Corner of SW Broadway and 5th Avenue looking east. I-405 and the surface route of Hwy 26 create a no-man’s-land for people walking and on bicycles. (Lisa Caballero/BikePortland)
A few weeks ago the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) grappled with a thankless task, choosing between six patches PBOT had presented to it for routing cyclists into downtown from Terwilliger Boulevard.
That area surrounding the southernmost segment of I-405 serves as a surface street exchange for the confluence of three highways—Interstates 5 and 405, and Highway 26—and also Barbur Boulevard. Trying to carve a safe route for cyclists or pedestrians through the resulting jumble is like solving a Rubik’s cube. You can understand why a transportation planner might shout, “don’t touch that!” It’s pretty complicated.
On- and off-ramps from I-405 affect many surrounding surface streets
I say “patches” because PBOT doesn’t have the authority to really fix the underlying problem, which is the area’s numerous freeway on- and off-ramps. Those ramps are zones of hazard punctuating any PBOT safety effort. Truly addressing the problems in this area would require a lot of money, and ODOT’s cooperation.
So the BAC was being asked to recommend the best workaround for getting cyclists from Terwilliger Blvd to the intersection of 4th and Broadway—the portal into PBOT’s $17 million 4th Avenue project which, when completed, will be the main northern bike route through downtown.
The comments from readers into this post fascinated me. I pulled up a map and followed along as each commenter described how they navigated the mess. The riders fell into two main categories, those who approach downtown from the south using Barbur Blvd, and those riding in on Terwilliger. There was some discord between the two groups, and a side discussion arose about how PBOT determined route priority, why was routing Terwilliger riders onto Barbur more important than fixing the 6th Avenue/Broadway crossing? Which road got the most use?
But no one is more invested in fixing the 6th Avenue crossing than veteran bike advocate Keith Liden. Reader’s might remember BikePortland’s ride-along with Liden just last year, and his relatively inexpensive suggestions for making the intersection safer. In fact, making 6th Ave north of the intersection safer for cyclists is already part of the Southwest in Motion (SWIM) plan, project BP-02, “6th Portal to Central City,” and it comes with a relatively inexpensive $15,000 price tag.
Liden emailed Jonathan and me last week, “I’m really getting fed up with PBOT’s way of operating in a black box and prioritizing projects with no logic …” What had raised Liden’s ire was his discovery that PBOT had made a formal cost estimate, and had received project approval from ODOT, for a new project at the same location as SWIM’s BP-02.
The new project is for a rapid flashing beacon and pedestrian crossing of 6th at Jackson, and is estimated to cost nearly a million dollars.
Liden wrote PBOT:
Thanks for this information about the proposed pedestrian crossing improvements at 6th and Jackson. While I completely support improving this pedestrian crosswalk with an RRFB, it’s extremely discouraging to hear that the much less expensive and equally important bicycle improvements here will be kicked down the road until after $1 million drops from the sky to fund the RRFB (in other words, another decade +). This demonstrates PBOT’s consistent lack of interest for the plight of cyclists entering the city from Terwilliger for 25 years and counting. Other than Moody, this and 4th are the next busiest bike entries into downtown from SW.
So why keep passing on any meaningful safety improvements for cyclists by placing this in the queue after an expensive project with probably no chance of being funded for years? The anticipated 4th/Barbur project will help some cyclists, but it will be a cumbersome detour for many who are simply headed for destinations along 6th, PSU, or westerly portions of downtown. There’s no substitute for a safe bicycle entrance on 6th.
Liden raised some good points, and it looked to me like the rerouting of cyclists from Terwilliger to 4th Avenue could be interpreted as backing off from a commitment to making 6th Avenue improvements.
I reached out to PBOT’s Communications Director, Hannah Schafer, to see if she could clarify the status of SWIM project BP-02. She took the time to look into the situation and responded to me with substantive answers which I will quote directly:
BikePortland: Has the Terwilliger/4th Ave project superseded the need for BP-02? Has BP-02 been shelved? If not, what priority does BP-02 currently have?
PBOT: Because SW in Motion has limited funding opportunities at this time, PBOT staff are exploring the feasibility of including RP-02 Terwilliger to 4th Connector as part of the larger capital project to save on costs and increase the benefit of the SW Fourth Avenue Central City in Motion Project for people biking from SW via Terwilliger. BP-02 will still be prioritized as a Tier 1 project when additional SW in Motion funding becomes available.
BikePortland: I’ve been told that PBOT received ODOT approval for an unfunded pedestrian RFB at Jackson and 6th, separate from the BP-02 bike lane improvement project at the same location. So it looks like BP-02 has become a lower priority than these other projects. Can you tell me what the PBOT thinking is concerning 6th Ave bike improvements north of 405?
PBOT: PBOT and ODOT staff collaborated on a concept design for a pedestrian crossing improvement at SW Jackson and 6th that utilized an RFB. While the design concept had the support of both agencies, we were unable to identify design and construction funding for the improved pedestrian crossing. The bicycle connection is similarly unfunded at this point. PBOT would like to implement both pedestrian and cycling improvements here but lacks discretionary funding to do so.
BikePortland: Also, south of 405, are bike facility improvements planned for 6th between Sheridan and Broadway?
PBOT: PBOT staff are exploring bike improvements on 6th from Sheridan and Broadway. Funding for this connection has yet to be identified.
My interpretation of those responses is that the Terwilliger to 4th connector is a strategic response to underfunding, and is indeed a substitution for improving the crossing at 6th, and implementing SWIM BP-02.
After studying the BikePortland comments, I came away thinking that many riders heading east currently stay on 6th, and save their turns until after crossing over I-405. It’s an interesting situation, because any right turn prior to Harrison is prohibited, yet some cyclists do it anyway (the MAX runs along the east side of 6th).
The BAC is meeting is meeting next Tuesday, April 9th and on the agenda is, “SW Terwilliger Improvements: from Sam Jackson to Caruthers-4th (6:15-6:55):”
Continuing the March meeting discussion about Terwilliger, Roger Geller will discuss the results of the BAC’s April 4 field visit as well as two additional desired improvements on the corridor: 1) continuing the outbound bicycle lane on Terwilliger to the intersection with Sam Jackson; improvement to facilitate a left turn from 6th to Sheridan to access Barbur Blvd. Following discussion, the committee will consider drafting a recommendation regarding these improvements.
None of those desired improvements Geller lists cover the 6th and Broadway intersection. So there you have it, the underfunding of SWIM, a surface street quagmire caused by freeways, and murky prioritizations.
