The author at a Thursday Night Ride in 2016. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Hi! My name is Maria Schur and I work as the national sales representative for HGNR, which is the Portland-based, U.S. distributor of Dumonde Tech bicycle lubrication products.
If you’ve heard of me around town as Bicycle Kitty, recall my Forest Park commute back in 2012, or read my articles here on BikePortland, you know I’m not new to being a bike geek. My journey through the bike industry has included roles like managing a bicycle tire outlet store, planning and leading rides, hosting flat repair clinics, maintaining e-commerce sites, fitting and training children on bicycles, and now, chain lube!
The package includes major updates to big east Portland arterials like this one. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
In what’s being hailed as an unprecedented moment for regional transportation reform, Metro Council voted unanimously on Thursday to adopt the Get Moving 2020 plan and send it to voters in November.
Centered around 17 “investment corridors,” the plan could pump nearly $8 billion into regional transportation infrastructure and programs over the next 20 years. If approved, the measure would start generating revenue in 2022 with a 0.75% payroll tax paid by employers of businesses with over 25 employees. (UPDATE: A last-minute amendment exempts all state and local government agencies.) Metro’s latest pitch has framed the proposal as a massive jobs package that will put over 37,500 people to work with high-paying construction and consulting jobs.
Metro spent over 18 months negotiating the details of this package. While it’s not perfect and has received very mixed reviews from transportation reform activists, the overall feeling seems to be that the myriad benefits of the “good” projects and programs far outweigh the few “bad” projects that made the cut.
A thick concrete wall now separates a two-way bike path from other traffic lanes on North Greeley Avenue between Interstate and Going. Note the old bike lane on the west side of the street (right) is now gone. (Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
The long-awaited and much-delayed bike path on North Greeley Avenue is finally coming together.
Total budget $1.8 million. Funded by a City Council-approved Major Maintenance Set-Aside as well as the Heavy Vehicle Use Tax through the voter-approved Fixing Our Streets.
A 2018 lawsuit found City of Portland negligent for dangerous conditions on Greeley.
After years of starts-and-stops, the Portland Bureau of Transportation broke ground in October and expects to be finished “mid-summer”.
Greeley matters because it’s a key connection from downtown and the Broadway Bridge/Rose Quarter area to north Portland. With North Williams Avenue being too far east for people traveling to University Park and St. Johns neighborhoods and the bike lanes on North Interstate being unsafe, narrow, and unprotected, Greeley has always had immense potential. With this new protected bike lane, we might finally have a viable, low-stress north-south route to the peninsula.
[Please note: This path is not yet finished and PBOT has not given the “all clear” sign for full public use.]
I rolled over yesterday to check on the progress. I discovered that the northern end at N Going Avenue was open and the new path is fully paved. The new protective wall between the path and other traffic lanes is also installed. Unfortunately, there’s no indication on the north end that the south end is still technically “closed”. PBOT and their contractors must do a better job signing these work zones! There are “Road Closed” barricades up at the south end that require an awkward portage up a dirt hill next to the Hazelnut Grove camps.
As for the path itself. It felt great!
What a difference real protection makes. The concrete wall is a thing of beauty. It’s quite thick and just tall enough to make me feel safe, without feeling boxed-in. The wall reduces noice of passing cars and trucks (a major stressor for vulnerable road users) and I have a hunch its mere presence will reduce driving speeds. It’s hard to tell if the path will be wide enough. The final striping isn’t complete and the real test will be whether or not the 11.5-12-foot width is sufficient for two-way traffic.
Advertisement
The two photos below should give you a sense for how tall the wall is…
At Going Street, the crossover treatment from the southbound bike lane on the west side of Greeley to the new path is striped, but the bike-only signal isn’t turned on yet. There is however, a new marked crosswalk with a button-activated “Walk” signal.
One thing to keep in mind is that if you ride south on Greeley, please do not take the lane on the west side of the road. The old bike lane is gone (the road was repaved and restriped with this project) and there’s zero shoulder space (photos below). I saw two fast riders taking the lane and it looked very risky as drivers slowed down and swerved to avoid them.
Can’t wait for this to be finished. I think it’s going to be a very welcome addition to our network. And with the addition of the wall, the green space on the hillside adjacent to the path could be turned into a park. Or perhaps we could build some off-road trails in there? It’s truly amazing what’s possible when we create spaces that are physically protected from cars and their drivers.
