4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
A popular bike route in north Portland is about to see a significant change. The Portland Bureau of Transportation plans to install a bike box and will prohibit right-turn-on-red on North Ainsworth Street at Interstate Avenue.
The plans were posted on the Facebook page of the Ockley Green Middle School Community Forum Facebook page.
PBOT Neighborhood Greenways Program Coordinator Scott Cohen wrote in the message that, “The project will improve safety and close a gap in the transportation system.”
Person riding west on Ainsworth at Interstate. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)Streetview of westbound Ainsworth at Interstate.
Ainsworth is an interesting street in this area. It’s not particularly bike-friendly, but people like it because it connects directly to the (north-south) Michigan and Concord neighborhood greenways and the Williams Ave bikeway. It’s also the best, southernmost connection to the serene vibes and views on Willamette Blvd (which connects to St. Johns and points beyond). One of the stressful things about Ainsworth is that riders share a roadway with car drivers. Despite the 20 mph speed limit, the lack of dedicated cycling space and design characteristics (on-street parking and relatively narrow curb-to-curb width) can make it feel unsettling — especially for families and “interested but concerned” riders.
PBOT has taken note of the valuable role Ainsworth plays in the bike network. In 2019 they installed a special detector to help bike riders trigger the traffic signal. Unfortunately, many people using bikes don’t know how it works and still hug the curb and push the pedestrian button instead of waiting in the middle of the lane (like the person in the photo above left, and who can blame them?!). This is inconvenient and it puts bike riders at higher risk for right-hooks.
The new bike box should help promote safer behaviors at this intersection. It will be colored green, with a wide, buffered bike lane directing bike riders to the front of the traffic queue. The “No Turn on Red” signs should also help — but only if people obey them.
In addition to the bike box and turn restrictions, PBOT will also prohibit parking for 65-feet west of Interstate on the south side of Ainsworth (in front of several businesses). “This will allow people who are bicycling to move ahead of vehicles at a busy intersection,” Cohen said.
The changes will help not only the bikeway, but should lead to a calmer intersection overall for kids and families walking to the school and other destinations in the area.
Construction is expected to begin as early as this month or later this fall and be completed before the end of the year.
“Trees require care and tidying up, so they’re not convenient anywhere, but they are necessary everywhere.”
Welcome to the Comment of the Week, where we highlight good comments in order to inspire more of them. You can help us choose our next one by replying with “comment of the week” to any comment you think deserves recognition.
It’s always worth keeping an eye on Scott Kocher, he has a track record of successfully getting the city’s attention on a number of issues. Urban trees, and their importance to cooling the city, have become a focus for him.
We published last week’s post, You have trees to thank for Portland’s cool streets, a year after the deadly “heat dome” killed 72 people in Multnomah County, many in east Portland which has the most anemic tree canopy in the city.
Scott was ready with some code changes in response. We’ve added a couple of images to illustrate his points. Here is what he wrote:
+ (Source: PBOT Pedestrian Design Guide)
My observations are that new development routinely allows other competing uses (utility poles, underground utility vaults, on-street parking, etc) to supersede the “required” number of street trees planted, resulting in few or even no trees along many frontages that are now being redeveloped. And, current tree code limits the places trees must be considered for planting, and the size of allowable trees. 25′ canopies are now the max for most species allowed in 3′ planting strips.
Replacing a huge old tree with a miniature species results in net loss. I would like to see the tree code amended to require at least consideration of curb zones and medians for street tree plantings, for existing and new development. While future bike lanes, or underground utilities make this impossible some places, there are many other places where large-form trees could be planted in large wells, including East Portland streets that have no curbs.
Trees require care and tidying up, so they’re not convenient anywhere, but they are necessary everywhere.
Thank you Scott! You can read Scott’s comment, and the full comment thread, under the original article.
(Disclosure: Kocher is a Portland-based attorney and safety advocate, and his law firm, Forum Law Group, is a financial supporter of BikePortland.)
Hundreds of people donned their finest – or most eccentric – garb and headed to Colonel Summers Park Saturday night for Pedalpalooza’s annual Bike Prom. This event, which was hosted by the Portland chapter of the Dead Baby Bike Club for the second year in a row, capped off the first month of Bike Summer 2022. It was the perfect event to epitomize the energy of the summer so far: enthusiastic, weird and slightly revelrous.
