122nd north of Glisan, where police say the victim was found.
One of Portland’s most prolific killers has struck again. Portland Police say Tuesday night just before 10:00 pm, a person was found dead on Northeast 122nd Avenue just north of Glisan. They believe the victim was walking prior to being hit and killed by someone driving a car.
Last night’s fatality was the 14th in past five years (2019 – 2023) on this street alone. Eight of the victims were on foot. This section of 122nd is about 75-feet wide with seven lanes used by drivers and a 30 mph speed limit.
122nd Avenue has been the focus of many speeches and plans over the past decade; but it remains a ticking time bomb of traffic tragedy and we’re years away from completion of infrastructure changes.
10 years ago this week, then Portland Bureau of Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick elevated the importance of making changes to 122nd Avenue when he lobbied for a “street fee” that would have allocated $20 million for better bus service on the street. That street fee would never come to pass, but it didn’t stop PBOT from working with TriMet to set aside $8 million for updates aimed at improving safety and adding a frequent service bus line.
At a press conference along 122nd Avenue in 2018, Novick’s successor Chloe Eudaly gave him credit as they both cut the ribbon on $4.7 million in crossing and transit-related improvements. But as I reported at that time, those relatively minor changes would not be enough to end the deaths and injuries caused by dangerous driving.
The 14 people (and their ages) who’ve been killed while using 122nd Avenue since 2019. (Map: BikePortland. Note: Locations are not exact, image boundaries are from Sandy to Powell, with I-205 on the left)
On a more positive note, PBOT has continued their effort to make 122nd a “civic corridor” — instead of the wide, fast, inhumane, deadly place it is now.
That plan is a roadmap to a safer 122nd between NE Sandy and SE Foster. Notably, of all feedback received by PBOT during the outreach for the 122nd Ave Plan, “community members expressed the most concerns about the stretch between NE Glisan Street and SE Powell Boulevard,” near where the person was found dead in the street last night. The Glisan intersection (which is designated a “high crash intersection” by PBOT) was ranked as a “near-term priority” and it was ranked third on a list of nine intersections that should be prioritized for improvement.
Nearly $30 million in safety changes is good news, but we won’t see the results for at least 3-4 years. That means 10-15 more people are likely to be killed while we wait.
It’s a sad truth that we know where traffic dangers lurk and we know how to mitigate them; but the pace of bureaucracy has so far failed to keep up with the speed of many drivers and the incessant traffic violence left in their wake.
Is our only option to sit back and wait for more victims? I hope we are better than that.
The One Main Place building sits at the confluence of several green bike lanes on the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge at SW Main and 1st. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
An urban planning firm that has played a major role in Portland’s reputation as progressive transportation epicenter over the past two decades has just raised their profile by moving into a new downtown office building.
The PBJ reports that Alta was drawn to space — not just because rent is cheap downtown these days — but because, as principal Katie Mangle puts it, “It was important to walk the talk.” Alta wants to be part of the movement to revitalize downtown Portland after years of bad PR following the racial justice protests, the pandemic, and a wave of public drug use, crime and homelessness that have kept many people away.
Alta Principal Katie Mangle (left) talks with Bike Happy Hour attendees in August 2023. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
In a post on Linkedin last month, Mangle said they chose the location because of its direct access to the Better Naito bikeway and high-quality transit connections. The location is also in PBOT’s “Zero Emission Delivery Zone” and just a block from the busiest Biketown station in the entire city (across the street from Salmon Street Springs). Mangle says those perks (not to mention the views and great coffee and restaurants nearby) are part of their strategy to lure more employees into the office.
The move also puts Alta even closer to the City of Portland building and their longtime collaborators at the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Alta has completed many projects for the city over the years. They published a report on Portland’s bicycle economy in 2006, developed the 2030 Bicycle Plan, worked with PBOT on the Central City in Motion plan, and have consulted on numerous bicycling planning projects in Portland and across America. You might even have met Mangle at a Bike Happy Hour this past summer. She and a crew from Alta were soliciting feedback from attendees on behalf of PBOT’s public plaza program.
Former Alta CEO Mia Birk was PBOT bicycle coordinator from 1993-1999. When she joined Alta in 1999, the firm had just one office and two employees. Now the company boasts nearly 200 employees in offices throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Alta’s new office will be up and running in mid-December.
