Iulia Hanczarek.
(Photo: Portland State University)

Iulia Hanczarek was coming into her prime as a chemist and researcher at Portland State University. She had dreams of a doctoral degree and missions to space. At just 39 years old, she had a lot of important discoveries ahead of her. Staff at the university describe her as “brilliant”.

But just after midnight on Tuesday her life was cut short when a man chose to drive his car while drunk and hit and killed her as she walked home in southwest Portland. According to police, Ivan Cam was driving approximately 50 miles per hour prior to hitting Hanczarek. Cam told crash investigators the window of his car “suddenly exploded” and he didn’t even know what he’d hit. He now faces charges of manslaughter, DUI, and reckless driving.[Read more…]

PPB says it happened “in the area” of SW Barbur and Parkhill.

Portland Police have issued a statement on a fatal collision that happened early this morning on Southwest Barbur Boulevard.

According to the PPB, it happened just after midnight near the intersection of Barbur and SW Parkhill Drive. This is three miles south of Portland City Hall and just north of the Vermont viaduct.

Officers responded to what they thought was single car collision, but when the arrived they were contacted by the driver of the car, 30-year-old Ivan Cam. Cam told officers he thought he hit someone who was walking. Upon further investigation, the officers found a body lying in the street. [Read more…]

Riding northbound on Barbur across the Newbury Street bridge.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

We finally have a bit more clarity around the future of the Vermont and Newbury bridges on Barbur Boulevard.
[Read more…]

ODOT’s proposal for improving bike access on SW Barbur at Capitol Highway.

Yesterday the Oregon Department of Transportation did something unprecedented: they officially proposed re-allocating lane space on on Southwest Barbur Boulevard to make less room for driving and more room for cycling. Here are their exact words: “Reduce one southbound lane on SW Barbur Blvd over Newbury and Vermont Bridges to provide bike lanes.”
[Read more…]

Almost half of southbound rush-hour traffic on Barbur turns right here. Converting the right lane to exit-only could boost driver safety on Barbur while making room for continuous bike lanes to the south.
(Image: Google Street View)

Consensus seems to be building around a new concept that could finally create continuous bike lanes on state-run Barbur Boulevard.

And now, support for changes to a notoriously dangerous section of Barbur have a new ally: U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer.[Read more…]