N Willamette’s bike lanes finally connect to St. Johns

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has completed a crucial connection in the bike network. On Monday of this week they striped bike lanes in both directions of North Willamette Blvd between Alma and Richmond. This half-mile stretch of Willamette didn’t have a bike lane before, despite it being a very important bike route and a key connection to the St. Johns neighborhood.

The work is part of a two phase “quick build” striping plan that comes as a precursor to the major, federally funded Willamette Boulevard Active Transportation Corridor project that will break ground next year. Earlier this month they made significant upgrades just south of this section between N Carey and Portsmouth.

As you can see in the video above (filmed Thursday, 9/26) the new bike lanes are unprotected and paint-only, but they come with a sizable buffer zone. That buffer zone will be filled in with concrete curbs similar to the ones on North Rosa Parks next year.

In order to gain the space needed for these new bike lanes, PBOT no longer allows on-street car parking. This means door-zones have been eliminated and bike riders have dedicated space that gives them not just greater protection from other road users, but gives them more favorable legal standing in the event of a collision.

When I was out there yesterday, the bike lanes were crowded with riders. With University of Portland, Roosevelt High School, Fred Meyer, and many other destinations along this route, Willamette will likely increase the number of bike trips in future months and years. And that’s to say nothing about its valuable role as a gateway to the St. Johns Bridge, west hills, Sauvie Island, and many other popular bike routes along Highway 30 and beyond.

There’s been some grumbling about people parking in these bike lanes, but I didn’t see that at all while I was out there. PBOT likely has a bit more polishing to do with signage and other small tweaks before this project is 100% complete, so let’s keep an eye on it and make sure folks comply with the new no-parking rule.

Get out there and try it out this weekend!

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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Jakob Bernardson
Jakob Bernardson
2 months ago

Rode it yesterday–on my Honda “Metro.” Very nice; did not know it was brand new.

It is posted for 25, faster than I usually ride, but sweet for carving turns.

Cars, however, routinely drive 30-35. Very annoying. I slowed and dodged into the buffer on those occasions.

A short distance south of Rosa Parks Willamette intersects Ainsworth, which is a straight shot up to 37th. Nice riding there too.

buckets
buckets
2 months ago

Are you implying you rode your gas powered scooter in the bike lane?

Jakob Bernardson
Jakob Bernardson
2 months ago
Reply to  buckets

No, only in the buffer.

Ted Buehler
2 months ago

Jakob — is it legal to ride a gas motorcycle in the buffer?

No mention of it here….

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/forms/dmv/6367.pdf

P. 24 here says the white line is the right hand edge of the lane, which suggests you’re not allowed to cross it, so can’t ride in the buffer.

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/forms/dmv/37.pdf

P. 57 Says not to drive in the bike lane.

No mention of buffer, did you learn anything different about buffers vs. bike lanes themselves in a motorcycle skills class?

Just curious.

Ted Buehler

Todd/Boulanger
2 months ago
Reply to  Ted Buehler

This [fun] side discussion touches on one of my emerging “design pet peeves” where the MUTCD allows (and local projects omit it) the marked interior diagonal cross hatching for the buffer area to be ‘optional’ (when it is <3 Feet in width)…it creates this “mini lane” that is likely confusing to most motorists AND could create a scenario of a wider car lane if the outside lane line (right side of car lane) has heavy wear and is not repainted annually. The better (and best) practice is to add a diagonal cross hatching (in thermo plastic) at the start and end of each block and at major driveways.

Watts
Watts
2 months ago
Reply to  Ted Buehler

is it legal to ride a gas motorcycle in the buffer?

This situation brings up an interesting question. A few weeks ago, someone mentioned they had a Honda Metro, and that it became uncomfortable to ride above about 25mph, a speed many e-bikes routinely achieve (and surpass).

Other than energy source, I’m not seeing a lot of difference between the two. I know there is a legal distinction, but that seems more rooted in history and appearance than in an actual functional difference (we’ve all seen fat-tired high speed e-bikes where the rider is not pedaling). Mass might be a distinguishing feature, but cargo bikes loaded with stuff or people are pretty heavy (and wide).

Is there a “moral” case to be made that vehicles like the Honda Metro should not ride in the bike lanes beyond just immediate power source?

Daniel Reimer
2 months ago
Reply to  Watts

I own a Honda Metro and a 750 watt class 3 ebike and they are pretty different.

It is comfortable enough to ride my Honda on any 35mph street which is most streets in Portland other than highways.