Susan Peithman, a former Portlander who was a staffer at the nonprofit advocacy group, The Street Trust and a serious bicycle racer, is now interim director of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Climate Office.
Peithman will serve in the position while current Climate Office Director Suzanne Carlson rotates over to serve as administration of ODOT Public Transportation Division for one year.
Peithman will be the third person to lead ODOT’s Climate Office since it was established in spring 2020 in response to former Governor Kate Brown’s executive order on climate change. The office’s main charge is to monitor and inform ODOT’s progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Peithman’s varied background in the transportation world should serve her well in leading that effort.
Peithman’s first taste of statewide policymaking came when she was named as a member of ODOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee in 2012 and served as its chair for four years (until 2016). Also in 2013, Peithman was hired as the research and education program administrator at the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University. Then in 2016, Peithman got her first job at ODOT as their active transportation policy lead.
Since 2016, Peithman has had several jobs at ODOT, including a stint as a manager of the Public Transportation Division.
“I’m excited to use my policy and program experience as the Climate Office director over the next year,” said Peithman in an ODOT statement Friday, December 1st. “The office has made great strides in the short time since its creation, and I plan to continue the momentum. I have a personal passion and professional commitment to supporting ODOT as we work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and prepare for future climate events.”
Plastic delineator wands once stood in the buffer zone (marked with red “X”) in the center of this photo of the southbound bike lane on NE 57th north of Fremont. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
UPDATE, 12/10: PBOT has replaced the missing plastic wands. Reader Joseph E. sent in a pic that you can see at the end of this story.
A few weeks ago I received an email from Mark Falbo, a Portlander who grew up in the Cully neighborhood over sixty years ago. Mark told me about a safety concern on NE 57th/NE Cully Blvd where it curves just north of NE Fremont. He said dozens of white, plastic delineator wands installed by the Portland Bureau of Transportation to protect bicycle riders and walkers, had gone missing.
“They have all been eliminated from cars and trucks running over them,” Mark wrote. “It’s a very dangerous corner to ride a bicycle through because of its history of people running into the chain-link fence after crossing the bike lane.” Mark had seen the video of the horrific collision on NE 21st that led PBOT to install concrete barricades to protect the bike lane. “As with the dangerous situation faced on NE 21st, this particular corner in Cully warrants immediate action by PBOT to prevent a very likely accident.”
When I rolled over on Sunday, I found out Mark had every reason to be concerned. I counted 19 plastic wands that were no longer standing in the buffer zone of the southbound bike lane on each side of the “T” intersection with NE Failing. The result is a bike lane that is unprotected from car drivers — just as they negotiate a curve at around 30 mph (speed limit is 25 mph).
Former site of a protective wand.View looking north.That buffer to the left of the bike lane is missing is protection.The guardrail took a beating from an errant driver (and did a good job protecting the fence).The plastic wands are stashed behind the guardrail.View of 57th looking north from Fremont. Note the pedestrian walkway marking and people walking without protection.
From what I’ve learned, PBOT first installed plastic wands between NE Failing and Fremont in 2017. That’s also when they added width and the buffer zone to the southbound bike lane by removing an on-street parking lane on the northbound side of the street and shifting the lane striping east. I’m not sure how long the bike lane has been left unprotected. They’re all missing in a Google Maps image dated October 2023 and readers have shared that they might have been gone as far back as summer (more on that below).
NE 57th in this area is classified as a Bicycle Parkway (“a bicycle route designed to serve as a bicycle highway providing for direct and efficient travel for large volumes of cyclists”) and Pedestrian Parkway (“high quality and high priority routes for pedestrian activity”) in the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). It’s a vital north-south connection between retail destinations around Fremont and along NE Cully to the north. When PBOT added space for non-drivers around 2017, they also add a “pedestrian walkway” southbound — a rare treatment that gives space to walkers on the road, instead of a sidewalk separated by a curb. The presence of this walkway should add even more urgency to the lack of protection, as they are/were the only physical separation between walkers and car users.
