Our Guest Post last week by Don Baack focused on southwest Portland’s problems with getting pedestrian and bicycle networks built. The area relies on private development — and the city’s frontage requirements that are supposed to accompany it — to cobble together its networks. The area has the worst sidewalk coverage and most incomplete bicycle facilities in the city, so obviously this system is not working very well.
HJ jumped in to say that it’s not just southwest, that West Hills struggles with the same problem. But HJ added another wrinkle — jurisdictional control. And boy is that true!
When we say “jurisdictional control,” people usually think of all the ODOT-owned orphan highways, but the complications also extend to the ragged edges of our city borders. County lines, unincorporated county lines, and city-borders don’t respect the layout of surface streets, and the locations where they intersect end up being some of the most dangerous spots in the area.
Not just SW. This is happening all over the west hills. For example the French American school is planning a big expansion. They just took over the rest of the corner at Cornell and Miller and will be developing it.
Word on the street is they have tried to work with the various road agencies that control the edges of their property (poor guys get Washington County, Multnomah County, and PBOT to deal with) to get bike lanes and sidewalks established, but have gotten stonewalled. The impact of the school on local traffic has become outright dangerous, yet parents that live a mere block away have no safe way to walk their kid to school. So they drive.
Will anything change with their new development? I’m skeptical. But if we don’t make it happen with this project, which is on the Ronde PDX route, it never will. Locals have been begging for this area to get addressed for over 30 years and the demand lines in the dirt are well worn.
It would be a major step forward to getting folks out of their cars as a sidewalk and or bike lane on Miller in particular would give people in the area safe access to both basic essentials such as groceries as well as public transit.
Nobody seems to want to help because it’s a jurisdictional nightmare spot and because it’s at the edges of everything. CPO1 has declined as it’s the edge of their area and they want to focus further in, BikeLoud never looks past the west edge of downtown, WashCo Bikes doesn’t care because non-Washington county spots are involved. Please tell me how are we supposed to fix this spot?!
Thank you HJ. I don’t have an answer, maybe someone else has an idea. It’s the same problem on SW Scholls Ferry Rd — unincorporated Washington and Multnomah counties, with a tiny stretch of Portland. It seems like an impossible street to fix.
Corner of SW Broadway and 5th Avenue looking east. I-405 and the surface route of Hwy 26 create a no-man’s-land for people walking and on bicycles. (Lisa Caballero/BikePortland)
A few weeks ago the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) grappled with a thankless task, choosing between six patches PBOT had presented to it for routing cyclists into downtown from Terwilliger Boulevard.
That area surrounding the southernmost segment of I-405 serves as a surface street exchange for the confluence of three highways—Interstates 5 and 405, and Highway 26—and also Barbur Boulevard. Trying to carve a safe route for cyclists or pedestrians through the resulting jumble is like solving a Rubik’s cube. You can understand why a transportation planner might shout, “don’t touch that!” It’s pretty complicated.
On- and off-ramps from I-405 affect many surrounding surface streets
I say “patches” because PBOT doesn’t have the authority to really fix the underlying problem, which is the area’s numerous freeway on- and off-ramps. Those ramps are zones of hazard punctuating any PBOT safety effort. Truly addressing the problems in this area would require a lot of money, and ODOT’s cooperation.
So the BAC was being asked to recommend the best workaround for getting cyclists from Terwilliger Blvd to the intersection of 4th and Broadway—the portal into PBOT’s $17 million 4th Avenue project which, when completed, will be the main northern bike route through downtown.
The comments from readers into this post fascinated me. I pulled up a map and followed along as each commenter described how they navigated the mess. The riders fell into two main categories, those who approach downtown from the south using Barbur Blvd, and those riding in on Terwilliger. There was some discord between the two groups, and a side discussion arose about how PBOT determined route priority, why was routing Terwilliger riders onto Barbur more important than fixing the 6th Avenue/Broadway crossing? Which road got the most use?
