Guest article: ‘High crash’ intersections and what Portland is doing about them

This article was written by Portlander Robert Pineda, author of the Peek Portland Substack.

When I began a Substack about Portland, I wanted my essays to be all hunky dory. I wanted to use publicly available data to tell positive stories. But life is more complicated than that, isn’t it? How can I talk about data that shows the city’s decreasing traffic deaths—which is objectively a good thing—without also talking about the people behind the statistics, the people whose lives were lost because we aren’t quite there yet with some of these road safety improvements? So, bare with me on this one. My goal is to show you how things are getting better, but first, we have to acknowledge where we’re starting from.

The day before Thanksgiving, a woman was hit by a driver and killed walking back to her house after visiting a park in the same neighborhood where another woman was hit and killed earlier this year. And I remember not too long ago, a woman was killed while waiting for the bus outside the library where she worked. And then there was this other woman who was killed while riding her bike to work.

All these deaths happened just a few minutes from my house in Southeast Portland. And those are just some of the ones that made the news. This is a real problem in Portland, and if you think I’m cherry-picking facts or exaggerating, trip out on this: a little over a month ago, three people died in traffic crashes on the same night within just two hours of each other and within just two miles of each other. That’s crazy. A walker, a biker, and a person in a wheelchair. Poof! Gone! In the blink of an eye.

Did you know our city government publishes data on the deadliest and most dangerous roads and intersections in Portland? It’s published as part of the work they do around the High Crash Network and Vision Zero. I’ll say more about those a little later.

This data is important, especially for people who walk, bike, and roll through this city — or if you love someone who does any of those things. Regardless of how you get around town, I want to help you understand where the risks are, who’s to blame, and what’s being done about it. And, if you ever decide to yell at local or state government to do something about these dangerous areas, after you read this, you’ll have data to back you up.

What’s the High Crash Network (HCN)?

The High Crash Network is the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s (PBOT) way of saying, “Here are the places where things are most likely to go wrong for you.”

It’s basically a list of the 20 worst streets for driving, the 20 worst for pedestrians, and the 20 worst for cyclists. And after you account for where these overlap, it adds up to 30 intersections PBOT considers “high crash.”

Before I go any further, I want to talk about the elephant in the room: who is responsible for all these crashes and deaths? The easy answer is the people doing the crashing, right? But the easy answer isn’t always the right one. I’m a firm believer in personal responsibility, but I also acknowledge most of the choices we get to make are from a predetermined list our government has approved. Yes, it’s true that people could be a lot more careful. But, like Tupac’s mom, drivers are just “workin’ with the scraps [they were] given.” And in this case, they were given poorly constructed intersections that, at best, don’t do enough to discourage dangerous driving, and at worst, promote it.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the government created these intersections, and the government need to fix them. Government decides how streets are built, regulated, and maintained. These intersections are dangerous because they’re poorly designed, neglected, and overburdened. For years, city planning decisions have put cars over people. This data is proof that those decisions have deadly consequences. And this is obvious, but I want to say it anyway: this isn’t just a Portland problem. Nearly every city in the world prioritizes cars over people.

Why does this data focus on intersections?

Because intersections are where 71% of pedestrian crashes happen. Because drivers making left turns forget or ignore crosswalks. Because half of crashes happen in low light, which is a big problem at High Crash Network sites. Because East Portland, where I live with my baby son and superhuman wife, has almost double the pedestrian deaths as the other half of the city. Because communities scoring high on PBOT’s Equity Matrix have three times the pedestrian deaths. And because every pedestrian death is a whole life—beautiful and complicated and unique—just disappearing.

The data

When you stare at this data long enough, you see the patterns, especially if you’ve spent time in different pockets of Portland.

The first thing you notice is how often you see Powell. Every few rows in the data, there it is again, reminding you that this is a state highway pretending to be a neighborhood street. It’s the kind of road where you walk your kid to school and all of a sudden you wonder if people should even be allowed on that road because it feels like you’re in the middle of a race track. The one good thing about Powell is that it’s a great example to use when you’re trying to explain to City Council how dangerous some Portland streets are.