This location is already squarely on the PBOT radar (or at least it should be). In 2016 a man was killed by a driver as he tried to walk across 57th at NE Mason, just two blocks north of the curve. Following that tragedy, the neighborhood demanded immediate safety investments. In a letter to the Commissioner of PBOT, the Cully Association of Neighbors wrote, “This stretch of Cully Boulevard, between Fremont and Prescott Streets, is particularly hazardous. It is quite wide, encouraging speeds well above the posted 30 MPH, and a blind curve just south of Mason Street invites crashes like this one.” PBOT has since built a new marked crossing with a concrete center median at the Mason intersection where the person was killed. Four years earlier, in 2012, BikePortland identified this section of 57th as a perfect location for a physically protected bike lane.
Source: PBOTPBOT slideWhat it looked like before the wands went missing.
To their credit, PBOT listened to neighbors and applied for a federal grant through Metro’s Regional Flexible Funds Allocation (RFFA) process. In October 2022 they were awarded $7.6 million for the Cully/57th Complete Street Project. The project will build a real sidewalk on the west side of the street and widen the existing one on the east side (see cross-section drawing above). The project will also narrow the street (which ranges from 65-75 feet today), build new crossings at NE Failing and Skidmore, install a transit island at NE Mason, rebuild and update the signal at Fremont, and add protected bike lanes that will have a concrete curb instead of plastic wands.
That’s great news, but that project isn’t estimated to begin construction until 2027 (federal funding is a bummer that way). So for now, we’ve got to address the conditions on the ground.
While out there on Sunday, it was easy to see that many drivers fail to negotiate the turn. There was clear evidence of a recent crash. The guardrail was bent and shoved up against the fence and its wooden supports were splintered and sheared clean off their bases.
As for what might have happened to all the missing plastic wands, it’s likely drivers hit them and ripped them out. It’s also possible that City of Portland crews purposely removed them and never put them back. Two readers familiar with the location recalled a Water Bureau sewer repair project that opened up the street this past summer where crews took the wands out in order to make room for a detour route.
Today there are at least a dozen of the wands stashed behind the guardrail (which is doing a great job protecting the fence, when it could be in the street protecting the bike lane!). The wands are strewn about, discarded like wounded soldiers unable to perform their duties.
I’ve asked PBOT for more information about this location and will update this post when I hear back.
Plastic wands on busy, high-speed streets are not a serious solution. And allowing them to be ripped out so easily and then leaving people exposed to dangerous drivers for months on end is unacceptable.
BikePortland reader Barbara Stedman told us via social media about what’s happening near her home in southwest. “When they put up the bollards on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway between 25th and Bertha, the bollards were mowed down by cars immediately. Some days PBOT would put up new ones in the morning and they were gone by the afternoon.”
“People living close could hear the bang-bang-bang of car mirrors hitting the bollards,” Stedman continued. “In some places PBOT gave up, on others they added a concrete curb to it. That works much better.”
— If you see protected bike lanes where plastic wands, bollards, or other protective elements have gone missing, PBOT urges you to call their 24/7 maintenance dispatch hotline at (503) 823-1700.
Video from our Instagram page below. Follow us there at @BikePortland.
Dana Deardorff. (Images: Portland Velo via Facebook)
Approximate location of collision circled in red.
Friends are remembering a dedicated group ride leader and Portland Velo Cycling Club member who was killed in a collision while cycling in Washington County in November.
According to a statement released today by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, 78-year-old Dana Deardorff was riding northbound on SW Roy Rogers Road just south of Al’s Garden Center between SW Beef Bend Rd and SW Elsner (about 10 miles southwest of downtown Portland) at around 11:38 am on Monday, November 20th. Police say Deardorff “veered across lanes of travel” and collided with a driver who was going southbound. “[The driver] was unable to stop before they impacted,” the Sheriff’s office wrote.
The driver called 911 and stayed at the scene to perform lifesaving duties. Police say impairment is not considered a factor and an investigation is ongoing.
SW Roy Rogers is a very busy road with a speed limit of 55 mph. It sits directly on the border of the Urban Growth Boundary and sections of it north and south of where this collision occurred have been widened and updated with bicycle facilities recently or are planned for changes soon. The section where I suspect this happened is rural with one lane of travel in each direction. The most recent images on Google show that due to a construction project, the lane configuration is more narrow than usual (can anyone confirm if the image below from this summer is still accurate?).
SouthboundNorthboundSouthbound and northbound views on SW Roy Rogers Rd where the Sheriff’s office told us the collision occurred.
