PBOT kicks off project that will bring better biking to NE Broadway

If all goes according to plan, by next summer a key segment of Northeast Broadway will finally receive a design update that includes protected bike lanes.

In the past week or so the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has uploaded the website for the NE Broadway Main Street Pave & Paint Project. This site makes official what many Portlanders have dreamed about for years: turning inner Broadway from a car-dominated stroad into a more humane street where people can walk and bike — and drive! — with much less stress and crash risk.

The project was triggered by a need to install fresh pavement between NE 11th and 24th. And as PBOT prefers to do, they’ll seize the opportunity to update lane striping when given a blank canvas to work with. And with major bikeways already established on NE 7th and NE 26th, the project scope will go beyond the new paving boundaries to make connections to those existing routes.

The current cross-section on this section of NE Broadway has five lanes for car users and just one narrow, unprotected bike lane. The final design is far from final, but early concepts have all shown at least a seven-foot wide, curbside bike lane and three-foot buffer zone.

While the conventional wisdom is that there will be less space for drivers in the new design, nothing is certain until the paint dries (and even then we know PBOT can change their mind). And given the high-profile stature of Broadway as a major commercial corridor, we should expect healthy debates about the final cross-section.

On the PBOT website, they place “support a vibrant main street” and “make the streetscape work better for [the small business community]” atop a list of project goals. Other stated goals are to make the street safer, make it better for bicycle riders and walkers, and “develop a high-quality project with broad community support.”

One major thing to keep in mind that sets this project apart is how it ties directly into the I-5 Rose Quarter megaproject. PBOT received a $38 million federal grant back in March to transform NE Broadway into a “civic main street” between NE 7th and the Broadway Bridge. My hunch is whatever cross-section they have in mind for that project will have to match up to this one. Will the more prescriptive federal dollars influence the design of the lower Broadway project? If so, what will that mean for the PBOT-funded “pave and paint”? That is one question on my mind as this gets underway.

I am also eager to see how the newly elected city council handles what could be a very high-profile project.

The “pave and paint” project kicks off this summer with a “listening and learning” phase that will include business and neighborhood outreach, some technical analysis, and a series of walks and bike rides along the corridor. By fall, PBOT should have initial concept drawings to share and open houses will start. We should see a design recommendation by early 2025 and PBOT says they plan to implement the changes in summer 2025.

See the project website for more information.