But no one is more invested in fixing the 6th Avenue crossing than veteran bike advocate Keith Liden. Reader’s might remember BikePortland’s ride-along with Liden just last year, and his relatively inexpensive suggestions for making the intersection safer. In fact, making 6th Ave north of the intersection safer for cyclists is already part of the Southwest in Motion (SWIM) plan, project BP-02, “6th Portal to Central City,” and it comes with a relatively inexpensive $15,000 price tag.
Liden emailed Jonathan and me last week, “I’m really getting fed up with PBOT’s way of operating in a black box and prioritizing projects with no logic …” What had raised Liden’s ire was his discovery that PBOT had made a formal cost estimate, and had received project approval from ODOT, for a new project at the same location as SWIM’s BP-02.
The new project is for a rapid flashing beacon and pedestrian crossing of 6th at Jackson, and is estimated to cost nearly a million dollars.
Liden wrote PBOT:
Thanks for this information about the proposed pedestrian crossing improvements at 6th and Jackson. While I completely support improving this pedestrian crosswalk with an RRFB, it’s extremely discouraging to hear that the much less expensive and equally important bicycle improvements here will be kicked down the road until after $1 million drops from the sky to fund the RRFB (in other words, another decade +). This demonstrates PBOT’s consistent lack of interest for the plight of cyclists entering the city from Terwilliger for 25 years and counting. Other than Moody, this and 4th are the next busiest bike entries into downtown from SW.
So why keep passing on any meaningful safety improvements for cyclists by placing this in the queue after an expensive project with probably no chance of being funded for years? The anticipated 4th/Barbur project will help some cyclists, but it will be a cumbersome detour for many who are simply headed for destinations along 6th, PSU, or westerly portions of downtown. There’s no substitute for a safe bicycle entrance on 6th.
Liden raised some good points, and it looked to me like the rerouting of cyclists from Terwilliger to 4th Avenue could be interpreted as backing off from a commitment to making 6th Avenue improvements.
I reached out to PBOT’s Communications Director, Hannah Schafer, to see if she could clarify the status of SWIM project BP-02. She took the time to look into the situation and responded to me with substantive answers which I will quote directly:
BikePortland: Has the Terwilliger/4th Ave project superseded the need for BP-02? Has BP-02 been shelved? If not, what priority does BP-02 currently have?
PBOT: Because SW in Motion has limited funding opportunities at this time, PBOT staff are exploring the feasibility of including RP-02 Terwilliger to 4th Connector as part of the larger capital project to save on costs and increase the benefit of the SW Fourth Avenue Central City in Motion Project for people biking from SW via Terwilliger. BP-02 will still be prioritized as a Tier 1 project when additional SW in Motion funding becomes available.
BikePortland: I’ve been told that PBOT received ODOT approval for an unfunded pedestrian RFB at Jackson and 6th, separate from the BP-02 bike lane improvement project at the same location. So it looks like BP-02 has become a lower priority than these other projects. Can you tell me what the PBOT thinking is concerning 6th Ave bike improvements north of 405?
PBOT: PBOT and ODOT staff collaborated on a concept design for a pedestrian crossing improvement at SW Jackson and 6th that utilized an RFB. While the design concept had the support of both agencies, we were unable to identify design and construction funding for the improved pedestrian crossing. The bicycle connection is similarly unfunded at this point. PBOT would like to implement both pedestrian and cycling improvements here but lacks discretionary funding to do so.
BikePortland: Also, south of 405, are bike facility improvements planned for 6th between Sheridan and Broadway?
PBOT: PBOT staff are exploring bike improvements on 6th from Sheridan and Broadway. Funding for this connection has yet to be identified.
My interpretation of those responses is that the Terwilliger to 4th connector is a strategic response to underfunding, and is indeed a substitution for improving the crossing at 6th, and implementing SWIM BP-02.
After studying the BikePortland comments, I came away thinking that many riders heading east currently stay on 6th, and save their turns until after crossing over I-405. It’s an interesting situation, because any right turn prior to Harrison is prohibited, yet some cyclists do it anyway (the MAX runs along the east side of 6th).
