(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
It took PBOT nine (nine!) years to close the first “Naito Gap” — a section of Naito Parkway’s bike lane that unceremoniously disappeared near the Steel Bridge.
Now neighborhood groups and transportation activists are raising concerns about another gap. With Better Naito the ever-improving bikeways south of the Steel Bridge and a future project that will bring protected bike lanes between NW 9th and 21st (north of the bridge), a key 0.6 mile stretch of the street will be left behind with nothing more than door-zone bike lanes.
The gap in question begins just north of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks north of the Steel Bridge, past the McCormick Condominium complex, under the Broadway Bridge and into the edge of the Pearl District at 9th Avenue (see graphic).
PBOT improved the existing bike lanes at this location during a repaving project one year ago. They widened the lanes and added a painted buffer between moving motor vehicle traffic and the bikeway. But compared to the physically protected bike lanes south and north of this location, neighborhood groups are worried that this gap won’t be low-stress enough to capitalize on surrounding development and demand.
The target of their advocacy is the City’s Transportation System Development Charge list. TSDCs, fees paid by developers to accomodate the travel demand impacts of their new buildings, are a coveted source of infrastructure funds (especially during development booms like we’re having now). PBOT manages a list of projects that are eligible for TSDC funds. The list is currently being updated and the newly proposed set of projects is scheduled for a public hearing in front of City Council on September 13th (rescheduled from July 26th).
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“It doesn’t seem appropriate to maintain a lower-quality facility on this isolated section between 9th Avenue and Steel Bridge for the next 20 years [the life of the TSDC list], if the section south of Steel Bridge already has protected bicycle lanes, and the section north of 9th Avenue will eventually have protected bicycle lanes.”
— Reza Farhoodi, Pearl District Neighborhood Association
Last month northwest Portland resident and member of the Pearl District Neighborhood Association Reza Farhoodi sent a letter (also signed by the Northwest District Association and Old Town Chinatown Community Association) to PBOT Commissioner Dan Saltzman urging him to make sure the TSDC project list includes protected bike lanes throughout the entire length of Naito Parkway from NW 21st Avenue into downtown Portland. “This upgrade would help enhance multimodal transportation safety and access for residents within our communities,” Farhoodi wrote. “Including the residents of several existing and planned affordable housing developments along Naito Parkway and in the North Pearl District.”
The current buffered bike lanes in this section, “are incompatible with our collective vision of the street in the near future,” he added.
In an interview with BikePortland, Farhoodi said Naito is a key route that needs a consistently safe bikeway. “It’s the fastest and most direct route between downtown and Northwest Portland, where there are currently thousands of residences and jobs, and will only be growing in the near future.” He added that it’s “well-suited” for protected bikeways because it has relatively few intersections and driveways north of the Steel Bridge.
“It doesn’t seem appropriate to maintain a lower-quality facility on this isolated section between 9th Avenue and Steel Bridge for the next 20 years [the life of the TSDC list], if the section south of Steel Bridge already has protected bicycle lanes, and the section north of 9th Avenue will eventually have protected bicycle lanes.”
Dubbed the “McCormick Gap” this piece of Naito does have some engineering complications that are likely giving PBOT cold feet. There’s a landscaped median for much of the stretch in front of the McCormick Condomimiums that leaves just 25-feet of space between curbs in each direction. Demand for the on-street parking spaces is high and modifying or removing the center median would push the cost of the project way up. And with a fire bureau that demands at least 20-25 feet of width, a physically protected bikeway becomes even more difficult to pull off.
With these constraints, Farhoodi says he and other neighborhood advocates haven’t settled on a specific solution. “We’re just making the case that this section of Naito needs higher-quality bike lanes sometime in the foreseeable future, and that it needs to be eligible for SDC funding.”
If you’d like to share your feedback on this project, email PBOT TSDC project manager Anne Hill at anne.hill@portlandoregon.gov and PBOT Commissioner Dan Saltzman at dan@portlandoregon.gov.
In other Naito news, PBOT has striped a new two-way bikeway on the east side of the street from Davis to the Steel Bridge. The last piece is a new bike-only signal at Davis that we expect to be activated shortly. Stay tuned for a full report once it’s turned on.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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