(Source: City of Portland)
The City of Portland announced plans Tuesday afternoon to break ground October 3rd on one of their Central City in Motion projects that will bring a host significant changes to cycling conditions on Broadway between SW Oak and the Broadway Bridge.
The $200,000 project will include a new northbound protected bike lane (Broadway currently lacks a bike lane in this direction), physical protection for the existing southbound bike lane, and upgraded crossings at Glisan, Flanders, and Pine. The Portland Bureau of Transportation also plans to prohibit right turns at NW Hoyt — an intersection with a long history of right-hook collisions.
Broadway provides direct access into the heart of downtown Portland as it passes major destinations like Old Town, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the cultural district along the South Park Blocks, and the Portland State University Campus. In order to boost connectivity and convenience of the network, while adding more protected space for bicycle users, PBOT plans to build a new protected bike lane northbound between Oak (which is already a major bikeway) and the Broadway Bridge.
PBOT will use space currently taken up by auto parking for the new northbound bike lane.
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Another major element of this project is a new circle treatment and crossing upgrade in the wide Pine Street intersection south of Burnside. Northbound bicycle riders coming from Oak toward Burnside will get through the new circle in a shared environment with other road users (including buses) before the dedicated bike lane picks up again north of Burnside.
This project will change the profile of Broadway from six lanes to five lanes — while boosting its capacity to move people by 65% (according to PBOT claims). It currently has two lanes for parking cars, three standard travel lanes, and one bike-only lane. The new cross-section will have two bike-only lanes and three other lanes. PBOT will allow travel in two of the the southbound lanes during the morning rush (6:00 am to 9:00 am) and at all other times, one of the southbound lanes will be available for parking and loading.
To further improve cycling conditions on Broadway, earlier this year PBOT and TriMet moved the Line 17 bus off of Broadway and onto the transit mall on 5th and 6th.
This new cycling space on Broadway will become even more valuable in coming years as PBOT completes a major new northbound bikeway on SW 4th Avenue. That project will link up to new Broadway bike lane via Oak and provide a direct, protected connection from I-405 in southwest to the Broadway Bridge.
Construction is scheduled to begin on October 3rd and is expected to last eight weeks. More info on PBOT’s website.
(For more context on this project see our coverage from back in January.)
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Great!!
Though something still seems ‘missing’ in the “opportunity” for the redesign of the circle intersection at SW Pine…like the “committee” thought it was already too bold, but not really…[like that lonely patch of triangle island on the south leg of the circle].
Or a permanent sculpture of a wrecked SUV?
Fantastic news! Any plans for SW Bway for people who want to safely get to PSU?
this will be a welcome improvement!
Too bad the project didn’t extend further north — Broadway north of the project area is one of the most dangerous bike lanes in town.
NE Bway you mean? Building a PBL on one of the busiest routes in the city, the NE Broadway/Weidler couplet, to Williams/Vancouver should be PBOT’s #1 priority. But car capacity.
Maybe the stretch of Broadway from SW Broadway to the Broadway bridge; NW Broadway.
Isnt that where this project is? From Oak to the Broadway Bridge?
Hey, there’s no telling with people.
11/2019 I emailed PBOT about adding striping, a green lane, and bollards to the area around the eastbound broadway bridge bike lane off ramp. That’s a crappy spot when people merge across the lane. It should be a PBL. Interestingly, I got a taste of what could be a couple years ago when they were painting the bridge and closing one side at a time. When you bike East on the north side of the bridge, and then stay on the sidewalk to Flint, your car interactions and brushes with death are greatly reduced. It’s almost pleasant…
Absolutely agree — this is a great change in the area where it occurs, but Broadway remains a dangerous mess for people on bikes anywhere else.
The news release touted:
This announcement annoyed me because the bike route to the Broadway Bridge coming from NE remains very dangerous.
About 10 years ago I attended an all-day street design workshop sponsored by the Urban Land Institute and NACTO at one of the hotels in downtown Portland. Attending were planners from all over the western part of the country. One of our group exercises was to redesign the mess at Pine, Broadway, and Burnside. The design presented here looks exactly like what one of the other groups presented all those years ago – I hope they get some credit, but I’m sure they’ll feel some pride that it’s actually going to be built.
Those bollards need to have one solid mounted steel tube at each end, and a random one somewhere in the middle. Then it will qualify as a partially protected bike lane.
What are they going to do about the valet parking taking up the bike lane on the next block south. The diagram doesn’t show between SW Oak and and SW Harvey Milk St, but the Benson Hotel usurps the bike lane. I used to commute through there and do the legal thing, a dog leg left onto Harvey Milk. I got fed up and just rode in the left lane. Seems like the plans turn a blind eye to that.
As part of this project? Nothing. The changes will only be between SW Oak and NW Hoyt. At the July CCIM working group meeting it was mentioned that they are moving forward with plans for upgrading the eleven blocks of Broadway between SW Oak and SW Clay, which currently have the door zone bike lane. As of that meeting this work was scheduled for Spring 2021, but I haven’t heard anything more since then.
I am aware that there’s no easy answer, but still. It’s like when some one…
Good news! But I am disappointed nothing’s being done to address the south side of the Broadway/Burnside intersection. As a pedestrian, I always feel like I’m taking my life in my hands when I step into that crosswalk.
Worth noting this was related to (part of) Council’s approval of the Broadway Corridor redeveloment plan yesterday, right? Do we know what other improvements are coming as part of that, yet? Weren’t we hearing about a potential cycletrack through the USPS site at one point?
This re-striping project is independent of the redevelopment of the post office site. City Council did approve new right-of-way standards for the Broadway Corridor, which include the Green Loop on NW Park Ave and a 2-way cycle track on the south side of NW Johnson through the post office. The preliminary concept level drawings are at the end of the document, but it will be a long time before these are fully built out. Parks is moving forward with design for the Park Block in front of PNCA, which presumably/hopefully will include that block of the Green Loop.
Thank you! I see the preliminary concepts are for a curbless street design. Very interesting.
Hooray! This swath of Broadway has made me mad for so long. What an exciting upgrade. Now let’s finish the rest to the South!
Love the old timey photo (or render) of the Broadway and Davis intersection. It is amazing how quickly we get used to something (campers lining the sidewalks) and how it jolts us back when we see a before picture. It all looks so quaint and idylic in the photo. It makes one wonder if we are going back to that time, or moving forward to something out of “bladerunner”.
vote for Ted Wheeler and find out
Pretty sure it’s still in progress. I share your frustration about it, but in PBOT’s defense I don’t believe they are 100% done yet. Also, we’ve seen many times in the past that people park in protected lanes when they first go in, but then the behavior changes soon thereafter. Thanks for the heads up on this.
preaching to the choir! I have raised this concern many times in the past. … That half-done construction projects put bicycle riders at an unacceptable danger. It’s a work in progress and I’m just trying to explain to you what’s going on. I totally agree with you that the way PBOT does bikeway construction isn’t good and that more should be done from the very start to prohibit certain dangerous behaviors.