The BAC is meeting is meeting next Tuesday, April 9th and on the agenda is, “SW Terwilliger Improvements: from Sam Jackson to Caruthers-4th (6:15-6:55):”
Continuing the March meeting discussion about Terwilliger, Roger Geller will discuss the results of the BAC’s April 4 field visit as well as two additional desired improvements on the corridor: 1) continuing the outbound bicycle lane on Terwilliger to the intersection with Sam Jackson; improvement to facilitate a left turn from 6th to Sheridan to access Barbur Blvd. Following discussion, the committee will consider drafting a recommendation regarding these improvements.
None of those desired improvements Geller lists cover the 6th and Broadway intersection. So there you have it, the underfunding of SWIM, a surface street quagmire caused by freeways, and murky prioritizations.
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County rendering of new design coming to Hawthorne Bridge offramp (SW Main) approaching SW 1st.
Two annoying sections of the very popular Hawthorne Bridge bikeway will get significant changes thanks to a project set to begin this spring.
At their meeting yesterday, Portland City Council passed an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the Portland Bureau of Transportation and Multnomah County, giving them a green light to break ground and complete a major bridge maintenance project. The County owns and operates the Hawthorne Bridge, and they plan to spend $9.5 million on a paving and repair project. The IGA passed Wednesday allows Portland to pay the County $220,00 to build two key bits of infrastructure that will have a big impact your bicycling experience over the bridge.
Currently as you ride westbound into downtown from the Hawthorne, bike riders transition from the sidewalk path onto the street-level bike lane just after the off-ramp to Waterfront Park. According to PBOT, the County will widen the westbound sidewalk all the way SW 1st Avenue, creating a shared pedestrian and bicycling space. PBOT plans and County design renderings shared with BikePortland (see below) show an 11-foot path split evenly between a green-colored bikeway and a sidewalk.
Westbound approaching SW 1st (Source: PBOT)Eastbound bus island. (Source: PBOT)County rendering of bus island.
The County refers to the design as a “bicycle slip ramp.” The new raised bike lane will be five-feet wide, separated from a five-foot wide sidewalk. There will be a one-foot wide yellow stripe between them. The raised bike lane will return back to street level at the bike box at SW 1st.
The other change will be on the eastbound side on the viaduct. Currently, there’s a TriMet bus stop just after you pass over Water Avenue that requires the bus operator to drive over the bike lane to service the stop. According to PBOT, the County will build a new bus island at this location that will allow the bus operator to pick riders up without weaving across the bike lane. PBOT’s plan drawings show that the bike lane will be colored green and will go up onto the island, behind a bus waiting area. Bicycle users and bus riders will need to use caution and treat each other with respect to minimize the risk of collisions or dangerous passes.
The County expects to break ground on this project in spring and it should be completed before the end of summer. Seet plan the plan drawings to get more details and stay tuned for updates.
When it comes to promoting the creative, vibrant street culture and fabric of events that make Portland, Portland, Umbrella is arguably the most important nonprofit in the city. Why? Because they provide the financial and legal foundation for many of our most beloved traditions.
I’m talking about things like the upcoming Ladds 500, the World Naked Bike Ride, Pedalpalooza, Breakfast on the Bridges, Better Block PDX, Disaster Relief Trials, and more. As a registered 501(c)(3), Umbrella pops up to protect projects and events that would struggle to handle major legal details like event insurance, alcohol permits, tax ID numbers (to accept donations), mailing addresses, and bookkeeping, on their own.
Umbrella is possible thanks to its board members — generous, benevolent folks who understand the value of community-based street culture and want to see it survive and thrive. And now you have an opportunity to become one. That’s right, Umbrella is looking for a few good folks to join their board.
Being on the board requires attendance at meetings (once a month for an hour or two) and a minimum commitment of two years. You can learn all about what it entails here.
And yes, that makes being an Umbrella board member sound pretty boring. “But it doesn’t have to be,” reads the board description. “There’s something really wonderful about attending an event for a project that you have supported, and you look around and go, ‘Wow these folks are doing such cool stuff – I’m so glad we could help make this happen.'”
