The good news is the City of Portland is set to break ground on a $25 million project to replace the NE 42nd Avenue Bridge over Lombard Street. The bad news is the work will require a full, two-year closure of a key link in the bike network.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) announced the project and potential detour impacts on Tuesday.
Starting Monday, August 4th, the agency says they will post signs for a freight truck detour that will take northbound drivers east on NE Killingsworth to NE 82nd. Southbound freight traffic will be directed to go east on NE Columbia to NE Cully, then south to Killingsworth.
This freight detour is notable because it will mean increased volume of large trucks on Killingsworth, a major bikeway that recently received protected bike lanes.
PBOT says the bridge carries about 5,000 car trips per day, so expect even more drivers on nearby roads during the closure.
For bicycle riders, there’s no nearby bike facility to use, so PBOT says they don’t plan on posting a specific bike detour. The existing 42nd Avenue Bridge isn’t great for bicycling, but at least it’s a viable way to connect from the NE Holman Neighborhood Greenway to the bike path on NE 47th that connects to Whitaker Ponds and the Portland Airport route. Once the bridge is closed, the best way to cross Columbia northbound is a half-mile west at NE 33rd.
To answer questions about this significant closure and detours, PBOT will host a webinar on July 31st from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. You can register for that meeting via Zoom here.
The $25 million project was initially slated to break ground in 2021 at a cost of $17 million. The funding comes from a mix of sources including System Development Charges, Heavy Vehicle Use Taxes, State of Oregon, Portland Clean Energy Fund, and others.
The new bridge will be an upgrade from the sharrowed, shared-lane facility that exists today. It will have a wide bike lane and painted buffer on the west side, two 13-foot wide general travel lanes, and a 12-foot wide biking and walking path on the east side.
As I shared last fall, this project will also trigger construction of a better bike lane on Lombard where it goes under the bridge. Currently, bridge support columns cause a gap in the bike lane at this location. In 2015, that gap might have contributed to the death of Martin Greenough was hit and killed by a drunk driver while cycling under the bridge. PBOT partnered with ODOT and will widen the road under the bridge to create room for a new bike lane.
Check the official project website for more information.