I asked several attendees how they thought Bike Prom compares to their high school dance, and everyone was resoundingly clear that this event is far superior. At Bike Prom, you get all the fun of dressing up, but you don’t have to dance with a bunch of sweaty 17-year-olds in a high school gym.
The author (left) and her Bike Prom friends (Photo: Eric Thornburg/No Lens Cap)
Our big group of well-dressed cyclists travelled down to the Springwater Corridor to join a dance party along the Willamette River. Eric Thornburg, who has been killing the game photographing Pedalpalooza rides, took everyone’s prom photos, and then the true debauchery began: a lube wrestling competition that rivaled the excitement of any sporting event I’ve ever seen.
“I thought I’d be above watching the lube wrestling, but something about it was primal and impossible to look away from,” one observer told me. I agreed: when I set out for the evening, this is not what I was expecting!
I also expected maybe 40 people or so and was surprised when several hundred showed up (it’s my first Pedalpalooza, and apparently this is a regular turnout for Bike Prom).
Marionette and ChristinaJulie Garner and Madi Carlson.Aaron Brown and Eric Thornburg.
Though this event transcended beyond a mere bike ride, I think the oddness of it all shows how versatile and unique Portland’s bike scene is. Come for the biking, stay to watch people slipping and sliding in a baby pool, dancing together in public, and giving Hulk Hogan a run for his money with their wrestling skills. You never know what you’re going to get at a Pedalpalooza ride.
Remember: there are two more months of Pedalpalooza, and many more opportunities to find yourself somewhere as strange and exciting as the Bike Prom dance floor.
See a full gallery of excellent prom photos by Eric Thornburg here. View the official Pedalpalooza Bike Summer calendar here.
It’s long, but it works! (Photos: Shawne Martinez)
We converted an old kid’s bike trailer into a kayak hauling machine.
As our soggy spring rain let up and the sun peeked from behind the clouds I began thinking about another kayak adventure on the Tualatin River. Transporting a kayak to the dock by bicycle from the county line between NE Tigard and SW Portland may seem like a difficult task with a twelve mile round trip and 600 feet of climbing.
Make it a tandem kayak behind a bucket bike with a 6 year old riding in front and it gets even more interesting!
We converted an old kid’s bike trailer into a kayak hauling machine by lengthening the tongue and adding a bracket to hold the front of the boat to the tongue. Our bike has e-assist and plenty of stopping power with 4 piston disc brakes front and rear. The kayak tows remarkably well. Width is not much of an issue but turning radius is a consideration as the bike, trailer and kayak are 25-feet long. This is not something I would take on the Fanno Creek Trail which has some tight turns near Downtown Tigard. The most direct route is to ride on SW Hall Blvd (State Route 141).
There has been much news about jurisdictional transfer of ODOT facilities lately. The stretch of SW Hall Blvd through Tigard is one that I have been following closely since we cross it on our trip to school by bike. It is in terrible condition with deteriorating asphalt, sporadic sidewalks/bike lanes, high speed limit (40 near our school!), many drain grates in the bike lane and constant debris. The current widening of 217 will require replacement of the SW Hall overpass near SW Pfaffle Street. The new bridge promises better walk/roll/bike safety but it’s still a painted bike lane in the drawings.
I’m hoping with jurisdictional transfer this route will get better. Fortunately I ride it often so I know the quirks: Take it slow at the railroad crossing near SW Commercial as there’s a big bump in the asphalt; watch drivers in the s-curve near the skate park, they tend to drive in the painted bike lane; there’s a ton of debris near the Tigard Library; a homeowner blocks the right of way with their trash bins near SW Bonita. We should need this level of expertise to navigate to the river!
Even hauling this long load, it’s not that bad of a ride. Turning down SW Durham in front of Tigard High School and taking SW 92nd to Cook Park is one option. The other is to stay on Hall (which changes to SW 85th) all the way past the Clean Water Services treatment plant. This leads to a wide multi-use path that takes you to Cook Park as well.
Wayfinding is not great at Cook Park and many drivers get lost trying to find the boat launch. Study the map as there are even more ways to get turned around on the paths and trails. It is so nice not to have to worry about car parking when kayaking by bike. “Front row parking every time” is so true as we unload our kayak on the grass right next to the boat launch. There are no bike racks, but there are many poles/trees to lock to. I also lock the trailer to the bike.
