The scene this morning at N Broadway and Ross.
(Photo: Noel Mickelberry)

[Read more…]

Detail of plans to close an I-5 “slip ramp”
that dumps onto Broadway.

An open house event tomorrow night (11/19) will be your chance to see what the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has planned to improve safety on Broadway where it passes over Interstate 5.

Changes to the notorious section of Broadway near Wheeler and Flint were a focus of the city’s N/NE Quadrant planning process back in 2012 and they were included as “near-term solutions” within a larger, $400 million ODOT project to widen I-5 through the Rose Quarter.

With that large-scale proposal years away from fruition (if it ever happens at all), local neighborhood activists pressed ODOT to do something more immediate to remedy the many traffic safety issues in the area of the Broadway-Weidler couplet just west of I-5. We’ve been highlighting safety issues at this location for over seven years – ever since the Portland Water Bureau prohibited its fleet vehicles from making right turns onto Wheeler due to right-hook concerns.
[Read more…]

NW Broadway at Hoyt is a high-risk right-hook spot and it needs to be improved.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

[Read more…]

Wider is better. (Note the old bike lane stripe
that has been scraped off.)
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

PBOT is nearly finished with a project to improve bicycling conditions on the NW Broadway ramp south of the Broadway Bridge. The $30,000 project is expected to be finished by tonight but most of the new striping was completed early this morning before rush hour.

In order to create the additional five feet needed for the buffered bike lane, PBOT reduced the amount of vehicle lanes from five to four. Instead of a five-foot bike lane and four, 9.5-foot standard lanes, there is now a 10-foot bike lane and three, 11-foot standard vehicle lanes. The change was made because of the huge amount of people who ride bicycles down this ramp and the need to create safer and more pleasant conditions for them.

I rode it this morning and took a few photos.[Read more…]

Before and after cross-section of plans for Broadway Bridge viaduct project.

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation is planning a major re-design of NW Broadway from the Broadway Bridge (at Lovejoy) to Burnside. [Read more…]

Morning rush hour on NW Broadway just north of Hoyt. Notice how much space is needed to move people in cars compared to on bikes.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

[Read more…]

Bike traffic yesterday morning on SW Broadway at Oak. (Now imagine what it would be like this summer.)
(Photo: Peter Koonce)

[Read more…]

PBOT has made the prohibition of right turns onto N Wheeler from Broadway permanent.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

[Read more…]

Portland Streetcar will direct bicycle
traffic onto a vehicle lane on the bridge roadway,
instead of the sidewalk.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Last week I wondered out loud if we could do better when it came to the disrespectful and dangerous detour for bicycle traffic on the Broadway Bridge. Well, it turns out we can and we just did.

Portland Streetcar Inc., whose project to repair the non-slip coating on the bridge sidewalks is what has caused the detour that began on September 24th, just announced that when they move the project to the south sidewalk this Thursday (10/2), they will convert the eastbound vehicle lane on the bridge into a bike lane.
[Read more…]

PBOT has changed the striping and lane configuration on Broadway at Larrabee to help reduce the risk of right-hook collisions.
(Photos © J. Maus)

[Read more…]