PBOT’s North Portland in Motion plan is shifting into a higher gear.
After launching this plan in April, PBOT has shared a new analysis of the current transportation conditions in the area and they’ve just launched the project’s first open house.
According to PBOT’s (impressive) Existing Conditions Atlas, the north Portland region, located west of I-5, and east of the Willamette River with Columbia Blvd and Overlook Park providing borders to the north and south respectively, is home to about 60,000 people.
North Portland is also generally more racially diverse than the rest of the city of Portland as a whole, although this differs greatly between neighborhoods in the area. North Portland’s Portsmouth neighborhood is one of the most racially diverse areas in the entire state of Oregon, with less than half of its residents identifying as non-Hispanic white.
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This is notable because redlining and racist city planning has created unequal access to community resources like accessible non-car transportation in Portland and across the U.S.
BikePortland has previously reported on the overrepresentation of low-income Black, Indigenous and people of color in pedestrian crashes in the state of Oregon.
North Portland isn’t the only part of the city with this issue, but it has yet to have an ‘in motion’ development plan like similar ones that have covered east, northwest, southwest, and the central city. Residents of north Portland have clamored for more attention to problems in their neighborhood, and PBOT has acknowledged this urgency by stating that the area is “long overdue for a community-driven transportation plan.”
You can participate in the online open house until January 31, 2022. After that, PBOT will begin further planning, with the project set to be adopted by city council in 2023.
We hope north Portlanders will share their experiences with the city to make it a more equitable region and reap the benefits other neighborhoods have gained from similar ‘in motion’ plans. If you live, work or play in the northern tip of the city, be sure to track this project, and stay tuned for updates.
You can browse the Existing Conditions report below…
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