The Portland Bureau of Transportation has come up with an infrastructure solution to car users who do donuts and drive recklessly through neighborhoods.
The residential intersection of Southeast Woodward and 59th has an extremely wide opening that measures about 85-feet — that’s over three times the width of a standard neighborhood street. In large part because of that width, people have shared concerns with PBOT about dangerous drivers who speed around the intersection while sliding out their rear tires. This type of behavior is risky on any street, but SE Woodward is a neighborhood greenway popular with bike riders, walkers, and runners.
To remedy this issue, PBOT identified a small amount of funding through their Multimodal Missing Links program, a small and flexible pot of money the city uses to address hot spots and fill minor gaps in the network. The annual budget of the program is about $200,000.
In March of last year, PBOT reached out to people who live in the South Tabor Neighborhood to learn more about the Woodward and 59th intersection and present design concepts that would address its issues. They decided to build a traffic island in the middle of the intersection using 12-inch wide, 4-inch high concrete curb separators (similar to ones used on protected bike lanes citywide). The curbs will reduce the amount of space available for car users and create a more predictable flow of traffic. Most importantly, if someone tried to do a donut, they’d slam into the curbs and severely damage their car.
Local advocate David Binnig snapped a photo of the completed separators and shared it today on the Bike Loud Slack channel. He also shared a before photo that shows skidmarks.
I wrote an opinion piece in 2022 that encouraged PBOT to use basic traffic calming treatments like this to address street takeovers and burnouts. It’s great to see them take action and address this problem with a cheap and easy solution.
Now all that’s left is to do something with that space in the middle of the island. Folks on Bike Loud suggested it would be a perfect spot for a lemonade stand, some potted plants, or a shuffleboard court. It’s amazing what’s possible when we reclaim our streets from dangerous people and their vehicles!
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Now tear out all the pavement on the inside and plant some groundcover, no view blocking bushes, please.
A small community garden would be nice too. There’s a years-long wait for plots at the Mt. Tabor community garden so there’s demand. I imagine there’s utilities running under the street though, so tearing out the pavement might not be an option.
Yea! Forward to depave.
It now looks like a basic skateboard park.
I remember seeing an old Portland trolley map where the turnout was designed as a terminus for one of the trolley lines, hence its shape.
It looks so clearly like one but when I brought up this intersection with a streetcar geek, they drew the opposite conclusion. I would love to find that old thread on Reddit.
A skate park would rip here! Not sure how the neighbors would feel about it though.
I always wondered why the intersection was so big – a trolley turnaround makes a lot of sense.
If you really hate the neighbors, put in a pickleball court.
This is great to see, as cheap and low-tech traffic calming is so great. The recent snowstorm revealed all the sneckdowns around town and had me thinking about all the opportunities. NE 84th and Davis has an “intersection triangle mini park“ with a nice tree in it that the neighbors started having a happy hour in during Covid. Portland needs more mini parks!
NE 84th & Davis:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XqXrKY5EBTfWY2jp9
NE 72nd & Jonesmore has another, huge & open (ex-trolley track?) intersection that could use a similar curb treatment. You can even see the tire donut marks from space!
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TjawoZJMx7hT6Uvb6?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
Agree – the 72nd & Jonemore/Broadway spot is very similar and would also benefit from something like this. But i also worry that in that location installing some kinds of curbs would invite tents.
Nice! This is crying out for de-paving the median that’s been created, and doing some landscaping. I’m guessing that this is not part of the PBoT budget for this…
Heck yeah PBOT!!!!!! This looks like a model project to make a difference cheaply.
If only they would install these down 79th and Powell, RVs have been performing the, “park for multiple months and trash the sidewalk” off and on for years now.
That missing link funding and those seven concrete curb segments could have been used to install 3 diverters.
Sorry, but that’s a terrible solution – a dangerous solution for cyclists, runners, walkers, and even drivers who won’t see the low curbs and will smash into them and lose control and crash and be injured or die. And then CoP – actually we, the taxpayers – will be on the hook to pay out for injuries.
The solution is to un-widen the street in a way that people expect, with planters or collapsible guardrails or something else large and visible to all road users. Portland is full of these klugey and dangerous road treatments that are designed to confuse road users and injure them – something I learned when my kids were learning to drive and I watched them try to figure out all of the non-standard crap that PBOT builds.
If you’re cycling on this street in the dark, will you see these curbs? Why would you even expect there to be curbs in this location?
This is a good point; it’s an invisible hazard blocking the most appealing path for cyclists.
I cycled on this street in the dark last night; yes, I saw the curbs.
Given that the orange cones are still up in the photo, I’m wondering if this isn’t done yet, and that PBOT will be adding paint, reflectors, and/or wands. Turning it into a landscaped island long-term might be ideal.
PBOT is actually out there today adding signage and reflectors! But I’ve biked through there at night several times and the curbs are visible in the dark, even without reflectors.
You’ve got a point, but I don’t think this is as dangerous as you make it out. I think removing the asphalt and planting a couple of large trees would make this more legible. They could also improve the street lighting. Ultimately, adding this space between the sidewalk and curb to allow for large street trees would be ideal, but the Portland Standards curb detail is very expensive/linear foot so I can see why they are not doing that.
This actually looks like a good example relevant to the “we don’t need infrastructure, we need enforcement” argument. If it works, it will stop the bad behavior there much more effectively and cheaply than policing.
I imagine they will also post one or two signs – Keep right, like they do on my diverters. Plus add reflectors on the curbs. Would be nice to consider a longer term solution, like a median that can grow a significant tree. That would be fabulous!
Why not remove the asphalt in that island to plant shrubs and trees?
Third paragraph of the article (emphasis mine):