one was hurt and we’ll update this post when we have more information.