St. Johns Bridge sidewalks re-open, and speed limits go back up

The Oregon Department of Transportation just announced they’ve finished a maintenance project on the St. Johns Bridge that had closed one of its two sidewalks for the past 42 days.

That might not sound like a big deal, but if you’ve ever tried to ride or walk over the bridge you know that people not in cars or trucks need all the space they can get. While we’re happy people will have more sidewalk space to bike on, we’re not thrilled that the speed limit will go back up to 35 mph. It was nice of ODOT to lower the limit to 25 during the maintenance project. I think it should stay there.

The St. Johns Bridge is jaw-droppingly beautiful. Its one major flaw is that it’s managed by ODOT, an agency that prioritizes driving above everything else. As a result, this iconic span is a scary and stressful place for vulnerable road users. ODOT had a golden opportunity to stripe bike lanes on the bridge during a major renovation project back in 2005; but they chose not to (despite a traffic analysis showing it wouldn’t make traffic worse). In the 15 years since, people have died and been seriously hurt due to dangerous driving on the bridge, yet all ODOT has done to remind people to drive safely is to paint a relatively useless and almost invisible sharrow on one of the lanes.

I still hope the agency comes to their senses and creates safe bike lanes. Until then, why not make that 25 mph speed limit permanent? ODOT felt slower speeds were needed to keep their construction crews safe. “The construction workers are unprotected by barriers and shoulders,” an ODOT rep shared with me in an email explaining why they felt lower speeds were necessary. I agree! But shouldn’t they offer the same respect and safety concern to all bridge users?

Using the Ask ODOT portal, I asked ODOT to lower the speed limit and received a response that the request would have to come from the City of Portland. (Interestingly, ODOT’s reply included this claim: “Increased enforcement is generally the most effective way to help reinforce the laws in a community.”) So I contacted PBOT using their 823-SAFE system.

I heard back relatively quickly that PBOT has put my request in the queue and that it could be up to three months before engineering staff have time to process it. Once they can observe the location and gather data to complete a review, they’ll write up a report and contact me with the results. I’m still waiting to hear back and I’ll keep you posted if/when I hear something.

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed. And if you ride the St. Johns Bridge, keep an eye on approaching traffic because the speed limit is back up to 35 mph.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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