A group of concerned Portlanders stepped in front of a moving truck this morning to defend a bike lane. The truck was being driven by a contractor hired by the Portland Bureau of Transportation to grind off a recently installed bike lane on Northeast 33rd Avenue in the Concordia neighborhood.
As we reported yesterday, PBOT said the bike lane — that was installed as part of a repaving project in late September — was installed by “mistake” because they didn’t do enough public outreach.
The removal was not announced publicly, and we only found out because PBOT staff warned BikePortland anonymously that it was imminent.
Local bike advocacy nonprofit BikeLoud PDX responded by telling members to show up at the site this morning. The idea was to take a closer look at the bike lanes in advance of a planned strategy session later this morning. However, crews had already begun removing the bike lane as the activists showed up. One of them, former BikeLoud PDX Chair Kiel Johnson, rolled up to the scene and immediately stopped his bike in front of the oncoming truck. The truck driver stopped and Johnson stood there with his arms crossed.
As several other people rolled up, they massed along with Johnson in front of the truck and a stalemate ensued as contractors whipped out phones to try and figure out what to do.
One of the contractors told the group they were simply there to modify the bike lanes, not remove them. But that contention doesn’t square with PBOT’s statements.
It is clear that PBOT wanted this bike lane removed. Their statement to BikePortland yesterday was unambiguous. It said, “This segment of bike lane was installed by mistake and will be removed.”
And a nearby resident shared with BikePortland this morning that just this morning a letter from PBOT was placed on their door. It read:
“Dear Northeast Portland Neighbor,
I am writing to notify you of construction beginning tomorrow, Wednesday November 1, 2023 on NE 33rd Avenue from NE Holman to NE Dekum streets. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will deploy contractors to remove lane striping in this section and return this section to its original condition.”
If people didn’t show up this morning, the bike lane would be gone.
Once the truck operator left the corner of NE 33rd and Holman, he simply moved to another section of the bike lane a few blocks south and started the grinding-off process again. Activists then hopped on their bikes and stood in front to stop forward progress.
Several minutes passed and the truck left once again.
Eventually the contractors left for the day, but BikeLoud volunteers are still there. They’re staying in shifts to make sure the trucks don’t return.
This bike lane closes a key gap in the bike network and it’s called out as a planned “city bikeway” in the Transportation System Plan. It was also recommended as a high priority in the Columbia/Lombard Mobility Plan passed by Portland City Council in 2021.
Commissioner Mingus Mapps, who leads PBOT, voted in support of that plan.
Reached for comment today, his Deputy Chief of Staff Cynthia Castro said, “PBOT is not continuing with removing the bike lane today, but we do need to have further conversation about this particular stretch.”
Asked if Mapps’ office authorized the order to remove the bike lane, Castro said, “I would say that I’m on the same page with the [PBOT] director as far as saying, ‘We need to have more conversation about this particular stretch,’ and obviously there’s a lot of lessons learned here about outreach.
But PBOT Director Millicent Williams isn’t on that page. Based on PBOT statements and that letter given to residents this morning, Director Williams did not plan to have any further conversation. The order was to remove the bike lane and it would be gone if not for the timely protest organized by BikeLoud PDX.
Stay tuned.