The bad news is another person was hit. The good news is changes are likely coming soon.
As a southeast Portland neighborhood grapples with the loss of a beloved member of their community due to a fatal traffic crash along Southeast Cesar Chavez Blvd, BikePortland has confirmed that yet another person on foot was hit by a driver on that street yesterday.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, a person walking at the intersection of SE Stark and Cesar Chavez (Laurelhurst Park) was hit and injured around 4:15 pm on Sunday. Officers responded to the collision and found an adult female had been struck by a car driver. A Reddit user posted that they drove by and “saw a car… on top of a pedestrian.” The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment of back pain. PPB have confirmed the case with BikePortland and say the driver was given a traffic citation for failing to stop for a pedestrian (ORS 811.028).
That collision comes just one week after 71-year-old Tuyet Nguyen was killed by a car driver two miles south of Stark St. That crash is still under investigation and I’m working to learn more about how it happened.
I’ve also learned that a memorial service is planned for Nguyen. A witness who was one of the first people to arrive on the scene of the collision reached out to BikePortland and shared the memorial event flyer. The flyer gives us a photo of Nguyen and shares names of the people she left behind — including three daughters, a son, and eight grandchildren. The memorial will be held in Newberg on February 8th.
Many Reed and Woodstock neighborhood residents were familiar with Nguyen as she walked their streets constantly. “She was the most kind and gentle woman who always had a smile on her face,” one witness told me, then added: “I truly hope something is done to make Cesar Chavez safer. I live two houses off Cesar Chavez and Cora and it’s awful. The speeding, reckless driving, and amount of accidents is insane.”
On that note, there’s some good news to share: In response to questions about the future of SE Cesar Chavez Blvd today, PBOT Communications Director Hannah Schafer said they are in the process of setting up a project page on their website for, “a new safety project in the area” funded through the Oregon Department of Transportation’s All Roads Transportation Safety Program (ARTS).
This is the project I mentioned in the wake of the Jeanie Diaz tragedy in 2023 where PBOT is going to consider safety updates on SE Cesar Chavez between SE Powell and Holgate. A lane reconfiguration (aka “road diet”) is not guaranteed yet (since public outreach hasn’t started), but after Diaz was killed by a driver while waiting for the bus at SE Chavez and SE Taylor, PBOT City Traffic Engineer Wendy Cawley told the Richmond Neighborhood Association that PBOT would consider going from the current four-lane cross-section to a three-lane cross-section, “or potentially even a two-lane cross-section.”
Today Schafer confirmed we will know more very soon about the safety project between Powell and Holgate, and said a separate project will bring a new signal at SE Gladstone. PBOT is still working to make sure full funding is in place before moving forward, and we will know more once the project webpage is published. Stay tuned.