Once on the water we started searching for sunbathing turtles with no luck. Bringing litter pickers along we usually find a few pieces of garbage, this gives the kid something to look for and do. Hugging the shoreline provides some shade but the mid-day solar radiation can get intense! Two miles of paddling and the kid is usually done. It was time to get out of the water and hit the playground on the way home. Advantages that Cook Park has over many parks are lots of trees for shade, many bathrooms, large picnic shelters and public power for e-bike charging.
We took Hall Blvd home as I contemplated stopping for groceries. Could I find kayak parking at Fred Meyer? Would the bike be safe if I took two car parking spots and locked it to itself? The wave racks would be even less useful with this long load. Thinking that I better not chance it, we took the kayak home and went grocery shopping later. Although now that I think about it, we probably could fit a lot of ice cream in the kayak!
Eastbank Esplanade south of Hawthorne Bridge. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
A man and his young daughter were assaulted by a stranger while bicycling on the Eastbank Esplanade this past Saturday.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, a 36-year-old man, his wife and his 5-year-old daughter were pedaling on the Esplanade just south of the Hawthorne Bridge when they were approached by a man who began punching them. The family was visiting from California.
The PPB says the incident is being treated as a bias crime.
“Officers contacted the victims… and learned that they were hurt but they did not require immediate medical attention. Officers learned that the man was riding bikes with his wife and daughter when the suspect approached, made comments about his perception that they were of Japanese descent, and began punching the man in his head. The suspect then punched the 5-year-old girl in her bike helmet numerous times. Nearby witnesses quickly intervened and the suspect began walking away. Several witnesses remained at the scene and provided statements to investigating officers.”
Dylan J. Kesterson, 34, was arrested and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of Bias Crime in the First Degree and Bias Crime in the Second Degree (2 counts). As per Oregon statute, a Bias Crime is committed when someone, “Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes physical injury to another person because of the person’s perception of the other person’s race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or national origin.”
A spokesperson for the Portland Bureau of Transportation said in a statement emailed to BikePortland, “We were heartbroken to hear the news of this bias crime on an important and popular corridor for people biking and pedestrians. PBOT believes that people should be free to travel throughout our city without fear of bias or intimidation.”
EV inequity: Scarcity of materials needed for batteries could push the price of EV cars even higher and make more efficient EV bikes even more attractive.
Exposing ‘bike bros’: A San Francisco-based journalist says she is sick and tired of ‘radical bike activists’ who ‘take cities hostage’ with their anti-car positions and she plans to go on the offensive expose them to win the war on cars.
SUV fines: A German court has ruled that due to the inherently more dangerous design of some SUVs their owners can be slapped with higher fines for breaking traffic laws.
Public spaces, not parking spaces: The pandemic helped the Italian city of Milan turbocharge their efforts to change parking spaces to public spaces and they’ve created new parks and gathering places for pennies on the dollar.
Murder suspect caught: U.S. Marshals worked with Costa Rican authorities to arrest Kaitlin Armstrong, the woman who is the prime suspect in the killing of professional cyclist Moriah Wilson.
We’re all waiting for bus drivers. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
TriMet, Portland’s regional transit agency, has taken on an intense marketing campaign, touting their benefits in employee testimonial ads on YouTube and social media posts to reel in potential employees to fill the bus and light rail operator deficit they’ve been dealing with in the wake of the pandemic.
But despite the ad blitz, increased pay and hiring bonuses TriMet has offered, their worker shortage appears to be getting worse, not better – they just can’t hire enough people to make up for the staff lost in the last several years. Last week, they announced they will reduce or cut service on 10 bus lines starting this fall because they don’t have the staffing required to maintain the routes. TriMet says these cuts will be temporary, but there’s no telling when they’ll have the staff to bring back full service.
“We can’t compare this to anything else,” Tyler Graf, a Trimet Public Information Officer, told BikePortland on a phone call last week. “This is a unique situation we’ve never faced before.”
While many factors are at play and TriMet is just one of many transit providers nationwide struggling with this problem, union leaders say the agency needs to accept more responsibility for their role in the crisis.
