There’s a new way to roll between Better Naito and the Steel Bridge.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Slowly but surely, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is claiming Naito Parkway as a major bike corridor — and improving access between Waterfront Park and downtown in the process.

First they took Better Naito under their wing, and now they’ve flipped the switch on new bike-only signals that create a lower-stress connection between NW Davis and the Steel Bridge. The $166,000 project was funded by the Fix Our Streets program.

We hinted at this new connection — and Naito’s larger role in PBOT’s downtown bikeway plans — back in May. I checked it all out yesterday just hours after the signal was activated.

Here’s what I observed.
[Read more…]

The new southbound bike signal at Wheeler Avenue and Winning Way gives a little extra green time to people biking without interfering with people in cars.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

One of Portland’s busiest bike crossings will flow a little more efficiently thanks to a new bike signal activated last Thursday.

The signal gives a green light to people biking southbound on Wheeler Avenue, preparing to curve around the Moda Center into the Rose Quarter Transit Center area. Northbound bus and bike traffic here has a green signal phase of its own, but that doesn’t conflict with southbound bike traffic.

[Read more…]

The right-turn warning at NE Couch and Grand is the only such sign in the country.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

As Portland edges closer to possibly adding protected bike lanes to its downtown, a new study has found that one of its most unusual bike-lane intersection treatments seems to be working.

The LED sign above the intersection at NE Couch and Grand that flashes “Turning Vehicle Yield to Bikes” seems to have reduced right-turn conflicts by more than 60 percent since its 2011 installation.

[Read more…]

Notice how the bike signal is green while the adjacent lanes are still red.
(Photo by Peter Koonce/PBOT)

[Read more…]

Expect to see more bike signals, like
this one at Broadway and Williams, in 2012.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Starting January 1st, cities throughout Oregon will get the green light on bicycle signals.

Bike-specific signals aren’t new in Portland, the City’s Bureau of Transportation has used them for years now; but technically they’ve been doing so on an experimental basis. This past legislative session, the City helped pass Senate Bill 130, which codifies bicycle signals into Oregon law and makes them official traffic control devices with as much legal weight and respect as standard signals.[Read more…]

PDOT is working on safety improvements
at the Broadway/Williams intersection.
(Photo © J. Maus)

This is the preliminary plan for Broadway Williams that was presented at the Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting last night.[Read more…]