NOTE: Please see updates at end of this story. It was originally reported as a bicycle fatality; but we have since confirmed that the woman killed was walking prior to being hit.
Portland Police say someone has been hit and killed in the area of NE Grand Avenue and Broadway.
We don’t have any details at this time other than the victim is a woman.
From a photo of the scene provided by reader Tom Cooney, the woman’s body came to rest on Broadway between Grand and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. This is a very unsafe place for vulnerable road users. The road design and land-use pattern at this location strongly prioritizes driving above everything else. Broadway is one-way (westbound) and has five lanes for drivers (four through lanes, one parking lane). There’s a narrow, unprotected bike lane on the right curb. On the block prior to Grand the bike lane moves away from the curb to allow for drivers to turn right (north).
This past November, City Council passed the Central City in Motion Plan. Project #18 — which is among the high priority projects slated for construction within 1-5 years — would create a protected bike lane on this section of NE Broadway.
By our tally, this is the 16th fatal traffic collision so far this year and the ninth involving a person on foot.
If you have any information about this collision, please get in touch. We’ll update this post as we know more.
UPDATE, 4/19 at 10:45pm: I’ve heard from a woman who was at the scene. Here’s what she saw:
“She was crossing Broadway holding her groceries, I know she had the right of way because I was also about to cross the road. A huge delivery truck was turning left, northbound from Grand onto Broadway and they didn’t even slow down. They hit her, she fell to the ground and they ran over her body with the front and back tires. I was 10 feet from her and I cannot get it out of my head.
The passenger of the truck yelled out something to her along the lines of “What the hell lady?!” before he realized what had happened and a man who was walking behind me (and ended up running to help her) yelled back to tell him.”
Based on this eyewitness account, below is a diagram showing the movements of the truck driver (red arrow) and the walker (green arrow).
KGW TV’s Mike Benner snapped this photo of the large delivery truck that was driven into the woman:
Portland Police have not issued any further information. Stay tuned.
UPDATE, 12:58 pm, 4/20: PPB have issued an update:
The investigation is continuing into yesterday’s fatal traffic crash. It appears a commercial delivery truck was on Northeast Grand Avenue turning westbound onto Northeast Broadway Street when the truck collided with a pedestrian. That pedestrian, a female in her fifties, died as a result of her injuries.
The driver of the truck remained at the scene and was cooperative. Speed and alcohol do not appear to have been a factor in this collision.
The Forensic Evidence Division and the Multnomah County Medical Examiner also responded to the scene. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office was consulted during this investigation as well.
If anyone has information relating to this crash, they are asked to contact Investigator Dave Enz at 503-823-2208.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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