On May 15th, the Lloyd Transportation Management Assocation (TMA) and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will unveil their plans to significantly alter the roadway design on NE Multnomah Street. Or in their words, give it a “transportation transformation.”
The open house announcement for this project — which we first reported on back in December — was sent out to stakeholders today. Here’s a snip from the invite:
There are some new developments in the project to improve bicycling and traffic safety on N. Williams Avenue.
Following the most recent Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting on August 2nd, project staff have announced that in lieu of a September meeting, they will host two tours of the street in order to give SAC members (and the public) a first-hand look at existing conditions.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is considering other options for how to improve bike access on N. Willamette Blvd after hearing loud and clear from adjacent homeowners that they don’t want to lose on-street parking.
The goal of PBOT’s North Willamette Boulevard Bikeway Development Project is to create a “low-stress” bicycling environment and improve bikeway access on this key link between North Rosa Parks Way and Woolsey (it’s one of five projects the City announced in May 2010). Since this project was first identified over a year ago, the idea was to create more space for bicycle traffic by re-allocating space currently being used for on-street parking.
Efforts to improve bike access through the Lloyd District took yet another turn for the worse at a Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting yesterday. Several influential business interests — including a representative of the Portland Development Commission (PDC) — expressed opposition motor vehicle access restrictions that many feel are key to turning NE Holladay Street into a low-stress bikeway.
If you’ve been paying attention you know that the City of Portland is coming up against considerable opposition in their quest to make even modest improvements to bicycle access in the Lloyd District.
We’ve detailed the opposition leveled at the City by the Central Eastside Industrial Council over the re-allocation of space on NE 12th Avenue. Now opposition has also reared its head on NE Holladay Street, where the the proposal to remove 33 on-street parking spaces faces opposition that could derail the entire project.
I just returned from an open house for the Lloyd District Bikeway projects. Unfortunately, my hunches about the direction each of them is headed have been confirmed.
At this point, I think it’s time to take the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 off the shelf and give it a re-read.
After a presentation by the project team at the open house today, Craig Harlow, speaking as a member of the Lloyd TMA Bike Committee (he’s also a member of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee), shared some closing remarks. Here’s what he said:
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation began the public process on three projects aimed to improve biking in and around the Lloyd District this morning.
The three projects (which we first reported on back in May) include: improving bike traffic flow through the NE 12th Ave/I-84 overpass; making NE Holladay Street into a bike corridor; and closing the bikeway gap on Vancouver Ave near the Rose Quarter. The first meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee was held this morning and was hosted by Scott Bricker (hired as a public outreach consultant) and PBOT project manager Ellen Vanderslice.
The City of Portland is moving forward with a slate of projects that will have a huge impact on the quality of our bikeway network. Tomorrow, City Council is expected to approve a $214,900 contract with Alta Planning + Design to begin the public outreach and design process on five projects in North and Northeast Portland.
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has put out Request for Proposals to hire a consultant that will help them further develop five new bikeway projects and to assess the feasibility of three others. The projects were identified in the 2030 Bike Plan and PBOT says this is a first step toward implementing them.
The $185,000 RFP specifically names five projects that would set a new standard for bikeways that PBOT describes are, “envisioned to make riders feel safer and more comfortable than they would feel in standard bike lanes.”
In addition to the five projects, PBOT wants help to assess the technical feasibility of three others.
The five projects listed in the RFP for futher development are: