There are bike lanes on SE Foster Road

I’m pretty stoked these are finally down. I haven’t noticed anyone getting too pissed these are here, traffic on Foster surprisingly never seems that bad. Maybe I just hit it at the wrong time (though I’ve been using Foster just after 5 pm and that’s primetime for backups if there are gonna be backups). I know paint doesn’t provide legit protection but it still feels pretty good there are bike lanes down because previously I would have never used Foster like I have lately.

Exciting! A side benefit is the sidewalks are now safer for people on sidewalks because cars are not driving 45 MPH inches from them. The sidewalks on Cesar Chavez are scary.

Did the world end? From the signs on that furniture store these last few years I would have thought when this day came that armageddon would arrive soon after and the earth would perish in a cloud of smoke and fire.

It’s a huge improvement. The Pedalpalooza “No More Four Lane Roads” ride ended at the Mercado on Foster Monday night (after riding in the lane on 82nd, Glisan, 102nd, Stark, & 122nd). When we rode it the bike lane for the block or so just west of 82nd had been striped, but a lot of it was empty not yet painted. We rode by the street sweeper and just as we ended at the Mercado, the painting / striping crew showed up. After riding all that other fairly awful non-existent bike infrastructure, Foster now seems like the promised land.

Pretty awesome stuff. My FoPo friends are beyond amped, their neighborhood just got a helluva lot more livable, as already evidenced by new businesses opening (it feels like weekly) up and down the block.

On the flip side, as someone who lives just off Holgate (at 35th), I’m a little worried about traffic that will be bailing off Foster and coming down “my” street. But as others have stated, I only anticipate this being a concern during rush hour, which I avoid like the plague. And that includes both driving and biking and running – just too many people out there at that time.

“PBOT did that thing where they drop the bike lane right before a big intersection (82nd) to create a shared lane.” …but, I suspect, mostly because ODOT insisted on it. Maybe it’s a convenient excuse but I do know that the state sometimes insists on this type of thing where city streets cross theirs. It’s unfortunate because, inevitably, these are the busiest, scariest crossings where protection is most desired.

This is awesome! Can we please do the same for Hawthorne between 12th and 39th? Calling that road a a four lane road is a joke, and given the recent enhancements to 50th, we can make a seamless connection all the way to Foster.

One of your photos claims the unbuffered bike lane is “low-stress”, but I think you meant to say stressful

What a difference a day makes! Just rode this yesterday when all I had on the pavement were little circles that said “BS”. Which I took to mean Bike Serenely. So I did.

I’ll never understand why they keep on street parking on arterials. Letting cars parallel park is dangerous for cyclists and annoying for drivers. Everybody wins with no parking – more dedicated space for bikes or buses.

Finally, YES, woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to go visit Foster, except this time, I won’t be in a motorized vehicle!

Now as safe as Broadway

I’m a bold confident cyclist and have lived in the neighborhood for 15 years. I’ve avoided riding on Foster because traffic is too fast and the street too narrow, but then, last night, while on the Foster Night Ride, I was DELIGHTED to see these sparkly white paint stripes.

I know there’s controversy about the effectiveness of paint. My argument is this: imagine a two lane road without yellow striping in the middle – it would be scary for drivers and hard to navigate. Another example: picture a parking lot without lines and imagine the chaos. When people park in fields for events, they need people with vests and flags to tell them how to park in rows. Bike lane paint also tells other road users that bikes belong on the road.

Anyway, WOOOO HOOOO I am one happy Faux Poor felony flats hill killer!

SilkySlim
Pretty awesome stuff. My FoPo friends are beyond amped, their neighborhood just got a helluva lot more livable, as already evidenced by new businesses opening (it feels like weekly) up and down the block.On the flip side, as someone who lives just off Holgate (at 35th), I’m a little worried about traffic that will be bailing off Foster and coming down “my” street. But as others have stated, I only anticipate this being a concern during rush hour, which I avoid like the plague. And that includes both driving and biking and running – just too many people out there at that time.Recommended 5

There is anticipation of traffic diverting from Foster Rd due to the lane reconfiguration and onto three nearby roads: Holgate Blvd, Woodstock Blvd, and Powell Blvd. Traffic counts are planned later this year to determine the degree of spillover traffic. In good news, the speed limit along the inner portion of Holgate Blvd was reduced recently as you pointed out and there are longer term plans for bike lanes and other design changes such as crossings per the latest High Crash Corridor analysis along Holgate. I still have a hard time believing that bike lanes along inner Holgate will ever exist but on outer Holgate before Powell Butte they are wonderful!

