Orange Line/Tilikum Bridge opening day open thread

I hope this day will be noted as the point in history when the metro area truly took a stand against vehiclism. My hat is off to trimet for standing against the haters and Lars Larson listeners. May true freedom ring. The freedom to travel without the aid of a vehicle.

The bridge won’t change how I commute, but it will change the way I recreate, now that I will be able to take my bike on a train to trails south and north of where I live without wasting my energy slogging through city streets (fatbike problems).

The incline and decline is great in my opinion. Perfect for riding or walking.

I sent in a safety improvement request to TriMet and PBOT in April about the “spikes” on the bridge railings.

(Look at the woman in the photo — just to the right of her chin is a pair of “spikes” in the railing. If she was to crash against the railing, her head would be impaled on the spikes).

I also asked for a “Rub Rail” on the railing, so if your handlebars brush against it they won’t snag on the posts.

Yesterday I followed up with TriMet and spoke with Jennifer Koozer, the Community Affairs Manager. She said:

1) My concerns were reviewed by the “Safety and Security Committee” which is an internal committee of TriMet staff. She stated that they were very knowledgeable engineers.

2) Their findings were that some mitigation of the hazard was warranted. Their response was to add a second white stripe on the bridge pavement on the left side of the bike lane to guide people on bicycles away from the railing. I replied that I respectfully disagreed, and that a white stripe wasn’t going to help when crossing the bridge with a 30 mph crosswind and buses going by, or small children darting around on a sunny day. I asked how to have my concerns reconsidered. She wasn’t sure.

3) But she did clarify that she is the point of contact for all concerns. If any of you other folks have concerns about the operational safety of the railing, with the hazard of impalement on spikes, snagging handlebars on the railing, the effectiveness of the white stripe as a mitigation measure, or anything else, you can contact her directly.
KoozerJ@trimet.org or 503-962-2116

Enjoy the ride, everyone, and be safe!

Ted Buehler

Some months ago, there was speculation in this forum that cyclists would be discouraged because the bridge’s grade is the same as the Morrison Bridge’s, and the Morrison is considered steep. Those who rode today, what say you?

Pretty darn rare that a new bridge across the Willamette – in the heart of Portland no less – opens. Unbelievably excited and proud of the city. Going to hit it on my jog today, and yes I will create a Strava segment for it (sorry!!).

I am working today and plan to go out of my way to ride across it for the first time. I hope it is just not too crowded with people.

But, this will not change my route to get to work. But it will be nice to have an extra bridge and hopefully it make the Hawthorne less crowded.

I rode over it around 11:30 am today and it was great! There were a number of pedestrians wandering in the bike lane taking pictures or who just seemed oblivious but I’m sure with more regular traffic it will get better. The incline felt good and easy, a lot better than I had anticipated given the comparisons to the Morrison bridge.

I live in the Lair Hill neighborhood so once on the west side, I took Moody to the elevator and found myself noticing how much lower stress it is than my usual route from the Hawthorne bridge to SW 1st to get home. The connections were a bit wonky and there were some backups at different crossings, especially with younger kiddos not quite understanding where to go. However, I’m very excited to use this route as an alternative to my usual one. Huzzah!

I crossed this afternoon on my way home from work. Didn’t partake in celebrations as I was work tired.

I did notice a huge, and I mean HUGE, increase in car traffic on the east side near Omsi all the way to Clinton. Far more than a typical sunny Saturday.

Kinda sad, especially considering the whole transit network is free today.

I have been desperately waiting for this bridge to open. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture and an incredible addition to the non-vehicular infrastructure in Portland. That said, after riding it today, despite the fact that it is smack in the middle of my twice weekly commute to drop the kid off at school on the East Side (while living on the West Side), I probably won’t use it at all.

Bike access to the bridge is a massive hassle, at least on the West side (the East side approaches seem reasonable. There are at least 2, sometimes 3 lights that you have to wait for crossing Moody and the tracks. I’m happy to wait for lights, but not when I don’t have to do so on any of the other Willamette River crossings.

