Elevator closures on Bob Stacey Crossing frustrate users, while PBOT seeks funding for fixes

Pressure is building once again for the City of Portland to repair and re-open the Bob Stacey Crossing elevators. A story in Willamette Week published April 2nd detailed the latest vandalism and maintenance problems, a Southeast Portland mom who bikes with her kids to school is actively lobbying Mayor Keith Wilson’s office and advocates are coming together to make their voices heard at neighborhood meetings.

In response the City says they’ll install security cameras and focus on more patrols of the area, but other than that they cite a lack of funding to take more decision actions.

The bridge is a vital link in the network because it provides a way for non-drivers to cross five railroad tracks and detour around the infamously long and disruptive freight trains that block nearby intersections.

The overcrossing (named after a former Metro councilor and land use advocate Bob Stacey, who died in 2022) opened in 2020 and has likely been closed more often than it’s been open. It’s so bad that less than one year after it was renamed in his honor, Bob Stacey himself told BikePortland that the broken elevators were, “a mark against us as a community.” In 2022 BikePortland reported that at least one elevator had been closed for eight months. At that time, the Portland Bureau of Transportation blamed a bad motor and supply-chain issues for the untimely fix. They also said they didn’t expect further issues.

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Julie Mumford is a Southeast Portland resident and neighborhood advocate who bikes to Winterhaven Elementary School with her two daughters. She recently shared a video with BikePortland that shows her girls hoisting their bikes up two flights of stairs while a boarded-up and closed elevator can be seen in the background. After helping them awkwardly carry their bikes, Mumford has to get her own, 80+ pound bike up and then down the stairs. In an email sent yesterday to Mayor Wilson, Mumford wrote, “I understand this is only one elevator in one neighborhood, but it represents this City’s broken priorities: we are underinvesting in the public health of our community. If we can’t help kids get to school on safe infrastructure on safe routes, then we are failing.”

Another nearby resident and frequent user of the crossing, Xavier Salazar, has shared a steady drip of complaints on social media about the broken elevators. You might recall Salazar as the person behind the AreTheElevatorsBroken.com website, which he created in 2025 to help himself and others plan their trips around the frequent closures.

Salazar says the north elevator (at SE 14th and Taggart) has been closed for over two months now and the south elevator (on SE Gideon near 13th Place) was “on the fritz” for nearly a month and was closed entirely a few weeks ago after its glass doors were shattered. Salazar says he’s frustrated not just because of the inconvenience, but because there hasn’t been adequate signage about a detour or a number to call for help.

“I’ve had to give out verbal directions multiple times to people,” Salazar shared with BikePortland yesterday. “I’ve seen a wheelchair user with one leg stuck at the north side with a load of stuff and they couldn’t get down — while a train was parked in the intersection… It really is unbelievable that it’s been unusable for this long.”

Mumford wants to the city find a long-term solution to the problem and believes the answer might lie in how the city coordinates with a nearby homeless shelter. At the suggestion of a representative from the Mayor’s Office, she participates in the Clinton Triangle Oversight Committee, a group formed as part of the Good Neighbor Agreement between the City of Portland and the firm that runs the Clinton Triangle Shelter Site. But Mumford has been unimpressed with the meetings so far and feels there’s a lack of accountability when it comes to preventing the vandalism, camping, and other human activities that result in the closure of the elevators.

Mumford believes Urban Alchemy’s permit to operate the shelter should include a requirement for minimum elevator up-time. Other solutions she’s floated are to make the elevator doors metal instead of glass. At a recent meeting Mumford attended, she learned from a TriMet rep that their agency has spent $100,000 in recent years repairing vandalized glass and has since moved to a metal door for their nearby Rhine-Lafayette Overcrossing. Since that change, Salazar says TriMet’s elevators, “have largely been operational, clean, and reliable for a year or more now.”

Broken elevators have plagued our mobility network for years — and not just at these locations. PBOT has also had problems with the elevators that service the Gibbs Street Pedestrian Bridge in South Waterfront.

Reached this morning for comment, PBOT said they share the community’s frustration about the elevators. Citing two-plus years of ongoing vandalism, PBOT Communications Director Hannah Schafer acknowledged that the closures have, “been disruptive to people’s mobility and safety, as well as extremely costly to the bureau at a time when resources are increasingly finite.”

Schafer said security patrols are a priority going forward. The city already has three daily patrols and one happens around 5:00 am in order to intentionally roust campers prior to the morning community. Schafer added that the city pays for daily janitorial service by a third party (Relay Resources) and that Urban Alchemy pays for their own clean-ups when they come across issues.

When it comes to actions to remedy this situation going forward, Schafer said procurement of security cameras on both sides of the crossing are underway and are expected to take two weeks. Other than that, PBOT is not making commitments due to budget constraints. Here’s more from Schafer:

• PBOT will proceed with replacing the shattered glass to restore elevator service. Please note these components are not off-the-shelf and must be specially ordered.
• PBOT agreed to explore long-term solutions to address ongoing vandalism of the glass doors. One option discussed was replacing the glass doors with stainless steel doors similar to those used in office buildings. This would be a costly, currently unbudgeted option, and some community members raised concerns about reduced visibility when entering or exiting the elevators.
• PBOT will explore the feasibility of adding security presence during peak times, particularly when students are traveling to and from school. This would also be a significant, currently unbudgeted cost.
• PBOT will explore options to widen the wheel rail along the stairs to better accommodate bikes with larger tires, as the current configuration presents challenges for some users.
• Urban Alchemy will continue to provide periodic cleaning support in the area, although this work is outside their formal scope.

To be clear, there were no firm commitments from partners to fund or provide additional security resources. There was, however, some informal discussion about the possibility of adult chaperones being present in the elevators during peak school travel times.

Whether or not these actions will be enough to restore the crossing to reliable, safe, and convenient public use remains to be seen.

Mayor Wilson’s Office tells BikePortland they are aware of the elevator concerns and will consider a more detailed response. I’ll share that when/if I hear back.