(Photo: J Maus/BikePortland)
If you bike through the Rose Quarter Transit Center be advised that starting this Sunday August 21st and lasting two weeks until September 3rd, TriMet is embarking on a major construction project that will close streets, change lange configurations, and put work crews and vehicles all over the place.
A portion NE Holladay Street in the Lloyd District will also be closed to all users.
It’s all a part of TriMet’s Better Transit initiative. They’ll be upgrading tracks and signals in an effort to make MAX rides smoother and more reliable.
As a bicycle rider, here’s what you need to know:
– The work will require “significant MAX disruption” and TriMet is asking their customers to “rethink their commutes.”
– Because of reduced frequency of the Blue, Green, and Red lines, trains will be very crowded. It’s likely that some riders will use bicycles, so there will also be more people in the bike lanes.
– TriMet is encouraging people to use other modes of transportation and says “This may be the time to try Portland’s new bike-sharing program Biketown.”
– Don’t plan on bringing your bike on-board MAX during this time. There won’t be any room and TriMet has the right to ask you to get off and ride to your destination.
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Here are the specific lane and road closures to be aware of:
– NE 1st Avenue will close between Multnomah and Holladay streets.
– The left lane on NE 1st Avenue between Oregon and Holladay streets also will close, forcing a right turn only on green as well.
– The north sidewalk between NE Wheeler Avenue and 2nd Avenue will close. Crosswalks across NE Holladay Street will close on both sides of 1st Avenue and the west side of 2nd Avenue.
– The crosswalk on the east side of Wheeler Avenue also will close for a time. When it is closed, pedestrians will have access to a temporary crosswalk on the west side of Wheeler.
– Pedestrians and cyclists should use extreme caution when traveling in the area.
– Shuttle bus operations will require two lane closures in the Rose Quarter and Lloyd Center areas during the MAX disruption.
– The northbound right lane on North Interstate Avenue between Drexler Drive and Multnomah Street will close to autos. The lane closure allows shuttle buses to stop against the curb and cyclists to pass on the left of buses. Flaggers and TriMet staff will be on site to ensure safe movement of buses and bikes. Buses operators, cyclists and TriMet riders should use extreme caution in the area.
– Near the Lloyd Center MAX Station, NE Holladay Street between 11th and 13th avenues will be closed to autos and cyclists. Shuttle buses will use this section of Holladay to pick up and drop off MAX riders.
These closures begin Sunday, Aug. 21 and run through Saturday, Sept. 3.
Visit TriMet.org for more information and please keep us posted about conditions as you ride through the area in the coming weeks.
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Thanks for the heads up, this directly affects my commute.
Same here. Thanks for the heads up.
“Don’t plan on bringing your bike on-board MAX during this time. There won’t be any room and TriMet has the right to ask you to get off and ride to your destination.”
wait, what?! if your bike is hanging from a hook they will actually be kicking you off in favor of 2 more riders? really?
and they’ll be refunding my fare, right?
All they can do is ask. It’s your decision to be selfish or not.
Their policies are straightforward. You may bring your bike on if there is room in the designated spaces and the train is not too crowded. If there isn’t space, you wait for the next train.
In practice, this is not really enforced but if it really means people will be standing on the platform, my guess is that it will be.
This is not a bad thing. MAX is hopeless enough without people doing cornball things like rolling bikes into the aisles.
Will they be kicking off the people on the red line that bring 4 giant suitcases and take up both bike spots plus the standing spots next to the bike spots?
OOPs, Thats right the folks who bring 4 giant suitcases on the redline will have to get off and lug them to the bus, then lug them from the bus back to the train after the detour. Might not be a problem after all
Or they can take the red line to Kenton and transfer to a bus that will go directly to the airport. Either way, I wouldn’t expect anyone to be hauling that much to the airport during this construction. It’s pretty rare to see someone with more than one suitcase anyway.
Once TriMet adds more north / south service on the westside, I’ll consider riding more than once per month, but $2.50 is a lot to pay.
Curious if this project will make the bumps smoothed out where the tracks cross Interstate Ave for people riding NB. It is a really rough crossing right now (and for the past forever years)
For all the things people complain about on this forum, I’m amazed that section doesn’t come up more often.
A lot of people ride this area, but handling is sketchy and it’s definitely not conducive to carrying much speed.
Are they planning on allowing bikers to use the 1st street walkway to Oregon as a detour?
As a regular user this would be a good short term compromise.
I ride wherever I want.
My takeaway is to avoid MAX and Rose Quarter until the 3rd.
No trouble with the former, but I give myself a week at best to forget the latter. Gets boring to commute the same route every day, especially if you go home for lunch.
Be aware that the MAX stations between Lloyd Center and Rose Qtr. will close during the disruption. Walking between Rose Qtr. and LC is encouraged. Using the lower deck of the Steel Bridge should be considered, too. Streetcar loop will run, so consider using that to cross the river as well. No bikes on the streetcars, of course.
“Walking between Rose Qtr. and LC is encouraged”
Or bikeshare!
Ugh. It sure affected my trip today. I’m in Beaverton last week and this coming week for work, but I just spent the weekend backpacking (took the Mt Hood Express!) Due to this project I took the #20 bus instead of the Blue Line back over to the westside.
From Gresham TC to Barnes and Cedar Hills took an hour and 50 minutes, basically the same amount of time it took to get from Timberline Lodge all the way to Gresham including a 35 minute layover in Sandy. Sheesh, that #20 is slow.
At least it was a recreational trip and I wasn’t counting on MAX to get me to and from work in a timely fashion. I’m sure a lot of people will be glad when this is over and (hopefully) MAX reliability improves.