Deardorff lived in Tigard and rode frequently in the area near where he last pedaled. According to his Ride With GPS account, he’s biked over 2,100 miles so far this year and did a 32-mile, nearly three-hour ride around Sherwood just three days before the fatal collision.
Friends remember Deardorff as a supportive ride leader and active member of Portland Velo. He also led a group ride from Lake Oswego for more than 15 years.
Here are just a few of the comments PV members have shared about him on Facebook:
“Like so many of us, Dana taught me how to group ride. He was always patient, kind and encouraging to newbies and enjoyed watching us develop into active Velo members. He took on the 14-16 ride group when we so desperately needed a reliable, consistent leader. He will be missed.”
“My son used to come out and ride with me on Saturday rides. There was one morning when we were just getting back and waiting to turn right onto Evergreen, and I heard Dana whisper to my son, ‘Hey Andrew, want to drop your old man?’ Andrew and I are so sorry to lose Dana.”
“A true friend and cycling buddy. So many rides with him. He was great to ride with in a group or just the two of us. Amazing man and friend. Coincidently, Wednesday is the day in Tucson that the Oregonians do a group ride so we paid tribute to him, wearing PV kits, and did a slow and silent rollout in his honor. Dana, you will be missed.”
Police say anyone who has information or who might have witnessed the crash should contact them at 503-629-0111 and reference case number 50-23-17393.
Our post on the passage of Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan inspired many fine comments, most of them centered on the quote we highlighted from Metro president Lynn Peterson, “When 67% of the people in Clackamas County get up in the morning and have to go to three other counties to work — commutes that are not not easily done by bike or pedestrian or bus or transit or even by auto at this point — then we have some real equity needs within our region.”
Peterson was justifying the need for road expansions. But BikePortland commenters got to the essence of the region’s challenges with a discussion about proximity and travel distance.
Once again, a comment by Todd/Boulanger caught my attention. He makes the point that Metro solutions to the “work, housing, school” destination conundrum seem to emphasize road expansion, over creating better integrated communities.
Here’s what Todd/Boulanger wrote:
I love Lynn’s past work at Lake Oswego and WSDoT, but reading her highlighted quote, I have to wonder if she has now been fully captured by the vehicular status-quo at Metro.
The focus on mobility – to work sites – above all else as a solution to the work, housing, school locations imbalance — I thought that is why we set up MPOs (Metropolitan Planning Organizations) and other planning coordination agencies in the 1960s-1990s. But it seems only the road network is fully coordinated among jurisdictions.
For the long term we need to get back to the future of the EcoCity Standards set out by Richard Register in the 1980s (EcoCity Berkeley) where the metric is planning and designing for ‘Proximity over Mobility,’ not mobility at the cost to proximity.
Is it truly an “equity solution” if our working class families need to devote 1 adult FTE in the household to pay off the monthly car budget (1 car = $894 / 2 cars = $1788 / 3 cars = $2682 per AAA OR 2022), all paid for after taxes, to reach their jobs from cheaper housing? And these car costs rival house rental costs.
I always learn something from your comments, Todd/Boulanger, this time it was EcoCities and the specifics on the cost of a car.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread!
Welcome to the week. Hope you’re enjoying all the rain. Isn’t it magnificent?!
Here are the best stories we’ve come across in the past seven days — from sources you can trust.
