Yes, the transformation of North Willamette Boulevard is something I’m very excited about. And yes, I’ll admit it’s partly because it’s a key bike street in my neighborhood and my family, friends, and I will be among the many people who use it.
I know I’ve done two posts about it in the past few months — one about newly released designs, the other about some project elements that will break ground this year — but it’s time for another. Why? Because at last night’s monthly meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC), Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) Capital Project Manager David Backes shared a sneak peek of newer “60%” designs and overlayed them on a Google Map to give us a detailed look at what’s coming.
Backes (who happens to live in St. Johns and rides/walks/drives on Willamette a lot) said the designs and map he shared last night were completed a few weeks ago and haven’t been made public yet. I was watching the meeting and happened to record my screen while he explained the designs (and rationale behind them) to BAC members. Beyond the exciting changes Backes revealed, it’s a fascinating look at some of the thought processes PBOT goes through to arrive at design decisions.
What we see in the video above is Backes going through major elements of the project starting from the corner of N Willamette and Rosa Parks.
At Rosa Parks, he reveals PBOT will actually widen the road in order to make room for full concrete protection of the bikeway. Then he moves north to the expansive intersections of N Liberty/Oatman and N Vincent/Saratoga — both of which will be severely necked down as part of this project. Next stop is the intersection of Willamette and Bryant, where big changes are in store for the bus stops and the awkward diagonal connection with a major east-west greenway. Then we hear about changes at N Chautauqua, where PBOT will add curb extensions to shorten crossing distances and cut into the bluff for the bike lane. Further north, at N Olin and Harvard we learn about plans to close Olin to drivers. Backes also shares plans for the bike lane at the University of Portland entrance and N Ida just beyond the railroad cut.
Pretty exciting stuff huh? And BAC members were thrilled and thanked Backes and the other PBOT staffer in attendance for their work thus far. Let’s just hope PBOT is taking care of the public process in a way that assures we’ll actually see these changes come to fruition.
On that note, remember that PBOT won’t begin major construction on this project until 2025; but we’ll see big changes to the striping as early as this spring when PBOT tags onto a planned repaving project to lay out the new bike lanes as the plans call for. The bike lanes will get wider, we’ll see removal of on-street parking, ADA curb ramps, and lots of other changes coming this year. Then, when the federally-funded project gets going in 2025-2026, PBOT will come back and add the concrete curbs, medians, and other major elements.