Adam
I understand their concern though… since obviously people who use bicycles don’t own furniture… (or at least probably won’t from that store).Recommended 0

I’ll share this story again as I feel it helps to humanize and expand upon the Euro Classic Furniture sign saga. Jon Shleifer, the current owner of Euro Classic, actually lived for a few years in the basement of the Euro Classic Furniture as a child. His development and understanding of the neighborhood and by extension the world is been shaped by growing up on Foster Rd. The income from the business during better years provided shelter and security. To him it worked. If it works for him, why shouldn’t it work for others too, right? Not right, as Foster used to have four travel lanes back with two parking lanes for most of its length and a history of multiple injuries and fatalities, but knowing this life story certainly helps to foster understanding behind the bizarre messages originating from that building.

I was sitting outside NWIPA last week (first time hanging on Foster in quite some time) and realized just how great the area is going to be moving forward with the redesign. I look forward to many bike trips over there for pints and food.

I rode this today, after having mostly used Clinton, 52nd/Woodstock to get to work on 92nd & Woodstock. It took about 7 minutes off of my commute, but I’m not sure it is worth it, due to the safety hazards. It seems those on 52nd and Woodstock are used to bikes being on the road, whereas the vehicles on Foster are obviously not yet and are often larger vehicles like trucks and buses. There were also random orange cones in the bike lane, east of 82nd going east and along most of it to 52nd going west. Is this because it is not officially “open” yet? It was truly annoying to have to get out into traffic to dodge all of these cones. There did not seem to be any reason for the cones, like a pothole or obstruction, so it was confounding. I’ll return to the old route until I’ve heard the cones are completely gone and it’s been broken in a bit.

I’m late to comment, but I am very thankful for these changes. This is my third year using Foster regularly, heading east from Holgate to get on the Springwater every morning. I feel infinitely safer than I did three years ago. But it is coming home when the change is most noticeable. Going westward around 4:30pm, I would often resort to the sidewalk because it felt so unsafe, especially from 205 to 72nd Ave with a curb to my right. It’s easy to argue it was not smart to even ride that section at all. But now I can breathe more easily and feel relatively confident that I have the space I need. I am relieved and stoked these bike lanes are in place!

Hello, Kitty
I disagree that paint isn’t “legit” protection; it’s the same protection that drivers get, and yes, steel cages, but a head-on car-car crash at 30 MPH can be fatal, and all that prevents that is paint.Despite claims that bike lanes offer no safety value, I think these lanes will be a huge improvement to Foster.Recommended 11

It’s imperative the marginal/half measure infrastructure group have as many boosters as possible.

Shimran George
I use Harrison all the time.My frustration with Hawthorne comes as a driver….it simply isn’t a very good 4 lane road. The lanes are narrow, and barely any space between opposing traffic. You can tell someone tried to stuff more road capacity into a roadwidth that simply didn’t support it. I much prefer intentional design than a road planner trying to add capacity by giving a very mediocre solution.As far as bike lanes go…I can tell you I appreciate a more direct route where possible. As someone that lives and uses the 20s bikelane frequently, I ride on 28th from Stark to the bridge over 84 rather than divert over to 30th/Oregon Park.Anyway, I know not everyone can bike everywhere, but I am not going to complain about taking away a lane that shouldn’t be there in the first place and replacing with a bike lane, or some sort of a mass transit option.Recommended 2

Hawthorne should have a protected lane end to end as one of the most liberal streets in Portland…or well.was before all the beards and flannel showed up. It should not have a center turn lane. But alas Portland is still staffed by half measure Bob’s who can’t really imagine a true bike way.

:”With one lane for drivers, the back-up was pretty severe yesterday. It will be interesting to see how people respond and how/if diverted drivers impact adjacent residential streets (I saw many people bail off Foster out of frustration at being stopped).”

It should perhaps be pointed out that practically the very first thing that happened in this process was re-striping Foster to have 2 driving lanes and a center turn lane. Drivers on Foster, including myself, have had at least six months to get accustomed to the new traffic pattern. While we’ve had extra wide driving lanes it was still obviously a single lane. And my experience as a resident who both drives and bikes from FoPo to downtown is that the increase in congestion has been pretty minor. But my bike commute did get shorter by 3 minutes:)