Tunnelvision: There’s new momentum for an I-5 tunnel instead of a bridge over the Columbia River thanks to two engineers who’ve built a life-like model of what it would look like. (Clark County Today)
Bike to the future: A French company has invented an e-bike that doesn’t need a battery and stores energy created by operation of the bike in an on-board supercapacitor and all I can think about is Doc and his flux capacitor from Back to the Future. (Euronews)
Our neighbors’ DOT: This article is an excellent breakdown of the tension between transportation leaders, elected officials, and state lawmakers about the future of highway spending in Washington — and it’s very similar to the dynamic we have in Oregon. (The Urbanist)
When selfishness trumps reality: Interesting findings from a AAA member survey reveals that — surprise, surprise! — a large percentage of drivers distort reality to support their behaviors. This information should add urgency for advocates to hammer these points home and for engineers and policymakers to get more aggressively anti-speeding. (Streetsblog USA)
The right to ride: New York’s highest court ruled that a man’s constitutional right to unreasonable search and seizure was violated because a cop stopped them based only on a visual suspicion of carrying a gun. It’s a fascinating case that gets at the heart of how using a bicycle can put people at greater risk of legal exposure. (Streetsblog NYC)
A wolf in sheep’s clothing? Activists say ODOT is intentionally hiding a massive, 10-lane freeway expansion for I-5 through the Rose Quarter. (City Observatory)
London’s quest for clean air (and fewer cars): I almost don’t want to share this out of concern that it will scare local politicians from moving forward with various congestion pricing plans, but I also feel it’s always better to know thine enemy and gird for coming policy debates. (Politico)
The struggle is real: This story about the effort to redesign just one stroad in Los Angeles reveals what is so bad (entrenched car-centric planning) and so good (advocates) in this transportation reform fight. It also introduced me to the term “dad-vocate” which I will immediately adopt and use frequently. (The Guardian)
Check out an e-bike (literally): Portland has great libraries and a bike share system. What if you could go to your local library and check out a pass that would let you try a Biketown e-bike for free? That’s what a library in Santa Barbara, California is doing. (Yale Climate Connections)
Protestors wore red and assembled outside Metro headquarters before the vote. (Photos: Sarah Risser)
At their meeting Thursday, members of Metro Council voted 6-1 to pass the most powerful and influential transportation plan in the region. The 2023 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) includes over $68 billion in investments on 771 projects across 24 cities and three counties. It also enshrines policies that will have vast influence on how funding and capital project implementation decisions will be made for the next five years.
It’s important to keep in mind that the RTP doesn’t fund specific projects. It is just a “menu, not a funded plan” according to Catherine Ciarlo, Metro’s planning director. Local jurisdictions identify available funding and propose specific projects they’d build if/when the dollars become available. That being said, the 578-page, federally mandated plan sets into motion how cities and local jurisdictions must plan road and mobility networks.
Thursday’s vote updates the 2018 RTP that was set to expire December 6th. That abbreviated timeframe meant Metro Council had no choice but to adopt it lest they wanted to throw the entire region into a chaotic federal funding blackout. That reality was not normal. The vote was supposed to happen months ago, but Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) that develops the RTP, saw their agendas “blown apart” (in the words of Metro Councilor Christine Lewis) for several months due to the need to discuss tolling, which set back the timeline.
The foregone conclusion that the RTP would be adopted Thursday didn’t stop dozens of activists from climate group Extinction Rebellion (XR) from airing strong concerns during a pre-meeting protest outside Metro headquarters in northeast Portland.
Metro Council President Lynn Peterson on the Zoom call inside.… and Bike Loud PDX Chair Aaron Kuehn on the outside.
Wearing all red, XR volunteers held signs that read, “If you build roads, cars will come,” “Cut roads, not transit,” and “Better transit, not cars.” They followed up that action with testimony before Council.
“In the midst of a worsening climate emergency, when we must drastically and quickly reduce emissions,” said XR’s Diana Meisenhelter during official testimony, “This is a plan for the past, still car and roadways-centered, instead of what we desperately need for safe and sustainable transportation this critical decade and beyond.” Meisenhelter and several others hammered Metro Council members over the funding allocations in the plan.
“When 67% of the people in Clackamas County get up in the morning and have to go to three other counties to work — commutes that are not not easily done by bike or pedestrian or bus or transit or even by auto at this point — then we have some real equity needs within our region.”
– Lynn Peterson, Metro Council president
Economist and No More Freeways co-founder Joe Cortright questioned how Metro modeled the climate impacts of the RTP’s proposed investments. “The climate analysis is simply greenhouse gaslighting of the public. The RTP is a cover-up for continued auto-dominated transport and transportation policy,” he said.
The funding imbalance concerns were not without merit — especially when you consider that the six desired outcomes of the plan include “vibrant communities,” “clean air and water” and “leadership on climate change.”
Graphics from the adopted plan.
Of the $68 billion in total (near and long-term) funding and projects listed in the new RTP, $19.2 billion (including $6 billion for the Portland-Vancouver I-5 widening project) will go toward “throughways capital,” “roads and bridges capital,” and “freight access” projects, while $2.7 billion go to “transit capital,” and $3.1 billion goes to “walking and biking.” The plan sets aside an estimated $43 billion for operations and maintenance.
But while the majority of public testimony was sharply critical of the plan and urged councilors to reject it, there were notable voices who spoke highly of it.