So maybe this is the next step in your involvement with the great events, rides, projects, and people you’ve met in the Portland transportation scene. If you’re intrigued, check out the application to join and make sure to fill it out by end of day on April 13th.
Might not be tank top weather, but still fun to be had! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Hope you’ve got time to ride this weekend. Have some extra fun for me because I’m out of town until Tuesday (not a work trip).
Scroll down for some excellent ride options…
Friday, April 5th
Woodstock & Creston Park Crawl Bike Bus – 1:00 pm at Creston School, 2:00 pm at Woodstock (SE) Join parents and kids of these two elementary schools for a tour of parks that will help build confidence of young riders, connect the community, and spread the good word about the bike bus. More info here.
Some Sorta Social Ride – 5:30 pm at Something Cycles (E) Shop ride with some fun-loving folks who like old-school MTBs, but all bikes are welcome! Route will include unpaved Leif Erikson Road in Forest Park. More info here.
Saturday, April 6th
Intermediate Women’s Road Ride – 9:00 am at River City Bicycles (SE) The wonderful Sorella Forte Cycling Team will lead a special “Double Volcano” ride of about 24 miles and 1,400 feet of climbing. No-drop with a 14-16 mph pace. More info here.
Saturday Social – 10:00 am at Lents Park (SE) Portland Bicycling Club ride leader Bud Rice will guide you on a 20-30 route that explores many neighborhoods. More info here.
PhysEd Games Ride – 10:30 am at Peninsula Park (N) Do you miss gym class? OK, don’t answer that. This ride will bring back just the good memories with fun new games adults like to play. More info here.
Strong Towns PDX Hangout – 11:30 am at Cafe Yumm! PSU (SW) Local chapter of urbanist group Strong Towns will get together to socialize and trade ideas and insights. Come hang out with fellow lovers of great cities and transportation advocates. More info here.
Nomad Cycles Rummage Sale – 12:00 to 4:00 pm at the shop (NE) Find great deals on hard-to-find parts. Keep in mind that Nomad is an e-bike specialty store, so make sure to leave time to meet the staff and see what they offer. More info here.
Sunday, April 7th
Roubaix Day Ride – 9:30 am at Trek Bicycles Slabtown (NW) Paris-Roubaix is a beloved spring classic race and what better way to enjoy it than with a group ride over local cobbles? Join staff and friends of the new Slabtown location of the Trek Bicycle Store on an 18-mile route at a casual pace with a group hangout afterwards. More info here.
Sunday in Helles, a Paris Roubaix Ride & Viewing Party – 10:30 ride, 1:00 viewing at Gigantic Taproom (SE) Local bike club the CX Pistols will host a spirited pre-ride to get you hungry and happy before a viewing of the Paris-Roubaix race (a.k.a. “Sunday in Hell”). Expect a “spirited” loop on the ride geared for experienced riders. Or just come straight to the taproom for the party and cheer on your favorite pro. More info here.
Guerrilla Gardening Seed Dispersal – 12:45 pm at Laurelhurst Park (SE) Imagine biking around and tossing native seeds onto the ground and learning about the history and legacy of guerrilla gardening. Bring a spice shaker to help with dispersal. Some seeds provided, but bring your own if you’ve got ’em. More info here.
Roving Ride – 4:30 pm at Columbia Park (N) This new ride series from NakedHeartsPDX will help you get familiar with destinations far beyond the central core. Expect a slow, social pace where everyone is welcome. More info here.
— Did I miss your event? Please let me know by filling out our contact form, or just email me at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.
SW Capitol Hill Road, looking south, from the Habitat for Humanity frontage. (Lisa Caballero/BikePortland)
This post is by Guest Contributor Don Baack
Don Baack
As our city government reorganizes itself to operate more efficiently, there has been a lot of talk this past couple of years about silos. Bureaus as silos, silos within bureaus. But what’s happening right now on SW Capitol Hill Road takes silos to a new level of inefficiency. It also illustrates how the piecemeal way sidewalks and bike lanes get built in the southwest results in so many gaps.