A history of low morale
(Data: TriMet. Graphic: BikePortland)
“[TriMet’s] attitude about discipline was, ‘There’s no shortage of workers.'”“
– Fred Casey, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757
TriMet data indicates operator staff levels have declined steadily over the last two-and-a-half-years. In the period between December 2019 and May 2022, staffing levels peaked in February 2020, when TriMet employed 1,612 total bus and light rail operators. As of this past spring, TriMet’s staffing levels are the sparsest they’ve been throughout that period: a May 1 count tallied 1,312 total bus and light rail operators, with the biggest loss coming from the bus driver category.
What’s to blame for the shortage? Fred Casey, the Vice President of Amalgamated Transit Union (AMU) Local 757 which represents TriMet employees, said there’s not just one cause to point to.
Casey said there have been tensions between the union and TriMet for years over a myriad of issues. (The Northwest Labor Press’ TriMet archives are a great resource for details on more than a decade of this turmoil.)
TriMet GM Sam Desue.
“Up until very recently, the relationship has been acrimonious, and not because of a lack of trying on our side,” Casey said on a recent phone call with BikePortland. “The relationship got really sour during [former TriMet General Manager Doug Kelsey’s] tenure, and the morale took a real bad hit to the point where there’s zero morale at TriMet now.”
Patrick Coomer, a TriMet bus operator who runs a blog called “From the Driver Side,” described TriMet’s attitude toward drivers during the pandemic in a May 2020 post, saying the transit agency took the customer’s side in disputes at the detriment of operator safety. He wrote that TriMet was “intent on protecting everyone but the operator” with their Covid policies and drivers didn’t feel safe because they’d be punished if they “denied boarding to any pseudo-badass who refuses to wear a mask.”
But Casey said even though the relationship between ATU and TriMet may be on the up-and-up, he isn’t completely impressed by their recruiting tactics. One concern he has is that the agency is trying so hard to hire new operators they are neglecting and overworking the people already on staff.
“The current workers there are being overworked. [They’re] working several extra hours a day or week to cover shifts because they don’t have the staffing levels to get the service out,” Casey said.
Casey also told us employees felt a crackdown on disciplinary measures under recent management who had created a culture of fear, which worsened during the pandemic.
“Suddenly, these operators were getting hit with reprimands and suspensions and eventual terminations for things that they had never done before,” Casey said. “[TriMet’s] attitude about discipline was, ‘There’s no shortage of workers.'”
Are beggars being choosers?
Riders board a Line 15 bus emblazoned with an ad for drivers on SW Alder on Wednesday, June 29th, 2022. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
According to TriMet Public Information Officer Tia York, the agency has received 1,468 bus operator applications in 2022 so far – well above the 300 person deficit they need to restore pre-pandemic staffing levels. But only 88 of these applicants have actually been hired to date.
This discrepancy shocked me: If their worker shortage is so dire, why isn’t TriMet hiring more people who apply?
Casey doesn’t think they’re being completely upfront about the incentives TriMet has offered potential applicants, which has led to an uneven ratio of applicants to people hired. In their ad campaign, they’ve promoted a $7,500 hiring bonus and a starting wage of $25.24 per hour to potential applicants, which come with some caveats. New hires don’t get the $7,500 all at once – it’s doled out over three years – which makes sense as a way to incentivize retention. But it appears some applicants decide not to move forward with the hiring process after reading the fine print.
In an email to BikePortland, York said many people have applied for the job to keep their unemployment benefits, which requires them to apply for a certain number of jobs each week, which has resulted in “some applications from people who have no real interest in working at TriMet.” (I want to note here that labor experts say unemployment benefits don’t keep people from returning to work, especially since the benefit program beefed up during the pandemic came to an end back in the fall of 2021.)
Another reason many applicants drop out? The onboarding process may be more than prospective hires thought they signed up for. York said there are a “number of requirements that must be met before a candidate can begin training.” Applicants are required to have a clean driving record for the past three years and a commercial driver’s license (CDL) (TriMet will help with the CDL permit test). They also must pass a pre-employment background check, drug screen, medical exam and complete an employment and reference check. TriMet says many of the applicants weren’t able to make it through this process.
