ODOT and the St. Johns Bridge

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I was contacted by Don Hamilton of ODOT today regarding some thoughts I had expressed to them about addressing pedestrian/bicycle safety on the bridge. In particular, the west end.

As a practitioner of urban design, I brought up specific tactile striping; bicycle-only diagonal crossing signalization (ala Springwater corridor and Europe); possibly green box havens; and directive signage as a stopgap way to improve conditions, in the least possible time, with lower initial costs. This was my effort to counter major re-engineering would take a long time in ODOT’s world.

He was very responsive (for ODOT) and said that he is supporting these actions to the engineers that are now looking at the current conditions. I only hope he is right.

I explained that the memorial ride we had as well as the other fatalities of late were a deep catalyst for action.

He said he may have these engineers contact me for further user discussions, which we can hope will happen. With ODOT, I’ll cross my fingers.

I’ll let you know what I hear.

Mike Gilliland, BikePortland Subscriber