Cycling News & Blog Articles

Five Portland intersections where people where killed in traffic collisions since Christmas Eve.

For too many families, the holiday break has been a nightmare instead of a joyful celebration.

Portland streets claimed five more victims since Christmas Eve and our annual traffic toll has once again reached its highest level for at least three decades. Despite years of local leaders being committed to “Vision Zero” and a return of the Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division, 71 people have been killed on Portland streets so far this year.

After choosing to scale back its Traffic Division as part of a political game to win more funding from City Hall, the PPB renewed its enforcement efforts back in May. At a press conference to announce 14 officers would return to patrol streets for traffic violations and crimes, Portland Bureau of Transportation Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera said, “We are hopeful this will help us kind of set a new trend, post-pandemic, of less traffic violence on the streets.”

Unfortunately that has not yet come to pass. Too many of our streets remain dangerous by design, and too many road users remain woefully unwilling to use them safely.

This afternoon you’re all invited to our last Bike Happy Hour of 2023. Please consider joining us because we have a very special guest: City Council (District 3, Inner Southeast) Candidate Angelita Morillo.

You might know Angelita from her popular @pnwpolicyangel TikTok or Instagram accounts, or you might have emailed with her when worked inside City Hall as a constituent relations staffer for former City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. Angelita is a carfree renter and immigrant who has strong progressive values mixed with a pragmatism borne from her lived and professional experience and a desire to make material gains for the Portlanders who need help the most. I’ve followed Angelita online for a while now and have met her in person a few times (once for a lengthy chat over coffee), and have come away impressed with how she approaches problems and politics.

What I feel is missing from Portland politics is someone with strong progressive values that can communicate them with the sense of urgency they deserve, while not dismissing people who see things differently and who has the political acumen to make enough progress to quiet haters and push back against Portland’s slide to the right. Is Angelita one of the people who has that ability? Come to Bike Happy Hour to find out!

At her request, I plan to meet Angelita for a bike ride before I roll over to Happy Hour today. She wants to learn more about cycling and transportation issues in her district. We’ll share our conversations at Bike Happy Hour where we’ll do a short live interview and then open it up for audience Q & A. Bring your questions! (And bring your appetite because Ankeny Tap has great food and drink options.)

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Thanks for understanding that I needed a break. It just so happens that my daughter’s birthday is on December 23rd (she turned 21 this year!), so it’s extra-important for me to focus on family around Christmas. Now I’m ready to re-engage and finish out 2023 strong. Let’s get things started with a roundup of the most important items we came across in the last week or so.

Europe is showing us the way: As Portland hits yet another grim traffic death milestone, it’s time for us to try something decidedly different. This article illustrates examples of how some major cities are fighting back against cars — and actually making progress. (The Guardian)

Nationalize Greyhound: What if the federal government ran intercity bus service, made stations as common as post offices, and gave bus lines priority on the interstate freeway network? (Jacobin)

Eva Frazier and I are back with another episode of “In The Shed.” This episode was recorded December 7th* in the BikePortland Shed a few blocks from Peninsula Park in north Portland. (*Sorry for the longer than usual turnaround. It won’t happen again!)

As per usual, Eva and I had a fun, informal chat about a wide range of stuff. In this video we talked about:

Thanks for listening! We’d love to hear feedback. Eva is coming back to the Shed tomorrow so I’ll have another episode before Christmas. Listen in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Major neckdown at N Fessenden near Peninsula Crossing Trail would make dramatic difference in safety at what is now a wide and stressful intersection.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is putting finishing touches on their North Portland In Motion (NPIM) plan and they’ve just released the final online open house.

NPIM aims to improve the future of biking, walking, and transit on Portland’s peninsula from I-5 between the Overlook and Kenton neighborhoods, west to Pier Park in St. Johns. It launched in 2021 and will likely be adopted by City Council in early 2024. These planning processes (similar ones have been done for east and southwest Portland) are important because they result in a prioritized, clearly-defined list of projects that are shovel-ready and primed for funding. In some cases, the process validates current PBOT planning and they’re able fund and build the projects before the plan is adopted by Council.

These “In Motion” plans have been popular with both PBOT and Portlanders because they add transparency and predictability to the planning process. They also take a network-level view of what needs to be done to make the system (not just one location) safe, which makes each project easier to justify in the case of pushback (as in, “I hear you, but this is part of North Portland in Motion, which went through a comprehensive outreach process and was adopted by City Council, so we’re going to do it even if you don’t like it.”)

