Forgive me for covering what might be a relatively small step forward in the Broadway Main Street project, but this is one of the most exciting things happening with Portland’s bike network!
I’ve just come across a new one-pager created by the Portland Bureau of Transportation in advance of the launch of the project that shows a new concept drawing for the bike lane between North Wheeler and Ross and shares an exciting vision for the current slip lane at N Larrabee at the Broadway Bridge.
As a quick refresher, you’ll recall that I’ve covered this project closely since September 2023 when PBOT first announced they’d seek a major federal grant to transform lower Broadway between NE 7th and the Broadway Bridge. Then in March we learned PBOT won that grant to the tune of $38 million.
Even by itself this would be exciting, but this project is buoyed by two other major, closely related investments. In March the Oregon Department of Transportation received its largest ever federal grant when they secured $450 million to build a cover over I-5 through the Rose Quarter — a transformational piece of infrastructure that will be smack-dab in the middle of the Broadway Main Street project. In addition, PBOT plans to repave Broadway from NE 7th to 26th and conventional wisdom says they’ll make significant changes to the lane configurations — including less space for driving and much higher quality bikeways on Broadway (and NE Weidler, its eastbound couplet) — when they re-stripe the road.
So let’s get back to the Broadway Main Street project.
If you’re new to Portland, you might not realize that this stretch of Broadway has one of the most notorious and unfortunate histories of any segment of of road in our cycling network. Between the dangerous right turn lanes at N Williams, the repeated right hooks at Flint, and the infamous history that led to the prohibition on right turns for drivers at N Wheeler — bicycle riders have suffered for many years on this vital route.
PBOT’s new concept drawing shows a serene, protected bike lane on Broadway between Wheeler and Ross. While only a potential design, it shows a raised lane for bicycle riders buffered from other lanes with a wide, planted median. The median would shorten the crossing distance and be built on top of an existing lane people drive cars in. The reduction in driving space and upgrades in bicycling and walking space are key to achieving the goals of the Albina Vision plan.
PBOT has also shared the first-ever concept drawing of how they’ll “reimagine” the N Larrabee intersection. Currently just an ugly void of concrete and a dangerous slip-lane, PBOT shows a green plaza and a caption that reads, “A key element of this project is the redesign of the Broadway Bridgehead area along N Larrabee Ave including removal of the slip lane and increased public space for community programming.”
PBOT has lofty goals for this project. They say it will, “Transform the widest surface arterial in Portland’s Central City to a safer, more human-scaled environment,” and “tangibly advance social, economic, and environmental justice by catalyzing necessary transportation infrastructure investment needed in the Albina neighborhood.” With the support of the Albina Vision plan and a significant bag of cash in the bank, they have the political backing to actually get it done.
I haven’t seen an official project page or any other details about timing or public feedback opportunities. For now, check out the one-pager and stay tuned.
Thanks for reading.
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PBOT should be decoupling all roads that have transit service on them (including downtown). Here’s a blurb from Jarret Walker’s blog on this, but in general split couplets make transit less legible while also reducing service area. Every instance of a split one way couplet in the city of Portland was done in the name of increasing motor vehicle throughput as well – including Broadway/Weidler. If the plan is to have one lane in each direction for cars coming off the bridge, then there’s not really a good reason to not consider decoupling as well. With ~50ft of road space, there’s still room for two lanes in each direction on each road until NE 15th (not that I want that, just pointing it out).
Planners love talking about how “cozy” Portland’s downtown street grid is, and that one-ways work there but I firmly disagree. And there’s really no reason for even the transit mall to be on a split corridor. There’s plenty of right of way room for a wider Seattle-style two-way bus street, with a narrow two-way light rail street one block over. Why not create overlapping grids of regular streets and pedestrian oriented ones, all two-way? Downtown is clearly still not doing great, but the only changes on the docket are more cops and graffiti clean up. It’d be nice to see plans that are more ambitious
Anyways, I realize this would be particularly challenging on Broadway/Weidler given the nature of the freeway ramps or whatever. If only there were some kind of multi-billion dollar reconstruction project… oh but then they would have to re-do their EIS that definitely exists. Oh well, guess we’ll have to not change anything that was created explicitly to speed up car traffic through the central city.
There was a lot of interest in decoupling Broadway/Weidler in the 1990s. When PBOT published their Broadway Weidler Corridor Plan in 1996 decoupling was one of the alternatives considered. In the end they opted against it because (AFAIK) there was concern that the reduction in car driving capacity would divert to other streets.
The plan states:
Maybe I’m in the minority on this one but I much prefer crossing one-way couplets to crossing large two-way streets when on bike or on foot. Although there are now two crossings instead of one, each individual crossing is significantly less stressful when I only have to deal with one direction of cars. As soon as the first traffic light upstream turns red the road immediately becomes easy to cross, while two-way traffic does not allow for this experience.
As for the experience when walking or biking on the road itself, I don’t notice much of a difference between one-way and two-way roads. Certainly not enough to counteract how much easier a one-way road is to cross.
Interesting look. Thanks! Closing the slip lane will be the most important safety improvement here. I really hope they can also make a legit right turn onto Broadway from Vancouver for bikes. I strongly prefer this route over going down Flint, especially during school dropoff/pickup.
Not mentioned specifically in the one-pager, but they call for “signal safety improvements.” I’d love to see bike-friendly signal timing with leading signals, keeping in mind that many riders are capable of higher speeds on the downhill leg. With a leading bike/ped signal, timing in the range of 20-22mph (like Columbia St downtown used to be) would be pretty smooth for most riders, and also help to limit motor vehicle speeds.