Last week the Portland Bureau of Transportation opened the SW 4th Avenue Improvement Project. It’s the most substantial investment they’ve made in the bike network in many years and it’s the most ambitious project yet to come out of the 2018 Central City in Motion Plan.
When we first began talking about that plan in 2013, I said it was a “golden opportunity” that we could not afford to pass up. Of course, back then we had a downtown bicycling mode share of 11% (according to a survey from the Portland Metro Chamber). It feels like everything has changed in the past 10 years, but our need for a high-quality, north-south bikeway and better bus service on SW 4th remained. From what I’ve seen, experienced, and read (from all your messages), this new bikeway has lived up to the hype.
In this video, you will see the entire facility from SW Caruthers to SW Taylor. What really stands out to me — beyond the smooth new pavement and generous width that allowed me and a friend to ride and talk side-by-side with plenty of room! — are the signals. They’re all optimized for bike users on a level that’s very rare to see in the United States. In a few spots, a detector embedded in the pavement mid-block senses your presence and turns on a flashing yellow warning light.
PBOT just raised the bar for what we can expect from bikeways in Portland. I’d love to know what you think about it so far!