My ebike on the other hand can go 28mph if I go into the highest power mode on flat ground and pedal hard but realistically it is much more comfortable at a max of 20mph.

It’s not so much the power source (although a lot of small gas engines are two-strokes which are smelly and loud) but the capability of the speed which is why 50cc scooters shouldn’t use bike infrastructure just like a lot of the high-speed 20mph+ ebikes shouldn’t either.

Watts
Watts
2 months ago
Reply to  Daniel Reimer

a lot of small gas engines are two-strokes which are smelly and loud

Amen to that!

50cc scooters shouldn’t use bike infrastructure just like a lot of the high-speed 20mph+ ebikes shouldn’t either.

And that.

Dylan
Dylan
2 months ago
Reply to  Watts

The curb weight is gonna be substantially different between the two. I would way rather get rear ended by a fat-tired e-bike than a Honda Metro scooter; however, I would way rather share the road with any number of scooters over the ever-growing SUVs, pickups, and electric standard cars.

Watts
Watts
2 months ago
Reply to  Dylan

The curb weight is gonna be substantially different

A Metro weighs 179 lbs. plus rider. Heavier e-bikes weigh in at more than 1/3 that amount, but an electrified bikefeits with 2 or 3 kids is going to be just as heavy, and they can ride in the bike lane without controversy.

Chris I
Chris I
2 months ago
Reply to  Watts

You’re really stretching on this, Watts. Having visited places that allow gas vehicles in bike lanes, I have no interest in allowing that here.

Watts
Watts
2 months ago
Reply to  Chris I

I have no interest in allowing that here.

I’m not arguing for that at all; with more and more novel and category-blurring vehicles on the road, I’m thinking through what set of principles should determine which vehicles can use the bike lane.

Current rules allow some high-speed motorized vehicles, high mass vehicles, and vehicles that are too wide to safely pass, but disallow others with the same characteristics.

The current rules seemed crystal clear a decade ago, but conditions have changed.

qqq
qqq
2 months ago
Reply to  Watts

I’m not sure about bike lanes or “moral”. I guess you could say one reason for bike lanes is to encourage transportation that’s less polluting than motor vehicles, and gas scooters, etc. are more polluting than bikes, so shouldn’t be allowed in them.

Where I see a larger distinction between e-bikes and gas-powered scooters is on MUPs that are in parks or natural areas.

I live near a MUP through a park, and the appearance of e-bikes wasn’t a dramatic change–I don’t really even notice which bikes are e-bikes and which aren’t.

But once e-bikes appeared, there’s been a large increase in gas scooters (and even full-blown large motorcycles) using the path. The noise from any gas motors is totally different and worse than nearly-silent e-bikes. It really denigrates the area.

Watts
Watts
2 months ago
Reply to  qqq

I’m not sure about bike lanes or “moral”.

My line of thinking essentially boils down to: Who should bike lanes be for? “Less polluting” might include a high powered electric motorcycle, so that’s not it.

This may all sound pedantic, but the reality is that the question will become more salient as we deploy more “intermediate” vehicles (such as cargo bikes or throttle-assist e-bikes or lightweight electric motorcycles), and I am having trouble defining the purpose of a bike lane even to myself without resorting to arbitrary classifications.

qqq
qqq
2 months ago
Reply to  Watts

I agree totally. My sentence you quoted was aimed at my own comment that followed about gas vehicles on MUPs. The word “moral” in discussing bike lane use is definitely relevant.

I think things are going to take some time to sort out. In the meantime, I love seeing the new forms of transportation (electric scooters and skateboards, one-wheels, etc. on the MUP, even how phones have moved into the mix (people doing work calls or talking or texting to friends or family while walking through the park)–all the boundary blurring is exciting even though its messiness also has its challenges.

Jonno
Jonno
2 months ago

Just rode this today! It was great, a welcome improvement to an important route . There were two cars parked in the bike lane in the north section that didn’t have a bike lane previously. A silver Mercedes with a year old expired trip permit and a newer jeep, both unoccupied. My first thought was, someone ain’t happy about the changes.

Micah
Micah
2 months ago
Reply to  Jonno

Yeah, I’m pretty curious about the aggregate opinions of the people that were previously parking along the newly striped sections of Willamette.

Loki
Loki
2 months ago
Reply to  Micah

In my experience, the parking on that stretch was only ever around 25% used at most, not enough to really justify keeping the parking considering it’s such a popular and critical bike route, but just enough that you had to sort of weave over into the travel lane a lot, or if you took the lane drivers would get mad at you when there were stretches of parked cars. I’m so glad the city did the right thing here.

