On Friday, the City of Portland published a website and launched a survey to garner more public feedback on bike-friendly speed bumps. Depending on what they hear, they might change the design of the bumps, or decide they aren’t worth the trouble.
The site comes just a few days after our story about the bumps that pointed out the wide variety of opinions on the treatment and how many riders are confused by them. Ever since the transportation bureau first installed these on southeast Clinton in 2018, we’ve heard from people who love them and people who hate them.
PBOT has heard those opinions too. Now they want help to make the bumps as effective as possible — or determine if they should keep installing them at all. “Speed bumps are one tool to maintain low speeds, but they can also be inconvenient to people biking, potentially discouraging more bicycle trips,” reads their website.
PBOT also wants to clear up confusion about how bike-friendly bumps differ from emergency vehicle-friendly bumps. The giveaway is this: If they are intended for emergency vehicles they’ll have three channels — including one in the centerline of the roadway. Bike-friendly ones have just two channels.
The survey asks riders if they prefer going over the hump or through the channel. They also have a question to gauge opinions on whether or not the 10% increase in cost associated with the bike-friendly bumps is worth the benefits.
In addition to the survey, PBOT says they will do field-testing and observations about how the bumps are being used.
Check PBOT’s new website and take the survey here. (Below is a new PBOT map showing bike-friendly speed bump locations.)