The simple outline of the story goes like this…
Hi-LO Trail
A few years ago, SWTrails PDX, an organization I founded nearly 30 years ago, successfully lobbied state representatives Senator Wagner and Congresswoman Salinas to fund a new trail, the Hillsdale to Lake Oswego (Hi-LO) trail. The Hi-LO trail includes a segment along SW Capitol Hill Road, a busy neighborhood collector in the Hillsdale Town Center that has a few stretches of sidewalks near Barbur Blvd, but mostly lacks a safe place for people to walk.
State funds came through in 2021, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) planners were tasked with designing the new sidewalk segment between 19th Avenue and Nevada Court (segment 14 on the map above). After the usual rounds of public outreach, the planners decided it would sit on the east/south side of Capitol Hill Road, a placement which SWTrails supports.
Habitat for Humanity
Map of PBOT sidewalk infill projects on SW Capitol Hill Rd. BikePortland annotations in blue. Source: PBOT.
Meanwhile, north of Nevada Court, Habitat for Humanity acquired (also with state funding) a parcel of land from the Portland Bible Church which has about 400 feet of frontage on the west side of SW Capitol Hill Road. Habitat proposes to build 52 affordable housing units on the parcel.
City regulations call for a developer to build frontage improvements like sidewalks and bicycle lanes so that new development is accompanied by a supporting transportation network. The Development Review desk within PBOT oversees those public right-of-way requirements.
“The result is pedestrians walking in the street for the final 1,000 feet of dangerous road.”
But rather than requiring sidewalk and bike facilities that could possibly connect to PBOT’s Nevada Court work to the south, Development Review proposed a walking and bicycle path on private, Habitat for Humanity property—30 vertical feet above the street! The proposed path would dead-end about 300 feet north of the existing Nevada Court right-of-way. In other words, Development Review proposed a path which is up a steep hill, above the roadway, and does not connect to anything. Closing the 300 ft. gap between this proposed path and the nearest other right-of-way (SWTrail #3 and Capitol Hill Road) would require investment by either the City of Portland, the Portland Bible Church, or a future land purchaser. The connection, if built to existing bicycle route standards, would require about 300 feet (30 ft vertical at 10% grade) of steep grade from Capitol Hill Road.
So, to recap, on the same road one PBOT silo has designed infill sidewalk from the Safeway on Barbur Blvd to Nevada Court, while another PBOT silo (as part of code-required frontage improvements) is requiring a developer to build a public path on private property, above street grade—a path which will not connect to PBOT’s southern sidewalk infill projects. It’s not exactly the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing, maybe the north and south hands?
The result is pedestrians walking in the street for the final 1,000 feet of dangerous road from Nevada Court up to the intersection of Capitol Hill Road with Bertha Boulevard.
Neighborhood pushback
SW Capitol Hill Road, looking north. This shows the beginning of the 1,000 foot sidewalk gap north of Nevada Court (Photo: Don Baack)
In response to neighborhood complaints, Habitat offered to contribute funding for a sidewalk on the east side of Capitol Hill Road, across the street from their property, in lieu of the above-grade path PBOT was requiring of them. An east side sidewalk would have partially filled the 1,000 foot sidewalk gap, and at least established a roadmap for future sidewalk infill on the northern third of Capitol Hill Road. PBOT responded with a firm no. [UPDATE: 4/5/2024, 10:45 AM — As part of fact-checking this post, Lisa Caballero made a public records request for the Habitat Public Works Alternative Review Decision form, which gives a summary of why Development Review required the path it did. The form was delivered after publication of this article.]
Source: PedPDX sidewalk completeness tool.
This disjointed funding and implementation is why southwest Portland has so many gaps in its already paltry sidewalk network, and why the bicycle network is so incomplete. Unfortunately, this particular situation is not unique, similar scenarios play out all over our neighborhoods.
