To say the Portland Bureau of Transportation has had a hard time keeping the elevators open at the Bob Stacey Overcrossing would be a massive understatement. The overcrossing plays a vital role in the bike network. It connects safe bikeways and is a bridge over light and heavy rail tracks in an area criss-crossed by large arterials. Unfortunately, since it opened in 2020 it seems like its elevators are closed more often than not. Vandalism and mechanical failures are to blame.
A new website doesn’t do anything to keep them open, but at least it gives riders an early warning to optimize and plan their detour.
AreTheElevatorsBroken.com is the work of Xavier Salazar, a software engineer who lives in the Brooklyn neighborhood. Brooklyn is a great place to live, but one of its downsides is how it’s hemmed in by Highway 99E to the west and south, the Brooklyn rail yard to the east, and SE Powell (Highway 26) to the north, there are already limited route options for bicycle riders.
Salazar, who gets around almost exclusively by bike, says when he’s headed north, freight trains routinely block his routes (a well-known and infamous problem that has spurred its own DIY responses). Because of the aforementioned infrastructure challenges, even PBOT’s recommended detour around the blocked rail tracks and/or in the event of Stacey Overcrossing elevator closures, requires riders to go nearly one mile out of their way. And that’s if the Powell underpass isn’t blocked by street campers. If it is, the detour is even longer. (And yes, there are stairs, but not everyone can lug their bicycles up and then down them.)
Salazar knows a few options, but they are all long and cumbersome.
“Ultimately, I’d rather just avoid the on-the-fly gymnastics to find an open route because I don’t know if the elevators are working until I show up to them,” he shared with BikePortland today. “It’s much simpler to just choose to get on the waterfront or take the Rhine-Lafeyette bridge from the get-go to avoid even biking to the pedestrian crossing I can’t use.”
So Salazar created his website to offer useful status updates on the elevators. It’s based largely in the spirit of IsATrainBlocking11th.com (which itself is currently out of order) and he sees it as more useful than PBOT’s website, which Salazar says has been too unreliable in the past (“It’s only as up-to-date as someone from the bureau knows/cares quickly enough to update it.”)
“If I know where I want to go, it’s so much less stressful to just check the site before I leave and formulate a route based on that.”
What if you forget to check the website, or don’t even know it exists? Salazar has placed two small QR code stickers near the buttons on both elevators that, when scanned, allow folks to update the status immediately to warn others.
Salazar says the ideas is, “If you’ve got a bike full of groceries, or a kid in tow, it’s a bit more straightforward to make the judgement call to rely on the elevators if you can see it was just updated yesterday and someone said they’re both working.”
The more people that know about this site, the more updates it will receive and the more reliable the information will be for everyone. So check out AreTheElevatorsBroken.com and pass it along to your friends.
Thanks for reading.
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Just goes to show, that current TriMet management is totally out of their depth with maintaining the light rail system. Think about that the next time they come begging for tax payer money to build another light rail section. Buses are so much cheaper and a lot more flexible.
I was with a group that went to Seattle recently and we went near the new light rail line that opened up there.
One person commented “wow, those stations look like they’d actually keep waiting passengers out of the elements unlike Portland”
Another person “seeing these makes Portland’s look like a 3rd world country”
And my favorite “how many billions were allocated to Trimet and what we have is the best they can do? Where’d did all that money go as it appears it wasn’t for the transit stations?”
PBOT maintains the elevator crossings, not TriMet. Regardless, the crossing is there because of the freight trains which can block traffic for an extended period of time, not the Max, which only blocks traffic for the 45 seconds it takes to pass by to get to the station.
Seattle has spent at least twice as much per mile to build their system, so one would expect it to be built to a higher standard.
Are you proposing that Trimet spend more on their light rail lines so we can protect riders from the elements, or are you suggesting that we don’t fund light rail at all?
Honest question–is that inflation adjusted twice as much per mile?–they built theirs long after ours.
But it appears they did spend more on land procurement–Seattle’s line goes through the poorest neighborhoods (car-less users covered), downtown (commuters covered), the MIDDLE of Capitol Hill (entertainment users covered), UW (students covered).