A fly-over coming off the bridge and avoiding a grade crossing of Moody (for both transit and bikes) would have been a much better approach.

At this point, I’m hoping nobody else realizes how horrible this bridge is for cyclists so that it alleviates some traffic between S. Waterfront and downtown and I can cruise that stretch with less trouble.

I was the 2nd person across the bridge …I was around the area for awhile and rode it several times…I think the grade is steep but manageable and the foot traffic I imagine will not be nearly as bad so it’s hard to judge

By 12:50 I passed the bike counter and it was past 1,000

I got there at 10 AM and it was packed. I rode across about four times, back and forth. My impression is that I hope that today was an anomaly in terms of crowd size, becasue if it continues to be that crowded there will be frequent and serious crashes between bikes and peds. Keep in mind that there were dozens of orange-clad Tri-Met chaperones everywhere, conducting the flow and telling people what to do. Without them it would have been utter chaos. The crossings are not intuitive. Dozens of pedestrians waling in the bike lane is a recipe for disaster, especially with all the Cat-6 bikers here in town.

Overall I love the bridge, but the implementation seems off. The complexity of the crossings at both ends seems much to high for the average distracted walker and biker.

Hope I’m wrong.

Looking at the satellite, did they run a dedicated mup along the entire track? Seems like a huge lost opportunity if they didn’t.

I rode the bridge today, back and forth, pulling my 6′ cargo trailer (I was out running errands).

Overall, yes, it’s a beautiful bridge. It’s a new connection where there wasn’t a good connection before (Ross Island Bridge).

But, it completely validated my concerns, and I fear that because of minor penny pinching, it will not serve the bicycling commuter population as well as it could have had it had a few minor improvements.

1) Spikes. They’re SHARP. Like a hatchet. You could split firewood with one of them — the pointy end is about 1″ across and nearly razor sharp. The sides are also sharp — no roundedness at all, and if you body slam the side of the railing post you’ll probably get cut up. Versus the usual rounded bridge railings we’re accustomed to.

But, at the belvideres there is a “rail” added to the top of the spiked posts. It looks like it was designed that way, since the spikes are a few inches lower at the belvederes than on the narrower sections of the bridge. I’m going to call this a “Railing Cap.”

So that’s a good demonstration of how the spike problem. We say “Hey, thanks for putting those really nice Railing Caps” on the spikes at the belvederes. They look pretty, they fit in with the rest of the bridge aesthetically, and they won’t cause an injury to anyone who crashes on the railing. Do ya think you might be able to add that same type of “Railing Cap” on the bike lane railing on the whole bridge?”

2) Exposed railing posts vs, Rub Rails. It’s bad. I didn’t bring my radar gun, but I’m pretty sure some folks were easily doing 20 mph drifting down the slopes. This was with lots of kids around. On a normal commuting day folks will be doing that all the time, or faster. And if you catch your handlebar on the railing post, it’s going to catch and body slam you into the railing (& maybe spikes).

The Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Design Guide explicitly states that bridges should have a “Rub Rail” to prevent handlebars from catching. It’s basic engineering. It’s state of the art. It’s easy. And it’s easy to retrofit. It will save collarbones, skulls and wrists from getting broken when a person on a bicycle for whatever reason brushes against the railing.

See pic on Page 7-9. ftp://ftp.odot.state.or.us/techserv/roadway/web_drawings/HDM/2011%20HDM%20Rewrite/2012%20Appendix%20L%20Bike%20Ped%20Design%20Guide.pdf

Text is
“Where a cyclist’s handlebar
may come into contact with a fence or barrier,
a smooth, 12 inches wide rub-rail should be
installed at a height of 3 feet.”

Fortunately, Rub Rails are easy to retrofit, won’t cost much, and won’t impact the design. A little more weight and wind loading, but the bridge should be able to handle that…

3) White stripe
As I posted earlier today, TriMet added a white stripe to mark the left side of the bike lane. It’s only about 18″ off the railing, but I suppose it helps a person on a bike visually center themselves in the safe riding area. I’m all in favor of paint as a fix, but in this case the danger is from forces knocking a bicycle off course, not failure to navigate the travel lane. For instance, if there’s a fast Strava rider threading the needle between a slower bicycle in the bike lane and a couple pedestrians, and they brush up against the slower bicycle, the white paint isn’t going to prevent a crash.