Hampering long term goals
This shortage comes at a time when TriMet is engaged in major projects like the Division Transit Project and A Better Red and has plans for more transit service improvements to meed ridership demands. As gas prices continues to rise, public transit use is trending upwards, which could be a huge boon to climate and transportation advocates who want to get people out of single-occupancy vehicles.
“We have tempered optimism about our ability to address this in the coming months.”
– Tyler Graf, TriMet
But without enough operators to keep the buses moving, it’s going to be difficult to see these visions through.
Don Iler, a TriMet operator and public transit advocate, urged the agency to up the effort to improve conditions. He shared his concerns on Twitter last week about what the staff shortages will mean for recouping ridership lost to the pandemic and bringing more passengers aboard, calling the problem “a shitstorm that will take years to fix.”
Iler’s advice to TriMet: “Make this job so lucrative it’s competitive to get. Bring back the pension, pay all health care premiums, restore retiree health benefits. Also TriMet needs to increase the pay of long serving operators today in order to stem the exodus. More money might convince people to stick around longer. Offer retention bonuses to everyone, offer those nearing retirement cash to stay longer until more can get trained.”
TriMet said they were careful when selecting which bus lines to impact with cuts. They chose routes “with an eye on preserving service in areas with high concentrations of people with low-incomes and communities of color,” and based decisions on ridership trends and data. It’s not clear how many people will be affected by these service reductions. Even if these particular changes will have minimal practical impact, the broader implications may be severe. People will have to choose other methods of transportation if buses aren’t reliable or if their service is cut off entirely.
But TriMet isn’t despairing yet. They’re holding onto hope that changes will encourage more people to apply and stay on board.
“We have tempered optimism about our ability to address this in the coming months. It will take a little bit of time and we want to acknowledge that and make sure our riders understand,” Graf said. “It’s important that our front line and mission critical staff feel valued and appreciated. Operators are the lifeblood of the agency. Now’s the time to get in on the ground floor and join the movement.”
Ride leader Joe Gavrilovich leading the group over I-84. More photos below. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
If you heard strange music or saw a spaceship bike and people with pointy ears riding around northeast Thursday night, you were not hallucinating. It was the second annual Star Trek Ride held as part of Pedalpalooza.
“Are you a Trekkie? If you believe in science, if you believe in infinite diversity and the freedom to explore, and you believe in a better future for humanity and our natural world, then you don’t have to have seen one episode. You are a Trekkie. And these days, we need as many Trekkies as we can get.”
– Joe Gavrilovich, ride leader
After meeting in Oregon Park for a round of Trekkie Trivia (with warm-up questions that included, “What does the Vulcan acronym IDIC stand for?” and “What class of ship is the USS Voyager?”), a huge formation of the show’s fans explored Beaumont-Wilshire and surrounding neighborhoods in search of intelligent life, before finishing off the night with a performance by none other than USS Improvise, a Star Trek themed theater troupe.
Ride leader Joe Gavrilovich and his sister love Star Trek and started the ride last year. “Getting together with other Trekkies makes me feel better about where we’re headed as a society,” he told me last night, before the group shoved off.
With speakers booming Star Trek playlists (including, Worf’s Revenge by Aurelio Voltaire off the album BiTrekual), the group zoomed through the streets while greeting curious onlookers with “Live long and prosper!”
Ted Rivers drew a lot of attention with his spaceship bike. A semi-retired industrial designer by trade, Rivers created it with “A lot of foam board and hot glue.” The ship has all sorts of fun details, including little pilots in the front, lights in the engine thrusters, and multiple cup holders. It’s a model of a ship called the Eagle from a mid-1970s British sci-fi show called Space 1999.
Ted Rivers and his spaceship bike.
“I know it’s maybe not right for the Star Trek ride,” Rivers said sheepishly as he navigated gingerly in the large pack of riders, “But how many other places can I actually ride this thing?”
Gavrilovich, the ride leader, didn’t mind at all. To him, being a Trekkie isn’t about how much you know about the show, it’s a frame of mind.
At the end of the ride, he addressed the crowd at Laurelhurst Park:
“Are you a Trekkie? If you believe in science, if you believe in infinite diversity and the freedom to explore, and you believe in a better future for humanity and our natural world, then you don’t have to have seen one episode. You are a Trekkie. And these days, we need as many Trekkies as we can get.”
