Multnomah County announced this morning that their major maintenance project on the Hawthorne Bridge is complete. This is the project that made several big changes to the all-important bikeway on what has historically been one of the busiest bikeways not just in the city, but in the entire country.
There are three main pieces of this project that impact the bikeway: A new section of above-grade bike lane in the eastbound direction that leads onto SW 1st and Main; a new bus island bikeway in the westbound direction on the viaduct; and an update to the striping where the double-wide bike lane crossing the SE Clay/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd off-ramp.
The new eastbound bike lane is more integrated with riding conditions on the rest of the bridge and riders are no longer foisted onto the road next to car users. To help manage the mix between bike users and walkers, the county uses a bright yellow material that’s grooved and dimpled. This acts as both a visual and physical cue to use caution in these areas and will hopefully keep folks in the right places. Any time I see grooves going in any angle that’s not perpendicular to my wheels, I get nervous; but these appear to be fine.
One issue Eva Frazier pointed out to me when we chatted for the podcast a few hours ago is that the new raised bike lane makes it harder for folks who like to go left into the slip lane onto SW 1st. You can still do that but you’d have to hop off the curb. Or you can stay in the bike lane, get into the bike box, then wiggle over in the crosswalk.
More photos below…
In the eastbound direction, the new bike lane at the bus stop on the viaduct feels like a big upgrade. Similar to designs used on SE Division, the bike lane now goes up and onto a bus island. This allows bus operators to service the stop without pulling in front of bike riders. There are signs and pavement markings urging riders to use caution and watch for people waiting at the station. This isn’t a high speed location for bike riders and there’s a lot of room on the platform, so I think this will work really well.
The other change at the SE Clay St. off-ramp is something I’ve already covered. I think everyone realizes the design isn’t perfect and we need a better solution. But at least the county has freshened up the pavement markings and plastic wands and they were willing to change course from a previous design that made it worse.
Have you ridden any of this? I’m curious what other folks think.
Thanks for reading.
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Historically busy, yes. A ghost town since 2020.
If there’s only two lanes in each direction on the Hawthorne Bridge, and 2-lanes westbound on the street after the bridge, why are there three driving lanes on the eastbound side of the bridge? Why the need for the extra lane? Doesn’t that just encourage more speed for car users? Why not have just two traffic lanes eastbound, have the bus island out into the third lane on a new concrete median, and have a much wider bike lane behind the bus stop? And instead of wands at the turnoff, put in concrete islands 10 feet apart so vehicles have to slow way down so they don’t hit the narrow openings?