So, as I stated above, there are easy fixes to these problems, but to get them done it will take a groundswell of concerned citizens submitting public comment and asking for safety improvements. If you want to do that, drop a line to Jennifer Koozer, Community Affairs Manager at TriMet. KoozerJ@trimet.org or 503-962-2116 My suggestion would be to tell her you like the bridge, ride it regularly, and appreciate the white stripe, but want something physical to protect you from serious injury in the event that you brush against the railing — a Rub Rail and a Railing Cap. Then add some poetry, or a pic of you and your kids smiling on the bridge. Mix it up a bit…

4) West terminus.
I waited at least a minute to go across Moody to exit the bridge. I think a southbound streetcar preempted the bike signal, so I had to wait for an entire extra signal. Seems to me a timing fix can fix this — bike traffic on the bridge should have just as much priority as anything else, and they don’t need to keep Moody on a “timed system” to synch with the rest of the city. After a streetcar goes through, let the people who have waited the longest go first.

My trailer didn’t fit in the queue box waiting to turn south on Moody, and blocked pedestrians and other bicyclists. Plainly, this intersection was not designed for the 2030 Bicycle Master Plan goal of 25% of all trips in the city by bike. It’s going to be clogged up on Monday morning, and every weekday after that. I had to wait another minute or more to go south on Moody, with my trailer clogging up the area. There’s lots of types of long bikes in this city — Extracycles, tandems, Bakfeits, Kid trailers, cargo trailers, trailabikes, Soupcycles, Icycle Tricycles, B-Line Bike Trucks. It’s not like long bikes are unusual. Infrastructure should be designed with a long bike as the design vehicle.

5) East terminus.
They finally opened the cycletracks on Tilikum Way from the bridgehead out to Water Ave. They are really skinny. I can maneuver my trailer through skinny stuff, and this was skinny stuff.

Otherwise it was the same old “gallery of all types of bicycle facilities crammed in a 12 block space” that it’s been for the last six months. Passable, but not navigable for the first few times you do it.

So, hey, it was a beautiful day and I got to ride over a beautiful bridge, with no engine exhaust or growling trucks. And I liked it. But, they took a whole lot of effort to make the bridge beautiful. And aesthetically cohesive. And have coordinated lights like a mood ring. And have streetcars and buses and MAX trains dovetail together seamlessly at each end, and give positive experiences to users. But people on bikes get this second-class citizen treatment — the sidewalk is not much wider than the Hawthorn Bridge sidewalk, which is proven to be dangerously narrow. Bikes get low priority on traffic signals at all ends. The designers didn’t, apparently, even flip through the state’s Design Guide to see how to make the safest possible railing. And then they add spikes to the whole deal.

I wish they would have made a few more steps to make the *bike experience* as beautiful as the *transit experience* and the *bridge architecture*.

Food for thought,

Ted Buehler

I was one of the people in orange helping (volunteering) people figure out how to cross the tracks near OMSI station. Everyone was in good spirits and patient with each other which was nice to see.

That said, the design of the bridgeheads is horrible and will only get worse with age. Just look how they have turned Gateway into a cattle chute.

Walked the bridge today, starting about 1:30 in the afternoon. The bridge is definitely the best investment the city has made in a long time. Nice wide bike lanes and relatively wider pedestrian lanes. To the south, extraordinarily beautiful views of the river. In terms of architectural design and form to function, the bridge is superb, beautiful to see from a multitude of angles and a range of distances away.

On the bridge’s downgrade with a bike, there is a potential to go very fast, easily over 15 mph. People biking that fail to moderate their speed of travel compatibly to that of people walking on the adjacent pedestrian lane, stand to diminish the safety and quality of function the bridge offers.