Indi Namkoong, transportation justice coordinator with nonprofit Verde, served as a community representative on a Metro advisory committee that helped develop the plan. In her testimony she pointed out several “ambitious elements” that she felt are “really worth celebrating.” The leader of land-use nonprofit 1000 Friends of Oregon Brett Morgan also supported the plan, as did The Street Trust Executive Director Sarah Iannarone.
Among the wins these advocates celebrated (as part of the Getting There Together coalition) are groundbreaking new policies that aim to: increase spending transparency at the Oregon Department of Transportation; reform how projects are selected in the next RTP (2028); increase accountability around megaprojects; and a long-awaited update to Metro’s Regional Mobility Policy that finally shifts the main project development metric away from motor vehicle capacity (a.k.a. “level of service”) and toward a broader, people-centered calculation that includes bicycle riders, walkers, and other non-drivers.
When it came time for council members to share their thoughts, they first asked staff to address all the substantive criticisms that were shared during public testimony. Staff appeared to adequately quell councilor concerns by assuring them that anything built as a result of the RTP will still go through many layers of review, that the investments meet state targets for greenhouse gas emissions and other metrics, and that voting “no” would throw the region into disarray given the existing RTP’s expiration in just five days.
Before casting votes, council members acknowledged that the investments and projects aren’t exactly in line with Metro’s stated goals and values; but that the name of the game is progress and compromise.
Councilor Ashton Simpson, who represents District 1 (east), summed up that compromise well before he voted “yes”:
“The support of this plan from East County cities — Fairview, Troutdale, Wood Village, Gresham — was unanimous, because one they need those projects. I know that there are projects in this program that are big, and they’re coming from one entity [ODOT], but underneath all of that there are some really good projects like the Halsey Main Street project that will help support three cities and makes sure pedestrians have access to businesses housing, and other things that make a complete life.”
Councilor Mary Nolan was the sole “no” vote (as she was when Metro voted in support of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program last year), and they did so with confidence it would pass anyways. Nolan represents District 5 which includes Northwest and North Portland, portions of Southwest and Northeast Portland, plus the city of Maywood Park and part of Washington County. Nolan said the funding allocation in the RTP, “falls way short” of the region’s goals. “If we started this process with clear, authentic commitments to the goals in this document,” they said. “And we took the dollars available and asked ourselves, collectively, ‘How do we use those dollars to best deliver on those goals?’ The list we came up with we look very different than the one that’s before us today.”
For Metro Council President Lynn Peterson, the passage of the RTP is her most significant transportation achievement to date and an opportunity to put the disappointment of the failed 2020 transportation funding bond measure even further behind.
Before her “yes” vote, Peterson made it clear the plan required compromise from people with very different views on transportation. “When people don’t have ownership across this entire region, nothing will happen. And if nothing happens, then we are worse off than we were before. So progress is actually being made. It may not be made at the rate people want, but we need to move forward,” she said.
Peterson spoke on the value of “region-wide agreement,” and projects that will create living-wage jobs. Peterson then left no question about why she believes the road expansion projects in the plan are necessary. “When 67% of the people in Clackamas County get up in the morning and have to go to three other counties to work — commutes that are not not easily done by bike or pedestrian or bus or transit or even by auto at this point,” Peterson said. “Then we have some real equity needs within our region.”
Then, after underscoring the urgency for replacing the I-5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver (another controversial freeway expansion project prioritized in the plan), Peterson said, “I am interested in moving forward. I am not interested holding us in a pattern where we don’t actually achieve any of these objectives.”
And with that, our region’s transportation plan was passed and will be the law of the land effective December 7th.
— Stay tuned for more detailed coverage of what’s in the plan and how it will impact investments in the coming years. Learn more about the 2023 RTP on Metro’s website.
Detail of event flyer showing tunnel model. Aerial view from Columbia River looking north into downtown Vancouver. (Photo: Bob Ortblad)
What if, instead of a new bridge over the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver, we built a tunnel instead? Ever wondered how exactly that would work? At an open house in Vancouver later today (Friday, 12/1) you can see a real-life model of the idea and learn more about it from the guy who’s been pushing the idea for years.