Micah
Micah
2 months ago
Reply to  Loki

For sure the parking needed to go! I hold this view regardless of the rate of utilization of the parking, which, IME, I would estimate to be more than 25%, at least north of the rail cut. I do think the loss of parking is an effect that we should pay attention to. I certainly empathize with people who have more difficulty parking now, and I’m curious what their views are. If they are pissed about parking, we should try to develop a dialog (or at least not be taken by surprise by unexpected backlash).

Matt Villers
Matt Villers
2 months ago
Reply to  Micah

My understanding is PBOT did extensive outreach around this project, and worked with folks who might be significantly impacted to figure out accommodations (for example, you’ll notice that some houses along the route now have parking cutouts in front of them).

I went on a PBOT-led ride last year where staff talked about the project, and one of the things they called out was side-street parking utilization was low (ranging from <30% to <50%), so the “difficulty” for most residents isn’t so much in finding parking, but in potentially having to walk a little farther to their car.

For cases where that would be a real issue, like folks with impaired mobility who don’t have an off-street option, the parking cutouts feel like a reasonable compromise.

Micah Prange
Micah Prange
2 months ago
Reply to  Matt Villers

Thanks for the reply! I had not noticed the new cutouts — I will look for them next time I ride through. I agree that such accommodations are a reasonable compromise where feasible. I would support small-scale improvements (like driveways, landscaping, fencing, etc.) of abutting private property if it will positively impact the opinions of folks that live along our improved streets. I think it’s a big red flag when there is palpable opposition to street improvements from residents living on the improved streets — they should be the most enthusiastic about public investment on ‘their’ street.

Emily CC
Emily CC
2 months ago
Reply to  Jonno

I live on this stretch of Willamette and definitely saw pushback on Nextdoor but nothing organized. I think PBOT did a great job getting input and giving warning. We are still seeing cars parked in the bike lane, almost exclusively around Cathedral Coffee. It seems like they are getting tickets.

Jay Cee
Jay Cee
2 months ago

Fuck yes

Matt Villers
Matt Villers
2 months ago

I’ve been checking for this every couple days and I’m so excited it’s finally in. Can’t wait for the final portion to be done next summer!

Loki
Loki
2 months ago

When I checked it out yesterday, there were maybe four cars parked in the bike lane on that whole stretch, which is really not too bad in the first week of the restriping. It takes a while for people to get used to it, and I’m guessing there needs to be some enforcement. If you see a parked car in the bike lane, make sure to report it using PDX Reporter or calling the parking enforcement number! With enough tickets, people will start to get the idea.

I also saw a ton of trash and recycling bins in the bike lane. Why do Portlanders think bins have to go in the street?! They really don’t, they’re supposed to go up on top of and behind the curb (city code specifies that), and the waste management companies have no trouble grabbing them from behind the curb. This really needs a PSA campaign, because it’s a problem all over the city when we have curbside bike lanes.

MontyP
MontyP
2 months ago
Reply to  Loki

Bins can be in the street. The city does need to come up with a better policy when bins are in bike lanes as it’s starting to get confusing here, like it did on Rosa Parks. With a buffered bike lane (with future concrete curbs), should the bins be 3 feet from the traveled (vehicle) roadway? That would put them in the middle of the wider buffered bike lane. Can the garbage truck reach further? Do we need a special buffered bike lane garbage truck?
https://www.portland.gov/bps/garbage-recycling/home-recycling/garbage-service-basics
“Place your container within three feet of the curb in either direction (towards the sidewalk or in the street backed up against the curb). Where there is no curb, place containers within three feet of the traveled roadway, including areas commonly used for on-street parking.

Don’t block sidewalks, driveways, or bike lanes. Leave space between cars, trees, poles, and other bins.”

Todd/Boulanger
2 months ago
Reply to  MontyP

Any new protects in design – to promote best practices for operations and traffic safety – bins need to be kept outside any buffer less than 5 feet wide, as most solid waste / recycling companies still have a human operator that wheels / loads the bin lift. Plus – my experience with Vancouver’s Columbia Street protected ‘Bi-State Bike Hiway’ – is that often bins when placed in the buffer (no alley access) can create scenarios where the bins can be there for up to half a week (lazy resident) or be a bikeway hazard when recycling bins are overloaded (or spilled out by ‘can collectors’) and flow into the bikeway. All of these locations have a driveway apron that the bins could ‘rest in’ when waiting the few hours to be picked up.

buckets
buckets
2 months ago
Reply to  Loki

Just saw that Parking Enforcement is no longer accepting reports through PDX Reporter. FYI

Stephen Keller
Stephen Keller
2 months ago

I’m glad PBOT did this.

