Despite an uncertain budget and a new form of government that has had growing pains, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is still managing to pump out exciting projects that will dramatically improve how we get around.
Christmas came early for bus and bike riders with the new lanes on Southwest 4th Avenue, which — if weather holds — could be completed all the way to Burnside before the end of the year. But that’s just the tip of the handlebar. At Tuesday night’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, PBOT Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller shared an update on several other projects that come with significant bicycle infrastructure elements.
Below are several project updates from our cycling Santas at PBOT:
NW/SW Broadway Streetscape Project
“We went from potentially removing these bike lanes a number of years ago, and now we’re going to make them more permanent.” That’s how Geller described PBOT’s new project to further harden and improve the existing bike lanes on Northwest and Southwest Broadway. This vital biking corridor between the Broadway Bridge and Portland State University was threatened with a major downgrade in 2023, but we saved it and now it’s slated to get even better.
The plan is to further harden the existing design by replacing many of the ugly, flimsy, plastic delineator wands with concrete curbs, medians, and planters. Geller said they’ve got about $550,000 to do the work. Construction is expected to begin next summer. Check the project website for more info.
N Willamette Active Transportation Corridor Project
Great news on this one: PBOT has confirmed construction has begun (actually demolition, but you know what I mean)! “This is going to be a fantastic project,” Geller said Tuesday night. This $6 million, federally-funded project will transform North Willamette Blvd from the busy, car-centric hellscape it has become, into a biking and bus riding paradise. Protected bike lanes will be built from N Rosa Parks Way all the way up to N Richmond in St. Johns. Because PBOT is using federal funds, they must get all the money out the door and have construction complete by September 2026. Let’s f’ing goo!!
The only bad news here is that the work zones around the demo and construction might make traveling on Willamette challenging in the months to come. “It’ll be ugly for a little while,” Geller warned. See the official project page for more info updates.
Southwest Terwilliger Connections
PBOT is tagging onto a sewer project to do some street updates that include a safer and better bike path and sidewalk on SW Terwilliger between Sam Jackson Park Rd and SW Sheridan. Geller said design is underway for this project and it’s expected to be built in spring 2027.
There’s also interest to extend the bike and pedestrian connection about 0.2 miles west on Sam Jackson up to the Marquam Nature Park trailhead, but funding for that portion of the project remains uncertain.
When I last reported on this project back in May, the new sidewalk and bike path was only slated to be built along Duniway Park. But PBOT has secured an additional $470,000 in Fixing Our Streets funding to extend a protected bike lane on Terwilliger (toward downtown) all the way to Sheridan. In the outbound direction, Geller said they’ll build a wider, buffered bike lane at first and will plan to come back later and add concrete for more protection.
Geller added that PBOT will also invest $350,000 on a project to connect Terwilliger to the new protected bike lane on SW 4th. When I shared a video on the SW 4th project, many folks complained that connecting to where it starts at SW Caruthers was not easy or safe. For more on this project, check out my story from 2024 and stay tuned.
SW 6th Avenue
Back in January I reported that a repaving project for SW 6th over I-405 to SW Jackson would come with new striping that finally improves this route for bicycling. Unfortunately PBOT crews restriped the newly paved road without those changes. PBOT has acknowledged the mistake and is working on a design that will extend the bike lane on SW 6th through this area. Geller said we can expect this to be complete, “early next spring.”
Jade and Montavilla Multimodal Improvements Project
Geller said this project is substantially complete. PBOT has build new protected bike lanes on SE Washington Street from 74th to 92nd (just before I-205 path). Those bike lanes connect to new bike lanes on SE Thorburn that go up to E Burnside. For more on the Jade/Montavilla project, see project website. Geller said the new bike lanes on Washington will eventually be extended all the way east to the Portland city limits as part of the forthcoming SE Stark & Washington Safety Project.
SW Bertha Blvd
Geller said PBOT has finished design of a project that they hope will include protected bike lanes on SW Bertha between Barbur and Vermont. Right now they’ve got $200,000 in the bank and it sounds like they’re looking for more to make the protected bike lanes a reality. Construction is expected to begin spring 2026. Learn more on the project page.