If Lloyd, Gateway, Lents, Hollywood ever get cleaned up and regain that brief sense of optimism they had for residential development then it could actually work. But first all the rules need to go.
Inclusionary zoning was a huge! huge! failure. It killed all the plans for density around the Max stations!
And gotta get rid of the people who randomly attack people in all of these transit oriented zones. It’s not fair that (mostly) women in poor neighborhoods have to worry about getting attacked by a raging misogynist after a late shift taking Max home. They’re gonna drive if they can.
I think that getting more housing built around MAX stations helps to solve the problem of people acting erratically. Eyes on the street and all that. TriMet is planning to redevelop the 122nd and 181st park n ride lots.
Even adjusted for inflation, they are spending several times what we are spending per mile. They have to elevate and grade separate more of their system, they have more subway sections, and they are building for 4-car trains. I just don’t think it’s a fair comparison, and struck me as weird, because the previous comment seemed to be lamenting our weak system but also the money we’ve spent on it. You get what you pay for.
They need to update the app with a second stat: “is someone currently sleeping in the elevator?”
I haven’t seen people sleeping IN the elevator there, but I’ve seen people passed out up on the bridge, by the elevator doors.
I saw a tent in the elevator once. It was so ridiculous it was actually kind of funny.
I’m INCLINED to believe there was some ANGLE we could take, some approach we could RAMP up, that would allow bicycles, and also folks in wheelchairs or for whom stairs are a problem to access something that is not at ground level. You know, some infrastructure you build without moving parts so it doesn’t break all the time.
Residents argued for a ramp for years, and TriMet shot us down. There’s a great place for one on the south side, the north side would be a bit tricker — even the existing tower was contentious as it blocked an active loading point used by one of the local businesses.
I will typically take the Rhine-Lafayette bridge if it is working, then go to the next option if it is out of service. But really, the reliability and cleanliness of the Bob Stacey needs to improve.
I’ll add that the underpass next to Powell is sometimes down right dangerous. I’ve been chased by off-leash dogs twice in the last 4-5 months when using it. They thankfully gave up after just a few blocks but they were definitely not pleasant experiences.
One thing to note, there used to be a stair only overcrossing at SE Gideon and SE Brooklyn before the MAX went in. On the Brooklyn side (north) there was a neat little skate park (https://maps.app.goo.gl/AuRFonQooLXLmfj68). My guess is that the city vacated that ROW and it would be impossible to get it back, but it’s fun to think about.
The Powell underpass is so great the 20% of the time it isn’t filled with aggressive homeless people and their pitbulls. The nonprofit that runs the Clinton triangle needs to honor their good neighbor agreement and get those people out from under there. It isn’t fair that our tiny slivers of bike infrastructure get taken over like that.
Urban Alchemy cannot force people to move. All they can do is a persuade, and that isn’t always successful.
To force someone to leave against their will requires posting a 72 hour notice, then a contractor to actually move the camp, possibly involving the police if there is physical resistance or threats. Sometimes protesters show up (sweeps kill you know, even on critical transportation infrastructure, even when dangerous animals threaten pedestrians and bicycle riders, and we certainly don’t want to criminalize homelessness by enforcing even a minimal ruleset), making things more complex. After being evicted, the campers can relocate a couple of blocks away, then return later and the process restarts.
As far as I can tell, Urban Alchemy is honoring the good neighbor agreement. They are just one piece of a process that is lengthy, complicated, and expensive, drawing on a number of city resources that are becoming increasingly limited.
I’m leading a ride to demonstrate several workarounds for this train (and elevator) blockage!! Check it out: https://www.shift2bikes.org/calendar/event-21844
Unfortunately this an example of how our “anything goes” approach to public safety and homelessness means we can’t have anything nice in Portland. Human feces, vandalism, graffiti, etc. This has been going on for years at this location.
https://bikeportland.org/2022/02/16/as-frustrations-boil-over-city-of-portland-gives-no-timeline-for-repair-of-bob-stacey-crossing-elevator-348653
What a boondoggle.