While being aware that for some people, the desire for fast travel is a top priority, it may be worth encouraging them by some means, to find elsewhere than this bridge to travel over 15 mph.

Because of the opening celebration, today was a bit extraordinary, with people on foot lollygagging and enjoying themselves, some wanting to walk two and three abreast, meaning…in some cases, faster walkers chose to enter into the bike lane to pass people walking slower than they.

Some people commenting here earlier, express concerns about what they consider to be on the west side, too many light signals required to pass through in order to get on the bridge from the Moody bike lane. Interesting; maybe they’re thinking that lots of people in a hurry that ride, will just avoid using this bridge so they don’t have to wait through those two or three signals.

Although it’s nice of Ted Buehler to be concerned about bridge design features that could be seen by some as a hazard to people biking, the fence post tops it seems he’s referring to as “…spikes…”, don’t appear to pose this type danger. The fence posts are atop a curb, one purpose of which is to cue people to ride far enough away from the curb so they won’t hit the curb. The bikes front tire, maintained a foot away from the curb should easily keep handlebars clear of the fence posts, with room to spare.

All in all, an excellent, very functional and beautiful addition to Portland’s collection of bridges.

I walked across the bridge yesterday. Love to have it as an option and look forward to riding it. I appreciate the comments and concerns folks have shared. It will interesting when traffic levels normalize. We got on at Bybee station which is below street grade. We brought our bikes down to the platform because bike parking up top was full. We decided to use bike rails on the steps to see how they’d work. They were really challenging to use. The steep decent and design made it not worth using. We saw some just people just choosing to carry their bike up. The elevator is definitely the preferred method. This is also true at the Rhine/Lafayette station.

We also asked about the trail next to the tracks at the Park Ave. station. Apparently it ends at River Road but I’m hoping it will some day connect to Milwaukie’s new Willamette River park and into Sellwood as a connection to the Springwater Corridor trail. And the bike parking at the Park Ave. station looked great. I’m not familiar with “Bike-link” which is what it said we needed in order to access it. I’m assuming it’s a monthly rental to have access to covered, secure parking. Glad it is designed in from the start but not sure what other options for parking were available.

That being said, glad see non-car infrastructure and a focus on people – centric transportation. The bridge is beautiful and great to walk.

I tried to ride to Milwaukie along the Right of Way. I’d like to here more about why a MUP wasn’t built.

gutterbunnybikes
Funny those chaperones were often more in the way than the pedestrians were. More than once I had to wait for one of them to quit scalding the walkers from his/her perch in the middle of the bike lane.Recommended 3

Just like they were during the recent closure of the Moody track for “upgrades”. They were typically standing smack in the middle of choke points.

For my part I resolved to bike down to Miwaukie, and take a free train back downtown. I made it to the end of the well engineered bike path by the Union Pacific hub, and crossed McLaughlin? A big arterial 6 lane highway thing. And lost touch with the tracks for awhile. A teacher from the Miwaukie district, who bikes everyday from aloha, using an ebike, soon joined me as I was waiting to cross. He could maybe sense me trying to get my bearings, and invited me to ride with him. Very cool! We soon made it to the second to last stop

There was lots of great Dark Horse Comics swag in downtown Miwaukie, the second to last stop on the train. The Trimet swag: buttons, stickers and cheap bags; I found to be pretty meh.

While there he showed me the school, and that’s when I spotted what looks like some new biking infra going in under the rail bridge, leasing from downtown Miwaukie to the end of the line. Check out the link to see the picture. (There may be a story there Michael & Johnathan)

There was a Serbian church holding a festival, I had Serbian beer with lamb and pig roasted on a spit over an open flame.

The line for a train back was crazy, especially for people with bikes, so we rode up the spring water and back to Portland. Where I took advantage of the free service for a quick ride up to the top of the hill that has psu on it. As luck would have it, it was an orange line train too!

Mission Accomplished, and bonus He-Man posters and Buffy mugs.

I rode over the bridge 6 times (one way) while towing a Burley Travoy and overall I was very pleased with the bridge.