NE Halsey Safety and Access to Transit
PBOT is currently building this project which includes a two-way protected bike lane on the south side of NE Halsey between 80th and 92nd. It’s expected to be in construction through July 2026. This will connect to another project that will reconstruct the NE Halsey and 92nd intersection and build two-way buffered bike lanes between NE Jonesmore and 92nd. Just south of I-84, PBOT is also building a mini-roundabout on Halsey where the overpass meets NE 81st and 80th. Learn more at the project website.
NE 148th From Halsey to Powell
PBOT recently earned a $7.1 million grant from Metro to build new crossings, bike lanes and improve transit access on NE 148th between Halsey and Powell. Geller said the bike lanes are expected to be a mix of buffered and protected designs. Final design is to be determined, so check the project website and stay tuned for opportunities to weigh in.
It’s so exciting to see all these projects in motion. Later in Tuesday’s meeting, Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Jim Middaugh said PBOT’s work on these projects is yet another sign of Portland’s comeback:
“I think all of us know bikes really are going to be part of the solution — from climate perspective, economic recovery perspective, from an equity perspective. Bikes were what one of the major things that made Portland cool and really competitive at one point, and I think they’re going to be a key part of doing that again.”
Me too!
Stay tuned for updates and more coverage of all these projects.
Thanks for reading.
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I’m hoping we get an update on this:
https://bikeportland.org/2023/05/24/a-bike-crossing-of-naito-parkway-at-the-steel-bridge-is-finally-imminent-375315
Oh yeah same here! It should be seamless to go from Flanders to the Naito cycletrack. I always get lost or end up on the sidewalk when trying to do so.
That’s actually not that hard. Just go right on 3rd and then left on either Davis or Couch and you’ll connect right up. What this connection will most improve is going from Flanders to the lower deck of the Steel Bridge. I also live here in Old Town and can use some relief from the train horns day and night. The project comes with a quiet crossing.
Okay, fair enough. Good point about the connection to the Steel Bridge. I still think that in principle the connection between Naito and Flanders should be more direct. The pavement mostly already exists in the form of that weird little closed-off stub.
Ken, I have done that, but it is not as reasonable as you make it sound. For people wanting to connect form the Steel Bridge to the Flanders Greenway, your proposal adds 4-6 blocks of out direction travel, Couch and Davis are in shared/non-Greenway lanes, and you get to wait at the signal at Everett. That is is lot of time, distance, navigation and discomfort that severely compromises the value of having a Greenway at all.
So excited for all of these, but most excited for the Willamette one. I bike that route every week and I’m excited to have an even better facility there
It’s unfortunate that the Halsey crossing sets you up to have to cross over Halsey again to get to the North side to cross 205
I agree and commented on it at a BAC meeting a couple months ago when construction first started. I got an immediate response right there in the meeting from a PBOT rep, who said that the main conflict is I-84 exit 5 ramp onto Halsey at 100th. As Jonathan reported last year (PBOT cancels I-205 undercrossing project near Gateway Green – BikePortland), the preferred solution was to separate the road and the bikeway, with the bikeway going under Halsey into Gateway Green Bike Park, where you could connect with the I-205 multiuse path. It’s a solution PBOT simply didn’t have the money for. It’s a challenging situation that will be difficult and expensive to fix any way you slice it. Personally, I’m on board for Jonathan’s preferred solution of extending the Tillamook greenway under I-205 and avoiding the Halsey mess altogether.
On the bright side, I’ve exchanged emails with the Halsey project’s PM, and she confirmed to me that the design team is aware of the awkward cycling situation, and that they’ve taken steps to make it safer. I didn’t get specific details, but I imagine cyclists will have their own signal phase to make the crossing and a cycling beg button or ground loop to let cyclists going south on 92nd have a clear left turn onto the overpass sidewalk.
The changes they’ve made in Montavilla have been a massive improvement. Not just the lane reduction on Washington but also improved crossings and daylighting along 80th, the completed connection on Everett, daylighting on Burnside, bike bus signage, bike boxes and improved crossing on Mill, and new sidewalks and crossings for safe routes to schools.
The only infrastructure changes that I’ve found lackluster are the 70s and 80s greenways. They’re good in parts but not particularly useful and are unlikely to ever become so with how the roads are platted. The 70s greenway would be improved if they moved it over to 74th and 76th instead of ceding that ground to cut-through drivers.
