The Oregon Department of Transportation has just released a list of crosswalks they plan to close in our region this year. There are 181 crossings on the list — 53 of them are in Portland. ODOT plans to close 16 crosswalks on Southeast Powell Blvd between SE 8th and I-205, including closures at: 8th, 11th, Milwaukie, 13th, 20th, 22nd, 36th, 42nd, 45th, 47th, 57th, 61st, 70th, 74th, and 86th.
In an email with the innocuous subject line “ADA Program and Safe Crossings on U.S. 26 (SE Powell Boulevard)” the agency says they plan to erect “Crosswalk Closed” signs like the one above at these locations in the name of safety. ODOT also frames these closures as part of an ongoing project to comply with an ADA lawsuit the agency settled with a disability rights group in 2016. “Bringing curb ramps up to accessibility standards and closing unsafe and inaccessible crosswalks are tools we use to meet these obligations,” reads the email.
Here’s more from ODOT:
In Oregon, every intersection is a crosswalk unless marked otherwise. This means that if a crosswalk is open, it should meet our safety and accessibility standards… We evaluated crosswalks statewide and found that a number of them do not provide equal safety to all users for a variety of reasons. These reasons may include crosswalks ending at or in close proximity to a driveway, a median island or landscaping in the crosswalk path, or traffic signals that do not have pedestrian signals and push buttons. In these cases, the crosswalks are closed… This ensures that people are guided to use an alternate, nearby, safer and open crosswalk.
“Crosswalk Closed” signs have been proliferating in Portland and statewide for several years now. In 2019 we reported on a major uptick in them from the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Despite concerns from readers about how these closures make walking less respected and convenient, PBOT said they only do it as a last resort.
We went further into the story two months later when we heard ODOT was just ramping up their closure effort. At that time, ODOT was closing crosswalks without any standardized process to make the decisions. And there was zero public input. The decisions were in the hands of just two ODOT engineers. In 2019, ODOT State Traffic Roadway Engineer Mike Kimlinger told members of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (OBPAC) that they were closing only two per month.
Given that ODOT plans to close 181 crosswalks in Region 1 alone this year, the pace has clearly skyrocketed.
See the full list of closure locations below…
These closures come after a record number of pedestrians were killed on Portland roads last year — with many of those tragedies happening on ODOT-owned highways.
The closures also remove the legal protection for people trying to cross the street. People can still legally cross the street where a “Crosswalk Closed” sign is posted, but they are no longer afforded any right-of-way privileges. If the person was hit, they would be much more likely be held at fault for impeding traffic or failing to yield.
That’s just one reason these closures are cause for concern.
One legal expert we spoke to in 2019, Portland lawyer Ray Thomas, said, “It’s almost like they’re making us trespassers on our own crosswalk.”
I have asked ODOT if the decision-making process around these closures has been formalized since 2019 and if there’s any way the public can offer feedback. I’ll update this story when I hear back.