Angus Peters
Angus Peters
2 months ago

Jonathan thanks for the write up on this. Had a look today—perfect weather for a ride! The new bike lanes are spot on, too. Gotta say, I’m loving the extra width; feels way safer out there. Hardly saw any of those parking scofflaws clogging up the lane, which was a nice surprise. Maybe Carmen Rubio’s finally hung up her car keys for good, eh?

That said, I did spot five cars parked in the bike lane (on the east side), and it looked like two of them had copped tickets. I reckon PBOT could’ve run a bit of an awareness campaign for the locals, though. Maybe they did?? There aren’t any “no parking” signs, and the bike symbols painted in the lane are pretty few and far between. I can see how someone might miss that it’s a bike lane if they’re not paying full attention.

Watts
Watts
2 months ago
Reply to  Angus Peters

“Maybe Carmen Rubio’s finally hung up her car keys for good, eh?”

Well, she promised she would. But I don’t believe her.

John
John
2 months ago
Reply to  Angus Peters

Anytime I’ve rolled by the only cars parked in the bike lane are right at Cathedral Coffee so I don’t think it’s the nearby residents doing it.

Mary S
Mary S
2 months ago
Reply to  John

Anybody a regular at Cathedral Coffee? Maybe they could post a PSA on their door about the new bike lanes and no parking zone……I imagine their customers would appreciate a “heads up”
https://www.cathedralcoffee.com/

And hey if you have a hankering for a caffeine jolt….grab a joe there and mention you biked there. It would be a good place for organized rides to stop as well. That might soften the blow for the parking removal.

John Strauss
John Strauss
2 months ago
Reply to  Angus Peters

Me and my wife rode to St Johns and back this Sunday, going through Rosa parks and finally Willamette, and wr. felt quite good about these bike lanes too.

Those five parked cars did make that part a little stressful, but thankfully every car that passed us during that stretch was graceful and gave us a wide berth.

It was so great that we were able to ride safely there, even though she’s just finished recovering from surgery and isn’t generally capable of riding very fast / far.

Sudbury
Sudbury
2 months ago

Very excited to see this bike lane go in. I used to ride between St. Johns and destinations to the south and east pretty regularly. It always annoyed me that the bike lanes suddenly used to disappear without warning right in a location where cars were often parked on the street. I knew how to navigate the conflict safely and cautiously, but could imagine that it would be difficult and scary for a novice.

Ted Buehler
2 months ago

On the previous post I said I really liked these bike lanes as-is, and wasn’t excited about concrete curb protection.

Others discussed this in one way or another, and there wasn’t a consensus that it would be an improvement.

Looking at the new photos, and seeing that it goes all the way to St. Johns, I’m even less excited about concrete protection.

I don’t think most people are going to be excited about being hemmed into a concrete curb-lined channel, without being able to dodge

  • potholes
  • tree branches or blackberries
  • recycle bins
  • dogs
  • gravel
  • broken glass
  • leaves
  • garbage
  • broken concrete curbs, broken candlestick bollards
  • sunken storm drains
  • puddles

I think it would be useful for PBOT to do a survey on this street, before the concrete barriers are put in. How do people like it? What are the problems? Then repeat the survey after the concrete barriers are installed and one winter season has lapsed.

Overall I’m pretty excited about the new bike lanes. And will ride them soon to seem them for myself. But I have concerns about concrete protective curbs.

Ted Buehler

John
John
2 months ago
Reply to  Ted Buehler

These bike lanes are surprisingly wide, like normal travel lane width wide almost. I can’t picture a scenario where the things in your list couldn’t be avoided without leaving the bike lane, with or without concrete curbs. There are also openings at every driveway so if you have to leave the bike lane for some reason, you can just jump back in at the next driveway (of which there are many).

I was recently biking on Rosa Parks and some “removed by moderator” managed to park fully within the bike lane NEXT to the floating parking area, and I still had room to pass that parked car in the buffer without getting stuck. And I’m much more comfortable biking on Rosa Parks with its parking and/or curb protection than I am in many sections of Willamette with nothing but paint.

Andrew
Andrew
2 months ago

I’ve found it very common for new bike lanes to be parked in (potentially in protest, or possibly just confusion) the first few weeks it’s implemented. Anyone ride the psu broadway lanes the first 6 months? They were unusable, especially during the farmer’s market.