A sewer pipe replacement project will bring a major upgrade to the bike network in southwest Portland next year; but advocates are pushing the City of Portland to seize the opportunity to go even further.
As part of their Sheridan Trunk Sewer Project, the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) plans to replace 1,600 feet of old, worn-out sewage pipes that run below Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard between Marquam Nature Park and Duniway Park. In order to keep bicycle riders and walkers safe during construction, BES has agreed to upgrade bike lane striping and designs within the project area, then make the changes permanent once the project is complete.
Since this is a sewer project, BES will pick up the tab. That’s good news in terms of saving the Portland Bureau of Transportation money, but it also means the scope of the work doesn’t go as far as PBOT and cycling advocates want. The city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee and veteran southwest Portland cycling advocate Keith Liden hope PBOT will seize this opportunity and fully connect the bikeway.
Here’s what’s in the BES has planned…
BES plans to restripe SW Terwilliger with a wider westbound (southbound, away from downtown) bike lane and add a two-foot buffer zone to separate bicycle riders from car drivers. South of SW Sheridan, there’s a curve in SW Terwilliger that is stressful for some bicycle riders to navigate and the unprotected bike lane is frequently encroached on by car users. Also as part of this project, BES would extend the westbound/southbound bike lane all the way to the intersection on SW Sam Jackson Park Road (it currently drops prior to the intersection, forcing riders to share the lane and merge in order to make a left turn at the signal).
At the SW Sam Jackson Rd intersection, bicycle users who want to turn left and stay on SW Terwilliger (the most common movement here), would roll up an ADA-compliant ramp to a new, paved waiting area at the north end of the intersection and then cross with a new bike crossing marking. The existing slip lane at the southeast corner would be removed, in order to shorten the crossing distance and provide ample width for walkers and bikers to use the corner. The Sam Jackson and Terwilliger intersection would also receive two new high-visibility crosswalks.
BES will also extend the bike lane on SW Terwillger south of the SW Sam Jackson intersection (adjacent to the gas station), to completely close the gap.
For eastbound (northbound, toward downtown) riders, BES will construct a seven-foot wide, sidewalk-level bike lane on SW Terwilliger. A bright yellow rumble strip would be installed to separate bicycle users from walkers (similar to the design on westbound Hawthorne Bridge as it approaches SW 1st).
The plan from BES is to transition this raised bike lane next to Duniway park back to street level, right where the park’s walking path comes out and just before SW Terwilliger curves toward Sheridan. Liden thinks that design is unsafe and he’d like to see the raised bike lane continue another 200-feet to the intersection with SW Sheridan.
“This, in combination with the improvements planned on SW 6th between Caruthers and Broadway and implementing the bike lane improvement at the 6th/Jackson (SWIM project BP-02), would create a very good bike route on the Terwilliger/6th corridor between downtown and Capitol Hwy!” Liden wrote in a memo to PBOT project managers back in March. “We are so tantalizingly close – can’t we get this over the finish line?”
Liden pushed PBOT to develop a plan (detail above) and cost estimate for expanding on the BES plans to provide more protection for bicycle riders in the curve on SW Terwilliger south of SW Sheridan. In response, PBOT mocked up a design that would add concrete curbs to the southbound bike lane and extend the raised bike lane to the SW Sheridan intersection. The design has been approved by PBOT’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinators.
Unfortunately, the cost would be around $476,000 (one utility pole would have to be moved) and PBOT has not committed the funding yet. According to Liden, the agency should have an update on the financial feasibility this coming fall.
The BES project will being fall of 2026. Hopefully by then, PBOT can find the money to capitalize on it and finally connect an important link in the southwest Portland bike network.