(*By the way, the answers to those trivia questions are Intrepid and Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.)
More photos below:
Ride leader Joe Gavrilovich.USS Improvise performance at Laurelhurst Park.
Look! Over there! Fun bike events! (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Hi everyone. We’re halfway way through the year. Can you believe that?! Let’s celebrate with a weekend where the weather will be fine and the streets will be filled with powerful Bike Summer energy.
Jock Jams Ride – 7:30 pm at Laurelhurst Park (SE) Teenage Dirtbag Bike Club kicks off their first ever Jock Jams Ride. Folks are invited to put on that old nostalgic sportswear you have and show some vibes out on the streets. More info here.
Saturday, July 2nd
Sew Many Bikes – 2:00 pm at Bolt Neighborhood Fabric Boutique (NE) Attention sewing enthusiasts! Join Marne Rowland Duke on a tour of Portland fabric stores, pattern makers, and sewing studios. Wear your best makes. More info here.
Champagne Ride – 6:00 pm at Ladd Circle (SE) It’s a dress-to-impress occasion where bubblies are the cornerstone of one of the fanciest rides of the season. More info here.
Sunday, July 3rd
Victims of Vehicular Violence Ride – 11:00 am SE 17th Ave & Linn St This ride is an act of celebration for the lives of all those who have survived vehicular violence or have been impacted by it. Hosted by a survivor, we’ll come together as victims, friends and family members to raise our voices. The ride is organized by Estelle Morley, just a year after she became a victim of a serious collision. More info here.
Sundays on Going – 12:00 pm from NE 6th and Going Your weekly summer Sunday neighborhood meeting goes red, white and blue. Join Bike Loud PDX on its very own mini Sunday Parkways. Every Sunday through August, meet at 10:00 am and set on a slow roll eastbound along the Going greenway at noon. More info here.
Pupperpalooza – 1:00 pm at Irving Park (NE) This human-friendly bike ride is an opportunity for furry four-paws to meet their friends and play while being ridden by several dog parks in N-NE of the city. Humans are accepted even if they don’t bring a pup. More info here.
Stay plugged into all the bike and transportation-related events around the region via our comprehensive event calendar.
PBOT has also added curb extensions and striped crosswalks. Full gallery below. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
One of Portland’s most important bike streets has received a big upgrade. The intersection of SE Salmon and 7th now has a full median made out of bright yellow plastic curbs and wands. There are also two new striped crossings and all four curbs have been bumped out.
The new median was installed mainly to discourage car drivers from using Salmon as an alternative to the larger SE Hawthorne Blvd, which is just two blocks over. After the transportation bureau restriped Hawthorne with fewer driving lanes in early 2021, they wanted to make sure people didn’t use Salmon as a cut-through to avoid congestion.
In addition to preventing drivers from crossing 7th east to west, the median also prevents them from turning left from 7th onto Salmon. The new media and curb extensions also improve safety for walkers and rollers who use the popular route to access the Eastbank Esplanade and southeast Portland neighborhoods.
The presence of the wands and curbs calms traffic and makes it more likely people will drive more slowly and stop for people waiting to cross.
According to PBOT, the project cost just $15,000 using these temporary materials and they plan to replace it with higher quality concrete curbs and other features in the coming years once they build the full SE 7th Avenue project that’s called for in the Central City in Motion plan. That project will make a number of upgrades to the bikeway on 7th between SE Division and Stark, including new signals, crosswalks, and wider bike lanes.
“The temporary materials [at Salmon and 7th] allow staff to evaluate if this is the right crossing improvement for both the SE 7th and SE Salmon corridors,” PBOT’s Interim Communications Director Hannah Schafer shared with us today.
The project is also part of PBOT’s effort to improve the Salmon greenway with better connections between the Willamette riverfront, through the Central Eastside Industrial District, and inner southeast neighborhoods.
Later this fall, PBOT will break ground on the related Central Eastside Access and Circulation project that will add long-awaited traffic signals to Salmon at SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and Grand.
Hami Ramani, a local bike advocate who volunteers with BikeLoud PDX, said he’s happy to see it. “We’ve been waiting for this for a while and I think it’s going to complement the rest of the work at MLK and Grand.” While Ramani isn’t a fan of the temporary aesthetic, he thinks the visual distractions for drivers will slow them down. “Overall, I think it’s a good thing,” he said.