If you’re a regular BikePortland reader, you have probably heard of the “immersed tunnel” concept for the Interstate Bridge project. We profiled the concept in February 2022 and introduced you to its main advocate, a retired engineer and dedicated transportation activist named Bob Ortblad. Ortblad hasn’t just proposed a tunnel instead of a bridge, he’s been an outspoken critic of the current Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBRP) design and the staff who’ve repeatedly dismissed the tunnel.
Ortblad believes a tunnel is better than a bridge for myriad reasons; including safety, land use, and environmental impact — but IBRP leaders have dismissed the design. In posts made to social media, they say the tunnel isn’t feasible because it wouldn’t have off/on-ramps, would cost more than a bridge, and would have “significantly more environmental impacts.” Ortblad strongly disagrees and has accused IBRP staff of “manufacturing consent” for a bridge.
Now, instead of words and illustrations, Ortblad has built a full model that he says disproves the IBRP’s “false assumption” that a tunnel cannot connect to major destinations like Hayden Island, downtown Vancouver, and SR-14.
Here’s the text from a flyer for today’s event:
The Oregon and Washington State Highway Departments (the DOTs) falsely concluded that the tunnel option evaluated during the initial screening of alternatives for the IBR project could not provide connections between I-5, local Downtown Vancouver streets, and SR-14. That led to the rejection of the tunnel alternative in favor of the current proposal – a giant 200-foot wide mega bridge, towering 100 feet above Vancouver’s historic waterfront.
The DOTs continue to lie to the public about the feasibility of the tunnel connections.
The Tunnel Model That Exposes the False Assumption To illuminate reality, a model of the Vancouver tunnel interchanges was constructed. The model makes it clear — the tunnel alternative offers superior connectivity to the mega-bridge option currently under design.
If you’re intrigued by the tunnel concept and want to ask Ortblad about it in person, there’s an open house in Vancouver today from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm in the lobby of Lucky Lager Warehouse (215 W 4th St.).
A rider pedals north on SE 12th just before Salmon. More photos below. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The City of Portland has installed a very helpful new link in the inner southeast bike network. There are now double-buffered bike lanes on SE 12th between Madison and Salmon. The Portland Bureau of Transportation completed striping the new bike lanes in September.
“This new stretch of bike lane connects two important pieces of infrastructure in SE Portland: the Central City in Motion Hawthorne/Madison improvements and the Salmon Neighborhood Greenway,” wrote PBOT in a social media post Wednesday.
The bike lane is unprotected and offers only paint as a separation from other road users; but the “double-buffered” design means that there is space between the one general purpose lane to the left of the bike lane and the door-zone of parked cars on the right. The previous cross-section included two general purpose lanes and two lanes for free car parking. PBOT swapped the eastern general purpose lane for the new bike lane.
View of SE 12th from Hawthorne. Note the plastic wands end at Madison.View up 12th from Madison.Driver in the bike lane.Looking south from Salmon.End of the new bike lane at Salmon (and Good Coffee!).When the new bike lanes end, it’s back to bummer riding.
This a nice connection because 12th handles a lot of bike traffic from the Ladds Addition area (and points south) and the new bike lane connects directly to the popular greenway on SE Salmon. At Salmon, PBOT has previously installed a concrete barricade to tame traffic and the street has a 15 mph “Shared Street” advisory speed limit. It also leads to a nice little coffee place (Good Coffee) on the corner of Salmon and 12th.
Funding for this project came from PBOT’s Multimodal Missing Links program. This is a small and flexible pot of money PBOT uses to build small projects. The total annual budget for Missing Links is about $200,000 (I don’t know the cost of this specific project yet, but will update this post when I find out). (UPDATE: Here’s what PBOT said when I asked how much this project cost: “As with many Missing Links projects, this was too small to have its own line item in PBOT’s budget. This was grouped among 25 quick projects we had a contractor perform for about $300,000. We won’t know the final cost of each of the 25 projects until the invoices come in.”)
I visited this site a few days ago to see how it’s working. The new bike lane starts as a shared bus/bike lane at a Line 70 TriMet bus stop on the northeast corner of 12th and Madison. Similar to the cross-section on North Vancouver Avenue, you feel like a respected road user since the bike lane width is equal to the adjacent car lane.
Unfortunately, the paint-only design and general disrespectful behavior, led some drivers to use the bike lane while I was there. Hopefully that subsides in the future as folks realize it’s a bike lane — and as more bike riders fill the space.