Compared to the Open Day there was approximately a quarter of the volume as the ride over during Bridge Pedal and the open house – I crossed over around 10pm on my last ride and the count was 3,600 Bikes and 15,000 Walkers.

Compared to the Open House where there was 40,000 Bikes and who knows how many Walkers (100,000?) this was a drop in the bucket, If this is a big day then the designers more than did their job.

As I mentioned in my Comment during the Open House coverage it’s going to be interesting to see how many people will use the Bridge regularly once the fascination/novelty factor wears off – I’m guessing a couple months.

As a Disability Advocate I’m very impressed with the design but I do echo Ted Buehler’s concerns about the spikes – a cap would be a simple correction and not cost that much.

It will be interesting to see how the Hawthorne and Tilikum patterns change over the next few months as people start adapting their riding/walking patterns.

I’m looking forward to riding it this Tuesday! My usual route to see my girlfriend for lunch consisted of barbur followed by the Ross island bridge.
This will be a nice change!

I rode it today, and there was still a fair size crowd due to the Maker Fair, and probably just because it is Sunday and sunny. There are still a lot of pedestrians walking into the bike lane, but if you ring your bell out them, they jump out of the way pretty fast, as the lines and signage make it pretty clear that they aren’t supposed to be walking there. There isn’t much room to pass slower cyclists, but fortunately, it doesn’t take long to cross even at moderate speeds. It’s an important connection that I think will cause the South Waterfront, John’s Landing, Hosford-Abernathy, Brookly and Sellwood to develop fast.

My big issue wasn’t the bridge itself, but when you turn left over Moody. I had a FIVE MINUTE red light. There were a number of trains and busses that cross, but there was a 20-30 second gap where the light turned green. It would seem that given that this area is supposed to be bike-friendly, the city wouldn’t completely screw us over with a five minute red light. I mean, WTF, that is just way too long. That’s a longer red light than one finds on any of the least bike-friendly streets in the city.

Took a ride over the bridge and back from SE Division around 5pm, to see if it might be an alternative route to mix in with my usual daily commute over the Hawthorne.

As I had feared from what I’ve read here, the eastside connection is awful. Coming west off Clinton and crossing 11th + 12th is such a strange, non-intuitive series of stops, turns, and bizarre waits at signals. Same in reverse when I rode back. I completely understand that there were big challenges given the freight/TriMet/vehicular situation there, but still, wow. By the time I hit the straightway on Tilikum Way (still not even feeling sure I was going the right way), I was already bummed.

I feel guilty complaining because the bridge itself is so great (and I have no alternatives to propose!). Just really hope that as time goes on they are able to figure out a better solution for that eastside mess.

Rode the new bridge this AM on my way to work. East connection to Clinton has been discussed with disgust and I agree. Slopes are noticeable but this retro-grouch has the chops to pull that hill without complaint. Somehow I managed to avoid getting my head impaled by spikes, or my handlebars tangled in the rail posts. Worst part of the commute was that it delivered me to work.

As if they have any bridges like this in Staten Island? I think the bridge needs benches to take in the view on the south side, but I think they did a good job. I just wish the design was similar to the new Sellwood bridge instead of being over the top.

Finally got a chance to ride over it on Sunday.

To me it feels like something out of a utopian future, I wish it was 30 miles long.

Man, hitting those expansion joints at speed on the descent is quite jarring. Really hope those get smoothed out eventually.

Rode over the Tillicum on my westbound commute this morning. It is in an almost perfect line between my kids school and my office.

The bridge itself is fantastic. I might have quibbles but the quiet & the views more than outshine them. Even the west side transition to Moody isn’t as awkward as I’d feared. Not great but OK.

But man the eastside approaches are a mess. Following the law (wouldn’t blame anyone who didnt) it took me 9 minutes to get from 12th/Clinton to the westside approach, where I had to wait another 1+ minute through two red lights (Copenhagen style box on Water ave) to cross onto the bridge.