The City of Portland has neglected southwest sidewalk and bike infrastructure for half a century, even as the climate and pedestrian death crises have so visibly worsened in recent years. The reasons that the city doesn’t push developers to build sidewalks in the southwest are complicated, but if there is a root cause, it is our area’s lack of a formal stormwater conveyance system. We don’t have a Big Pipe (although we pay for it), our water runs off into creeks and streams.
Stormwater is too big a topic to go into in this short article, but we badly need representatives who understand the issue—let’s make learning on the job a thing of the past! We deserve better. Elections are coming up in seven months, our part of town needs representatives at all levels who know how to advocate for making our streets safer. And that means knowing something about transportation, development and stormwater.
We’re seeking a Lead for our Kerr Bikes seasonal rental store!
Kerr Bikes provides the public with seasonal bike rental services, kayak rental, and adaptive equipment recreation. The Lead may supervise other Kerr Bikes employees, volunteers and participants in services we provide, and will perform maintenance on bicycles as needed.
Albertina Kerr strengthens Oregon families and communities by helping children and adults with developmental disabilities and mental health challenges – empowering them to live richer lives.
Responsibilities:
– Consistently uses Standard Operating Procedures to rent equipment and complete tasks
– Performs bike maintenance and repairs
– Ensures rental assets and shop is secured
– Acts within the interests of Kerr Bikes and creates value while on shift, encouraging other staff to do the same
– Keeps tidy environment and organizes parts/tools
– Completes daily and weekly logs on repair, inventory, register counts, and other reports as required
– Communicates bike repairs and parts information to manager
– Takes responsibility for store in manager’s absence
– Prepares daily register reports, holds shop keys, makes bank deposits, gets change as needed, opens and closes store, and other operations duties as needed.
– Other duties as required
Qualifications:
– Comfortable working alone
– Supervisory experience preferred
– Ability to lift 100lbs, continuously bending, squatting, twisting and standing for long periods
– Mechanical aptitude and knowledge of maintenance of bicycles
– Weekend availability required
Bikeshare Operations
FT/PT
Pay: $20 per hour
Benefits: Health insurance, PTO
SHIFT Transit is a leading mobility operations company, serving a wide variety of clients in the transportation industry. By working in close collaboration with our clients and providing terrific service in each of our business units, we have been able to grow our client base and footprint exponentially from coast to coast
SHIFT Transit is seeking individuals for day-to-day operations of a bikeshare system on a corporate campus in Beaverton, OR. To be successful in this position, you must enjoy working outdoors in all weather conditions, have good manual dexterity, and be able to use common hand tools. The ideal candidate has an excellent work ethic with a can-do attitude and the ability to take direction within a dynamic, hands-on team environment.
The candidate must excel at working independently, as well as within an overall team structure that places utmost importance on customer and team safety.
Primary Responsibilities:
Responsible for the successful program execution of bike services.
Deliver world-class customer experience to riders through behind-the-scenes operational excellence.
React quickly and appropriately to ensure excellent customer experiences.
Work closely with Operations Manager and all supervisors to ensure flawless program execution.
Intricate attention to detail while performing Shift Transit’s standard inspection.
Must be adaptable to an incredibly dynamic and fast-paced work environment.
Responsible for moving bikes to and from the warehouse and stations throughout the bike system.
Attend events and promote the program where applicable.
Maintain station cleanliness and operability.
Assist with fieldwork such as battery and telecom maintenance.
Minor mechanical bike and station maintenance and repairs.
Required Skills and Experience:
High School diploma or equivalent.
Bike maintenance experience not required but preferred
Effective communication skills, both verbal and written.
Ability to manage multiple assignments and meet deadlines.
Must be willing to work in all weather conditions outside, year-round.
Must have a valid driver’s license.
Must be able to lift 75 pounds.
We provide equal opportunity to all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, veteran status, genetic information or disability.
How to Apply
Email resume and cover letter to tennis@shifttransit.net
It was a dream many years in the making that creates direct access for an entire neighborhood and connects to a key cycling route. I’ve heard multiple reports that the new path and crosswalk are already seeing a high volume of users.