One issue that I saw pop up on Twitter is that, without an accessible center turn lane, bicycle riders going north who want to turn left onto Salmon will now have to make a slower and more awkward approach.
While I observed the intersection for several minutes Wednesday night, it seemed to work well. Drivers stopped nearly every time a walker or biker was present at the corner.
Have you ridden through this yet? What do you think?
(Note: This project isn’t 100% complete. Please see update from PBOT at end of post.)
The Portland Bureau of Transportation celebrated the opening of their latest Rose Lane on SW Alder on Wednesday.
The Rose Lane initiative was launched in 2019 under former PBOT Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and its development has remained a priority under Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. The goal is to speed up buses to make them more competitive with driving and deliver better service to bus riders. When it launched, Eudaly said it was the most effective way to simultaneously address climate change and racial disparities with transportation infrastructure.
With the SW Alder project, PBOT’s work complements TriMet’s Line 15 route change that moved the eastbound bus from SW Salmon to Alder to reduce travel time and simplify the route. To keep buses moving faster, they’ve built two new bus platform extensions (at 10th and 6th) and have created a dedicated bus lane between 4th and 2nd as Alder approaches the Morrison Bridge. The project also includes new crosswalks and several new stations.
Bus/bike only lane between 3rd and 4th.Extended bus platform at Alder and 6th.New asphalt bus platform on Alder at 10th.Extended bus platform at Alder and 10th.
At an opening event yesterday, PBOT staff talked to passersby and handed out free ice cream at Firefighters Parks at the 18th/Alder/Burnside intersection.
As you can see in the video, PBOT Director said the project is a “win-win” for transit and bicycle users. On the project website, PBOT says the project creates a “comfortable”, “safer”, and “protected” bikeway. Unfortunately I didn’t see or experience much of that while biking through it yesterday. I didn’t see the protected bike lanes (that we expected as per our story in April) and I experienced a mish-mash of disconnected bikeway treatments. One block I was in a door-zone bike lane, then a bus/bike mixing zone, then I was surrounded by car users, then I was in a bus/bike only lane (that was being illegally used by drivers).
This is unfortunately what I’ve come to expect biking downtown. It doesn’t feel like something that would entice a more novice rider onto a bike. It’s not comfortable and it doesn’t feel like the scale of progress we so urgently need.
Rose Lanes are necessary because we have too many people using cars and they make our system unsafe and inefficient. So while relatively tiny upgrades to the transit system are a great thing that benefits all of us, if we want our streets to reach their full potential, we must do more to reduce service levels and access for car users. Incremental steps for “alternative transportation” while letting drivers run amok, is not progress. And it just doesn’t make sense to me why PBOT would do any project these days that doesn’t make significant and tangible upgrades to the bike network.
These projects often take a bit of time to settle in and perhaps PBOT has more to do. Based on my experience yesterday, I certainly hope so (see update below).
Take a look at the video and roll through it next time you’re downtown and let us know what you think.
UPDATE, July 1st: I should have checked in with PBOT before doing this video and post! Sorry about that. Below is more information about this project from their comms person Hannah Schafer.
This project was designed and scoped specifically to be a transit project, but we also improved some of the more critical bike connections including from the future 4th Avenue bike lane to the Morrison Bridge as well as extending the SW 2nd Avenue bike lane from Alder to Washington. Because of existing curb extensions at 5th and 6th, and the need for bus platforms at 6th and 10th, there just wasn’t space.
The project isn’t fully complete. We have items that still need to get done. The block from 4th to 3rd still has right turn arrow signage, but the project will actually be prohibiting that right turn. There are also some blocks in Goose Hollow that will be improved for bikes once some building construction is complete. Finally, we also have plans to add tuff curb but, like many things, tuff curb is currently on backorder so it may take a few weeks until that goes in.
There’s more pavement than shade in Lents. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
The heat dome that enveloped the Pacific Northwest last June was catastrophic and traumatic for people across the region. Temperatures skyrocketed to unprecedented heights: on June 28, 2021, Portland heat reached an average of 116 degrees. This surpassed not only local records, but also shot past the historic high in Dallas, Texas. At the time, it was all anyone could talk about.
