At an advisory committee Tuesday morning, the Port of Portland fleshed out plans for big changes to the intersection of NE 82nd Way and Airport Way.
As I reported last week, the Port is moving forward on a project to relieve congestion at the busy intersection that feeds directly into Portland Airport terminals. At their meeting today, Port Aviation Planner Mike Coleman shared more details about the project and fielded a question about why the Port will invest over $100 million for a car-focused project when there’s a light rail line that goes directly to the terminal.
Coleman said Airport Way is the busiest surface street in the state of Oregon with 60,000 car users passing through it each day. The intersection handles airport traffic and regional traffic headed to and from the I-205 bridge. Currently there are 13 general travel lanes entering the intersection, as well as two tracks of MAX light rail vehicles. This leads to long signal wait times, made even longer because of the eight MAX trains that rumble by each hour (something that “interrupts the operation of the intersection,” Coleman said).
Coleman said the Port isn’t planning to expand the width of the roadways or add any more lanes. Instead, their design reduces the number of traffic movements that require separate signal phases . Their solution creates a flyover on Airport Way for eastbound (toward Cascade Station/I-205) drivers to avoid the signal altogether. Westbound (toward the airport) drivers would also avoid a signal by having two through lanes without facing cross-traffic. The two left turn lanes that come from 82nd Way would be separated as they join the westbound lanes on Airport Way and there would be no need for merging. People who want to use 82nd Way would turn under the overpass.
“So really, lane-wise, nothing changes,” Coleman said at today’s committee meeting. “We just move some of those conflicting movements out of the intersection. So no additional lanes, and yet a snappier, single operation.”
Coleman also claimed new design would make crossing Airport Way easier for people walking and biking. Non-drivers would still need to cross nine lanes (plus the two MAX tracks) to reach the Airport Way frontage road, but that’s two less than today’s crossing. And the new design would mean walkers and bikers would face only one lane of eastbound car traffic instead of four. Put another way, if you want to get to the frontage road from NE 82nd Way today, the crossing currently consists of six different segments — a slip-lane, then the MAX tracks, then three eastbound lanes, then two westbound turn lanes, then three more westbound lanes, then the two lanes of the frontage road. The new design removes one of those segments.
Coleman said the new crossing will be a, “Much safer, much simpler approach to pedestrian and bicycle access at the interchange.”
For a project estimated to cost well over $100 million and that’s being pitched as a safety project (more on that below) that type of crossing still leaves something to be desired for folks who aren’t driving. Non-drivers will cross underneath a short tunnel, creating possible public safety concerns. And it remains unclear what type of crossing walkers and bikers will have. Will they be flashing beacons or full signals? Will the detection be responsive?
During his presentation Tuesday, Coleman said no new lanes are in the plans at the moment. But the Port understands width exists for adding more in the future. Speaking about the two westbound lanes and generous shoulder width, Coleman said, “Early on, I’m confident that this could actually be done with only two through lanes, but three lanes would be available in the future.”
After Coleman’s presentation, another member of the committee questioned the intent of the project, saying he felt it was being designed to allow more driving. “$100 million for a project that facilitates more cars coming to the airport when we have a light rail system that connects directly to it? I think funds could be better spent,” the commenter said.
Coleman responded by saying typical trip generation rules don’t apply to the airport and he believes induced demand is “less likely.” Coleman pushed backed at the notion the project was about increasing capacity for drivers. “This is a multi-category project. I’d say it’s safety-oriented; it’s delay-reducing.”
The Port’s Chief Aviation Officer Dan Pippenger backed up Coleman. “Many of our passengers don’t have access to the light rail system. They’re coming from outside of it.” Pippenger then said backups on the road can be “pretty rough” during peak times and “We just want to get [those drivers] through and out.”
“You know, we’re still a car-based economy,” Pippinger added. “And what we can get out of it, we can maybe foresee those reductions that we would all like to see in emissions and things of that nature.”
So far, the Port has completed preliminary design work and is confident they have a buildable project. The design will be finalized in the coming year and they hope to break ground in 2027.