But as with many City of Portland projects, if we want to see this reach its full potential, we’ve got to get the details right. And one detail of this project — getting people across Southeast Division Street at 64th Avenue — isn’t right. As I reported last week, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has installed a painted crosswalk and a median island with plastic posts and curbs on the east side of the intersection. It helps, but given the behavior of drivers on Division, a more robust crossing treatment might be needed. (Parks also needs to improve the transition from the path to the crossing for southbound bike riders, but I’ll leave that for another post.)
To help illustrate this issue, I’ve shared a message below that I received from a reader yesterday. It helps drive home the dangers people face while biking — not just due to infrastructure design but the related bad behaviors on our streets:
“I used the crosswalk for the first time today at 64th and Division. I was on my bike traveling west in the bike lane on Division and was able to ride into the crosswalk and median from a complete stop in the bike lane. After that, a motorcycle and car failed to yield so I was stuck until they passed to get all of the way across. The driver of the car had that look, so I returned it with my middle finger.
Continuing home, I made it to SE Powell Blvd [a half-mile south of Division] and while I’m always uneasy crossing those five lanes, I was even more shaken by the screeching of tires beside me as the driver of the aforementioned car pulled up and started to tell me that what I did was stupid. He said the “psycho tweakers” would have run me over and then I would be “crying about how unfair it was.” He wanted to educate me on how I was supposed to walk my bike through crosswalks but when I asked his source for that knowledge he just kept repeating the same lines about how I was being stupid and acting like all of the other entitled cyclists. Eventually I was able to point out that he was the one that went out of his way to chase me down.
After another minute of him ranting and me refusing to apologize, he sped off I’m sure feeling like he got the last word and therefore won.
The crosswalk I’m referring to is new and already very popular as it leads right up to Mt Tabor through a neighborhood. This route is much friendlier than riding on 60th but the crossing at Division is just a simple sign and the white crosswalk stripes, no flashing lights. I think it needs to have lights and include a cyclist on the sign since the average driver doesn’t seem to know bikes can use crosswalks at a walking pace and cars must yield. I run into this issue fairly often all over the city. How can we educate drivers and/or make this a better crosswalk for all users?
This crossing is already very popular and it will only get more use with the coming summer months as it will serve as a main artery for pedestrians coming from the neighborhoods south of Mt Tabor. I encourage everyone to check out the new path. It’s honestly very nice and I love everything about it — except the crossing at Division.”
Asked for more information about this crossing, PBOT said a flashing beacon is not in the plans. “Both roadway geometry and traffic conditions indicate a median island crossing treatment for this intersection. The crossings already on either side of SE 64th, at SE 59th and Division and SE 67th and Division, are both median island crossings,” PBOT Communications Director Hannah Schafer shared with BikePortland last week.
PBOT is currently providing feedback to TriMet on a permanent design to come in the future as part of TriMet’s Powell-Division Safety and Access to Transit project. I’ve asked TriMet for more information and will update this post when I hear back.
On the Oregon Coast Bike Route, somewhere between Tillamook and Newport. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The Oregon Department of Transportation sent out a survey on the first of April that seeks to gather information about road safety. I think you should take it.
Given the high stakes of the coming legislative session where lawmakers will debate a massive new transportation spending and policy package, I feel like every opportunity to share feedback with ODOT should be seized. This is especially true because I’ve seen this same survey being shared in circles online where folks don’t believe ODOT should spend any money on things like traffic calming, road diets, or bike lanes — because things aren’t really “fixing the roads.”
The survey comes from ODOT’s Transportation Safety Office who says (on their website) that their main responsibility is to, “improve the safety of all roadway users, and all modes of travel in Oregon through education and outreach” with an overall goal to, “eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Oregon’s roadways.” This office is funded by grants from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and it’s focused on communication and partnerships with community groups, not on infrastructure funding.
