Last month the Portland Bureau of Transportation took a step forward on their plan to transform North Willamette Boulevard into a high-quality cycling street. As I shared in an Instagram video back in July, PBOT seized the opportunity of a repaving project on the street to make a significant upgrade to the bike lane striping on a 0.7-mile section between University of Portland and the entrance to the Peninsular Crossing Trail at the railroad cut.
PBOT has removed on-street parking on both sides of the street between N Portsmouth and N Carey in order to widen and add a buffer zone to the bike lanes in both directions. This was done in advance of the full build-out of their North Willamette Boulevard Active Transportation Corridor project which is set for construction in 2025. In addition to the nice new pavement and wider bike lanes, PBOT has upgraded the curb ramps to ADA standards and added a few other improvements.
Below are some photos of the new bike lanes…
When I was away on vacation, I saw a Reddit post that shared frustration about drivers who had parked their cars in the newly striped bike lanes. I rode the section yesterday around 4:00 pm and no one was parked in them. Keep in mind that whenever PBOT makes changes like this, we almost always see a lot of folks disregard the new lanes and park in them. This is very frustrating (and sometimes dangerous), but experience tells us that eventually drivers figure things out and it gets better. (You can report illegally parked cars via the city’s PDX Reporter tool or the police non-emergency line.)
With school back in session, the timing of these newly-widened lanes could not have been better. While I was out there yesterday I saw several folks on bikes who I suspected to be University of Portland students. In terms of how these bike lanes work; they’re just very straightforward, curbside buffered bike lanes so there’s nothing surprising to report.
Another cool thing PBOT has added is a new curb extension with a bicycle slip lane and a median crossing at N Macrum that narrows the wide intersection and reduces stress for all users.
The new curb extension and bike slip lane at N Macrum. (Sorry didn’t get a wide shot. These are taken from a video I’m putting together for social media.)
Please note that this treatment is just an interim and PBOT plans to harden these lanes with concrete curbs when the full project is completed. Have you ridden these new bike lanes? Did you see folks parking in them? What was your experience?
(Video below just posted to Instagram)