Just wanted to share two other project updates I noticed recently.
PBOT has changed the design for the SW Garden Home Rd / Multnomah Blvd / 69th Ave intersection in an attempt to bring down project costs. https://www.portland.gov/transportation/pbot-projects/construction/sw-multnomah-blvd-garden-home-road-intersection-safety
The new design has a shared multi-use path on both north and south side of Garden Home Road / Multnomah Blvd with transitions to connect with the existing bike lanes. Bikes will cross at the crosswalks it seems.
The other project is that the redevelopment of the Centennial Mills site. The current development proposal has passed the design commission. If this gets built, it will also build another segment of the waterfront trail.
The design also includes a place for a future pedestrian bridge over Naito and the railroad tracks to connect to The Fields Park.
Perhaps this is a separate undertaking, but is there a project to connect the buffered lane at 92nd and Halsey and the protected bike lane at 102nd and Halsey?
That project was canceled. The remaining funds went to the Halsey improvements reported by Jonathan in this article.
I think the only way this connection is made is if ODOT can be convinced to remove Exit 5 on I-84, which is what drove project costs up. That way you could just have eastbound traffic remain on the south side of the overpass with no issue. The westbound connection would still be a bit awkward due to the Weidler merger, but nothing a dedicated signal phase and some green paint couldn’t solve.
I am excited for all of these changes. It will be great to have the (eventual) connectivity of the bike lane on Washington from 74th east across I-205 to 108th. The Halsey bike lane from 80th to 92nd is exciting as well. However, I am bummed that they have shelved/cancelled the Halsey I-205 Over/Under-crossing project(s). These lanes will only get so much use until they are connected to the rest of the system, east of I-205.
Thanks for the update on the N Willamette project. This one has been delayed quite a bit. If I recall right, PBOT originally slated this for Summer start, and then put out an update around 9/16/2025 that contractors were gathering materials and filing submittals, and then there weren’t any updates until now, 60 days into Fall. I wonder what the reason for the delay was and I hope they can make up for lost time so we don’t lose the federal funding! That project manager is going to have some serious schedule crashing and compression to work with vs. keeping the road open and safe for users during construction.
The Willamette project is so great! There are so many great parts, but I think they missed the mark on the Willamette/Rosa Parks intersection. By pulling the bike lane off the road, they open the the curve to higher speed driving, they weave the bike lane and ped routes, they will need to remove a beautiful, mature Oak tree, and they tighten the radius for bikes to continue south on to Willamette which is more common than continuing along Rosa Parks. I really hope they will consider a design revision at this location!
Sorry but N Willamette is as much a hellscape as Portland is a war zone. I ride it frequently, and it recently received improvements all the way to N Richmond which making riding it fairly comfortable along most of the route from Rosa Parks. Better use of the money is to improve connections from N Richmond to the bike lane at N Lombard towards Pier Park, or the neglected connection near N Lombard and N Terminal? I’m sure there’s a ton of missing connections or sorely needed improvements a paltry half million could address.
haha yes maybe that was too strong of a word. I just see it being totally overrun with impatient drivers who dart into the bike lane instead of waiting for people to turn and with a much higher volume of car traffic than it was ever intended to carry.
Just here to give a woot! wooooot! to the Willamette Blvd bike facility. NoPo is looking forward to this.
I’m really looking forward to the Stark/Washington changes near Mall 205. Those streets are both memeishly overbuilt and if they do extend the bike lanes all the way along Stark it will provide a much needed alternative to the narrow, stressful bike lanes on E Burnside.
I hope they do a better job with 148th than they did with 162nd. IMO the way the bike lanes zigzag is dumb and I don’t like that they were so obsessive about preserving rarely-used parking in front of houses with garages and driveways.
I’ve used the 44 bus on N. Willamette Blvd whenever I head over to St. Johns. This is actually very thrilling. Curious whether them bus stops would either use have shelters similar to FX2, NE 42nd & Halsey, SW 4th & Hall in blue/gray or the gray ones on SE 122nd Ave. This should be exciting to have a major improvement for me to head over to St. Johns.