But a year has passed, and people tend to forget. In order to make sure that didn’t happen, Portland activists and scientists organized Heat Week to commemorate the anniversary. Throughout this week, they’ve hosted events to remind people what it was like to experience such a remarkable event and recognize the people who were most impacted by the heat, including the people who died because of it.
Last night, I attended one of these events: the Heat Week Climate Resiliency Ride. Activists from environmental justice group 350PDX wanted participants to learn about “shade equity” and how tree canopy coverage — or lack thereof — impacts people in different parts of the city. They led a group of about two dozen people from the lower-income Lents neighborhood near the edge of southeast Portland to Colonel Summers Park in the wealthier, whiter Buckman neighborhood in inner southeast, and the difference in greenery was stark to see.
Brenna Bell
“Shade equity is part of building a city that works for everyone, and everyone deserves shade.”
Brenna Bell, 350PDX
“One of the things we’re going to be doing in the ride is visually and sensorially taking in the shade,” Brenna Bell, one of the ride organizers and 350PDX’s Forest Climate Manager, said to the group at the beginning of the journey. “We want to help people not just hear about [tree canopy coverage], but also see it and feel it.”
“Feeling it” wasn’t as easy yesterday, because the weather was lovely in and out of shade. Organizers (somewhat) jokingly expressed disappointment about how nice it was – a breezy 75 degrees with some clouds. Fortunately it was nearly 100 just one day before, so it was easy to use our imaginations.
After we left the nicely forested Lents Park and headed on the route, we didn’t see much shade for quite some time. We made our first stop in a parking lot on the corner of Southeast Woodstock and 92nd. Portland State University professor Dr. Vivek Shandas, who researches climate change adaptation and urban heat islands, came out to measure the temperature in this parking lot last year. He found that thanks to an unbalanced ratio of pavement to trees, this spot was the hottest place in Portland during the heat dome, with temperatures reaching an astonishing 124 degrees.
“If we don’t bring attention to the fact that so many people died last year, it’s going to be a forgotten topic. And it’s going to be something we just don’t really make much progress on,” Shandas said.
Shandas passed out thermometers so people could see the temperature difference under varying levels of shade and get a taste of the data collection process.
“You can think about what it means to be doing science in a moment of massive transformation on a planetary level,” Shandas said. “This is a way of taking those big global climate models and bringing them down to our backyards.”
One of the most dangerous parts of the heat dome last year was that the temperatures just wouldn’t let up. Usually night time offers a respite, but in Portland’s urban heat deserts, temperatures remained high all evening. In Lents, it remained 91 degrees at night. In places with more shade, evening temperatures dropped to the 60s and 70s.
At the planet warms, urban forestry is becoming a key intersectional issue with transportation infrastructure. Community feedback for the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s 122nd Avenue Planindicated a strong demand for trees in new streetscape projects – and as more extreme heat events happen due to the climate crisis, the need for trees will become even more evident. Many concerned Portlanders have noticed that TriMet’s soon-to-open Division Transit Project came with large center median islands that are completely devoid of trees.
New (treeless) medians on SE Division. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
As we made our way northwest, crossing 82nd Avenue and moving through the Foster-Powell, South Tabor, Richmond, Hosford-Abernethy and Buckman neighborhoods, we saw less concrete and more trees. I could sense the group relax as we headed west onto more tree-lined and bike-friendly streets.
Bringing the benefits of trees to more streets will be essential to reach many of Portland’s planning goals, but some advocates say the City of Portland is falling short on this front. Earlier this year, Portland ended its relationship with non-profit tree-planting group Friends of Trees. The city says it will continue planting trees on its own, but they’ll have their work cut out for them as the canopy is already shrinking due to inclement weather, tree diseases caused by pests, and urban deforestation.
It shouldn’t be difficult to plant more trees. It’s relatively uncontroversial that they’re nice to have around. Trees are a big part of Oregon pride – the big evergreens and Oregon maples are what makes our landscape here so unique and enticing. It’s a luxury more people should benefit from.
“You walk around Portland and it’s literally like being in the forest. It’s is such an amazing place to live, but we have to build it out, and we have to build it together,” Bell said. “Shade equity is part of building a city that works for everyone, and everyone deserves shade.”