According to Safety Office Public Information Officer Mindy McCartt, this is the first time this office has pushed out their safety survey to such a wide audience. It’s part of their effort to fulfill demographic and reporting requirements from the federal government. In the past they’ve gathered this feedback primarily from in-person meetings around the state and from a smaller survey sample online.
What’s important to keep in mind is beyond reporting back to NHTSA, this survey will inform how the Safety Office spends its funding. “We’re going to also use it to help determine how the money is spent next year and the following years,” McCartt shared with me today.” And you can bet that the responses gathered will end up on slides in future ODOT presentations to the legislature and beyond.
The questions in the survey are pretty straightforward. They include:
What makes you interested in traffic safety?
How safe do you feel driving on Oregon roads?
What is the number one factor that impacts how you feel about driving on Oregon roads?
How safe do you feel on Oregon paths?
What is the number one factor that impacts how you feel on Oregon paths?
How can we best support traffic safety education in your community?
What community organizations or groups do you believe could benefit from traffic safety education?
How do you best receive traffic safety educational information?
The most intriguing question asks what specific programs ODOT should invest traffic safety dollars in. Survey takers are given 14 options and can select up to five. Here are the options:
Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety
Distracted Driving
Driver Education
Impaired Driving
Judicial Outreach
Motorcycle Safety
Occupant Protection/Seat Belts/Child Car Seats
Older Driver Education Programs
Police Traffic Services/Emergency Responder Training
A bicycle rider waits for a chance to cross SE Powell at 79th. View is looking south. (Aaron Kuehn/Instagram)
Doing it right is more important than getting it done quickly. That’s the message road safety advocates have for the Oregon Department of Transportation after learning about imminent plans to finally build a new crossing treatment on Southeast Powell Boulevard at 79th.
Crossing marked in red.
This crossing (see map at right) has always been risky. It’s not just the four lanes of fast, state highway traffic on Powell you have to worry about. 79th is also a small, forgettable road at this location and on the south side it emerges from a frontage road. At just 700 feet west of roaring 82nd Avenue (another state highway), most drivers barely notice 79th at all, much less a person waiting to walk or bike across it.
It’s also why last week, three local nonprofits sent a letter to the three agencies that have a say in what happens here: the Oregon Department of Transportation, TriMet, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
(Graphics: BikeLoud PDX)
“We are writing to convey our concern that current designs for improvements at SE 79th and Powell will not create a crossing that is direct, safe, and comfortable for all users,” reads the letter, signed by leaders of Oregon Walks, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), the Vestal Elementary Bike Bus, and BikeLoud PDX.
The groups point out that SE Powell is one of the deadliest streets in Portland and that plans on the table don’t go far enough to help people get safely across it.
As you can see in the images, the crossing currently has no marked crosswalks. According to the letter (based on plans obtained by BikeLoud PDX via public records requests), ODOT plans to install a “Crosswalk Closed” sign on the eastern corners. That closure would limit crossing options for walkers and bike riders and would, “Add out-of-direction travel and increase pedestrian exposure to traffic by requiring up to three separate crossings to reach the bus stop at the southeast corner of the intersection,” the letter states.
BikeLoud says they’ve asked ODOT, PBOT and TriMet to explain why the closure is necessary, but have not heard a satisfactory response.
Making matters worse, TriMet’s plan for the crossing appears to differ from ODOT’s (TriMet has oversight due to their Powell-Division Corridor Safety plan), and would have bike riders cross at an angle, northeast across Powell. “If professional planners disagree on how the design will be used, it is unlikely to be clear to ordinary road users, either for cyclists using the crossing or for drivers watching for crossing cyclist,” reads the letter.
ODOT plans to install a flashing beacon on the western crossing of the intersection, but advocates say a four-lane state highway with a record if crashes like Powell requires a full signal or some other treatment that requires drivers to stop on a solid red phase.
In addition to a stronger crossing treatment, the advocates say both crossings must remain open. They also want the agencies to get together and hash out a better plan.
“The time for action is now, the current plan would continue to reinforce the car-first design of the Powell corridor, and building it as currently envisioned would lock in that compromised design for decades to come.”