The next two things that jump out are 82nd and 122nd. Those two roads pop up again and again because they’re wide and fast, with long blocks and bad lighting. Plus, it’s no secret that historically the city hasn’t invested as much in the adjacent neighborhoods. That’s a recipe for bad outcomes.

Another thing you’ll notice in the data are the intersections next to freeway ramps. I’m not sure how to resolve that, but drivers coming off or turning onto the freeway are in high gear. It’s like they forget they’re now driving by sidewalks, bus stops, and human beings. Is it their fault? Yes, but the design doesn’t help. It makes fast turns and last second lane changes too easy.

And underneath all of this, the bigger theme is that East Portlanders are more likely to die in traffic than West Portlanders. About 90 percent of traffic deaths across the city happened in Districts 1, 2, and 3. (Thanks to BikePortland for publishing crash locations and their corresponding City Council districts.)

With 36 of 41 traffic deaths happening in East Portland, it seems to me this isn’t about individual choices or bad drivers, it’s about infrastructure, policy decisions, and decades of knowing exactly where the danger is but not doing anything about it. The data makes that pretty damn clear. East Portland doesn’t have as many safe crossings or sidewalks, the walks to transit are longer, and the streets are dimmer.

Good-ish news

The good news is that traffic deaths are actually going down. The city is on track to have its fewest traffic deaths in a year since before COVID, with 44 this year, 58 last year, and 69 the year before that. Still, every single traffic death is one too many.

While traffic deaths go down overall, if you dig into the data a little, you see drivers are dying less, cyclist deaths are about the same, and pedestrians now make up half of all traffic deaths. That means the people with the least physical protection are the ones most likely to be mowed down in the streets.

What is our local government doing about it?

PBOT’s Vision Zero program is:

• Breaking ground on High Crash Network fixes every year
• Adding lighting, especially in underinvested areas
• Tightening left-turn movements
• Rolling out “No Turn on Red” pilots
• Redesigning traffic signals to reduce pedestrian risk
• Fixing crossing gaps across the city
• Prioritizing fixes in high-equity-need areas

Will these efforts reduce traffic deaths to zero? I don’t think so, but I guarantee you they will save lives. I think they’ve already begun to save lives. And with more strategic planning and financial investment, I believe it’s possible to get this number into the single digits.

Four ways you can use this data

1. Plan safer routes – I’m not telling you to avoid certain neighborhoods, but I am telling you to avoid certain streets, especially if you’re walking, biking, or using a wheelchair. A little planning could save you from an accident or even death. If you know what streets are the most likely to ruin your day (or your life), why use them? Especially during morning and evening work commutes and school dropoff and pickup hours.
2. Support road maintenance and infrastructure projects even though they slow you down – I’m guilty of this, so please know I’m not saying this from my high horse like I’m perfect and you’re not: drive slow in construction zones and be patient when traffic backs up due to a public works project. Don’t get all crazy and try to pass people by going into the oncoming traffic lane. I’ve done it. I’ve seen others do it. But we can do better.
3. Push the mayor, your City Councilors, and PBOT to keep the heat on Powell, 82nd, and 122nd – People are dying on these streets, and they’re dying mostly preventable deaths. That’s unacceptable. Show up at a City Council meeting to tell them you want speed reductions, more lighting, and safer crossings. You should also ask for better public transit in these areas. If you can’t show up in person or virtually to a City Council meeting, email Mayor Wilson, your City Councilors, and PBOT. They all have staff whose job it is to listen to community member concerns. If you don’t know who to reach out to or how to get ahold of any of them, ask me and I’ll point you in the right direction.
4. Share this data with your people – Knowledge is a small but real kind of protection. The information in this article might be obvious to some of you, but people are busy and caught up in their own lives. It’s possible that people you love dearly haven’t had the chance to stop and think about the fact they take a dangerous route to work or school or lunch every day. If you share this with them and they switch to a different route, you are directly lowering the chances they get in an accident or worse. That’s love.

If you work or play in Portland, or just visit, or love someone who does those things here, then this data is for you. It’s not sexy, it’s not fun, but it can save lives. Maybe even yours.