The response to PBOT’s post was mostly good and I’ve heard positive feedback so far. “It makes crossing this street on a bike on Salmon a lot easier – only crossing one lane of traffic is so much better. Now please do 11th as well!” wrote one person. “Now can we get a lane all the way up 12th to get to the Ankeny and north of Burnside lanes?” wrote another.
I second that call to extend this up to the Ankeny greenway. I’ve always been a fan of 12th for its direct connection between Hawthorne and Burnside/Sandy, but I’ll only ride it if I can maintain a 18-22 mph speed given the shared-lane conditions and 25 mph speed limit.
Have you ridden this yet? What has your experience been?
Mangled bike racks and bike didn’t stand a chance against an SUV driver. (Photos sent in by a reader)
The driver of an SUV slammed into an on-street bike parking corral on SE Stark this morning. The collision flattened and/or uprooted six City of Portland-issued staple racks and a bicycle that was locked to one of them.
A reader sent us photos of the aftermath and I just had a quick call with a person named Cole, who happens to be the bike’s owner. She was across the street around 8:00 am this morning and witnessed the driver turn onto Stark from Sandy. “They drove straight into it and took all of the racks out. And my bike is totaled,” Cole said.
Cole said the driver was headed north on Sandy and turned right on Stark. The bike corral is on the southeast corner of the Sandy/Stark intersection right in front of The Slammer Tavern. The location is just two blocks east of the crossing I wrote about yesterday — the one where many drivers are ignoring the law and driving through a gap in a median that’s supposed to be bike-only.
“[The driver] says he didn’t see it,” Cole added, recalling a conversation with the driver, whose vehicle is still parked on Sandy with its bumper on the ground and a very bent wheel. “The whole thing is kinda’ sketchy. I don’t know how you couldn’t see it!” she said.
According to Cole, the SUV didn’t have any license plates. And a call to the police wasn’t fruitful, as she got the impression they didn’t really care about the incident after the officer didn’t even ask for the driver’s name. Cole has the driver’s name and information but isn’t sure what will happen next. “I feel terrible about it,” she said. “There’s really nothing I can do though.”
Drivers hitting on-street bike corrals is unfortunately very common in Portland. There’s one in front of a Mexican food place near my house on North Rosa Parks Way that has been hit and damaged so many times, it was recently removed.
The totaled bike was Cole’s sole form of transportation and she used it to commute from the Alberta area to a job at Ota Tofu (just behind the tavern).
Cole would appreciate help buying a new bike. You can send her money using CashApp to the account $colesodcash. If you don’t have CashApp and would rather Venmo, you can send funds to @bikeportland and I’ll make sure they get to Cole (just include a note to let me know).
The Crown Zellerbach Trail awaits you (if you have enough layers and gear to stay warm!). (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Welcome to the weekend.
With cold and rain settling in, this week’s guide is a bit sparse. But if you’re hearty enough to brave the conditions (and/or committed enough to your winter base miles training) there are a few options. And if you get bored, I highly recommend a pedal to your local bike shop. They’re ready for your holiday shopping and need your support!
Friday, December 1st
Friday Morning Meander – 10:00 am at St Matthew’s Anglican Church (NE) Join members of the Portland Bicycling Club for this 13-15 mph paced ride through North Portland with stops for coffee and treats. More info here.
Saturday, December 2nd
Charity Bike Sale – 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at 1750 Blankenship Rd (West Linn) Big used bike sale that will benefit nonprofits that give free bikes to kids. More info here.
East Portland Community Forum on I-205 Tolling – 4:00 to 6:00 pm at PCC Southeast (SE) Oregon State Rep Khanh Pham says this forum will be, “a special listening session on tolling the I-205 freeway with legislators and state officials,” that will, “help shape ODOT’s proposals, influence decision-makers, and help me form a strong vision for transportation investments in our community and our state.” The event is hosted by the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Transportation Special Subcommittee on Transportation Planning. More info here.
Sunday, December 3rd
Long Ride to Vernonia – 8:30 am at Haven Coffee (NW) Join the PDX Long Rides group for this adventurous ramble to Scappoose, then into the country via the Crown Z trail (off-road) and loop back home via the Banks-Vernonia path and rural roads of Washington County. Not a beginner ride! More info here.
— Don’t see an event? Please tell us about what’s going on in your neighborhood by filling out our contact form!