Are the data from the counters available anywhere? I could not find them online. It will be interesting to see how many people cross over time. Also, it will be interesting to see how it will affect the Hawthorne Bridge Bike Counter numbers.

I did my first work commute today from inner east side Division area to the CLSB on the South Waterfront. My old route took me via Ladds and the Hawthorne and was 3.5 miles/12 minute commute on my ebike. Today’s commute is a mile shorter via the eastside Clinton gauntlet, but still took 12 minutes given the horrible light cycles for peds/bikes. Clinton and 12th/8th is the worst, but the connection to the bridge itself is not all that intuitive either.

Also, Clinton sucks…I get it now. All the complaints about cars on Clinton. The ride down Lincoln/Harrison and through Ladd’s is much, much less stressful. Really, it’s almost peaceful compared to Clinton.

My son and I rode the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge the day of the grand opening. The bridge looks beautiful close up as it does from a distance. It is a work of art that you can cross a river on. But it’s not for the faint of heart.

Starting out on the east side just south of OMSI, the bridge soars up over the Willamette to the South Waterfront area, blocks from the tram’s lower station. And I do mean soar. Between the gossamer-thin threads of the railing and the steep climb, the feeling is both exhilarating and scary, between flying and being about to fall.

When I say that the railing of this bridge does not give you a secure feeling, I say this not as someone afraid of heights, but someone afraid of plummeting into the river. There is nothing between you and the river way down there but ¼ inch metal cables. But a great view once your heart stops pounding.

Then there is the climb. Not that it mattered at the time since I was on an electric assist bike, but it was much steeper than what I was used to from the other Portland bridges. I heard that it’s the same as the Morrison, but that’s another bridge I avoid like the plague.

The nice part is that the new bridge does not carry passenger cars or trucks, only pedestrians, buses, max trains and bikes. So, this bridge trades the risk of riding near car traffic for a very steep climb and a view that feels, at least at first, gut-droppingly insecure. Still, I’m sure that there will be lots of bikers on this bridge every day.

Wayfinding still needs some tweaks. Riding through a rail crossing on the bike path I somehow ended up on the pedestrian path. In some places the path marked with red strips with inverted writing turned out to be the way you’re supposed to go.

I’ve now skated the bridge with my longboard six times. I love it! The expansion joints are few and not to jarring. The pavement is not grooved. There is no deadly gap that will eat my wheels whole. The rail will stop a board from going over the edge into the water, but best of all it is the most peaceful experience going over the water without the constant roar of traffic going by at high speed.

Also does anyone know how to access the new bike counter data online?

Didn’t ride over the bridge until this afternoon, trying to avoid the initial crowds. My thoughts for those who care..

The grade headed up the bridge isn’t bad but is noticeable. I find this common on bridges, or at least the run-up to them. This wouldn’t be a hindrance to my use of it nor do I think really anyone.

I don’t know if the light cycles were timed better already but I didn’t have any problems getting greens coming off the bridge and heading north on Moody. I didn’t like the left turn from the Moody MUP back onto the bridge though – waiting for the light, there is really nowhere to queue up that doesn’t block the path.

I originally got on the bridge from Water Ave, and when I returned I headed towards Ladd’s, making several wrong turns before just crossing 8th and making a beeline for that sweet roundabout. I therefore avoided what I’ve heard is the mess around 11th/12th, which I couldn’t find anyway.

The bridge itself is pretty nice and very modern looking. And shiny brand new.

resopmok
I didn’t like the left turn from the Moody MUP back onto the bridge though – waiting for the light, there is really nowhere to queue up that doesn’t block the path.

This. Needs a refuge lane.

The traffic lights near the east side are a joke. No one pays them any mind because it would take all day to navigate through them legally. What a mess.

Take SE 8th and Division Pl for starters. It takes forever to trigger a green even in the middle of the night with no other traffic. The lights paralleling the track never turn green when there’s a long train passing through, I’m assuming the thinking is that someone stuck on one of the tracks would need the green light to free themselves, but during a slow 10 minute long the lights should let bikes run parallel to it.