As we’ve shared in previous NPIM updates, PBOT gathered community feedback and categorized projects in three different types of projects: neighborhood greenways, corridor improvements, and “plazas & places to connect.” Each set of projects is then prioritized into tier 1 or tier 2.

I-5 off-ramp at N Rosa Parks Way.

According to a new report from Multnomah County, traffic-related fatalities made up the second largest number of unintentional deaths among homeless residents in our area. At least 315 people died while homeless in 2022, a record high since the data was first collected in 2011. Among those, 14 people died as a result of traffic collisions — the second highest number among all categories of unintentional deaths.

These stats come from Multnomah County’s Domicile Unknown report released in collaboration with nonprofit advocacy group Street Roots on Wednesday.

In 2020 and 2021, a separate Multnomah County report found that people experiencing homelessness accounted for 24% of all traffic deaths. The problem hit a peak in 2021 when 19 of the 27 pedestrian fatalities in Portland befell people who lived outside. This trend mirrors national numbers that show an increase in pedestrian fatalities among homeless people every year for the past five years.

“The issue may seem complex, but at the core, it’s quite simple: speed, impairment and distraction contribute to over 90% of vehicle crashes in the U.S… This public health epidemic is preventable but only with timely attention and action from the government at every level,” said The Street Trust Executive Director Sarah Iannarone in a county statement.

Looking west across Orenco Station Parkway on NE Cornell. This is direction driver was headed.

Around 7:00 am on December 12th, a young Hillsboro man was involved in a traffic collision while riding his bike. The crash happened at or near the corner of NE Cornell Road and Orenco Station Parkway. According to a crowdfunding page set up by a friend, a twenty-something named Connor is the victim and he’s still in the hospital recovering from serious injuries.

Photos taken by KATU-TV at the scene show a white sedan (pulled over on NE 61st Ave, one block west of the intersection) with a significant damage to its upper driver-side windshield. The damaged bicycle Connor was riding was shown in a photo without its rear wheel and with a helmet and backpack strewn about the street about 100 feet west of the Cornell/Orenco intersection.

This is the second serious traffic crash at this same intersection in less than a month.

Looking north. That’s Ross Island Bridge in the background. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A new section of the South Waterfront Greenway was recently completed. The Willamette Tower development triggered construction of a 700-foot path that closes a gap in the greenway between Old Spaghetti Factory (S Lowell St) and a quarter-mile section completed in 2015 between S Lane and S Gibbs streets.

Along with a 12-foot wide path for cycling and other vehicles, there’s a separate path for walkers. The paths are clearly defined with different colors and a planted median. As with any new greenway development they’ve also fully restored the riverbank with attractive plantings and there are high quality furnishings where you can sit and take in the view.

What makes this section of path so nice is its proximity to Ross Island. When I was out there on Friday I was amazed how many birds I saw and heard.

This completion of this path means all that’s left to complete the greenway is redevelopment of the 30-acre Zidell Yards property. Once that happens, we’ll have a continuous riverfront path from northwest Portland (near the Fremont Bridge) all the way to the Sellwood Bridge.

Plans for north Portland near Marine Drive. (Source: IBR Program)

“This is a big moment for the Pacific Northwest,” is how Oregon Governor Tina Kotek characterized news announced Friday that the Interstate Bridge Replacement project (IBR) won a $600 million Mega Grant from the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill. These funds are in addition to $1 billion already authorized by the legislatures of Oregon and Washington.

You know a project is expensive when a $600 million grant is just 8% of the total estimated project cost — which in this case could be as much as $7.5 billion.

The IBR is a freeway expansion project that will add lanes to nearly five miles of I-5, enlarge seven interchanges, extend MAX light rail into Vancouver, create new paths for walking and biking, and more.

Despite critics that say the bridge will promote sprawl and increase vehicle miles traveled (VMT), Governor Kotek was one of many local elected officials that welcomed the grant. “This project will help advance our goal of reducing emissions through a modern, multimodal bridge and will provide an infusion of federal funds to our region that will support local jobs and broader workforce opportunities,” the Governor said in a prepared statement.

PBOT rendering of new protected bike lane on SW 4th between Jefferson and Madison in front of City Hall (on the left).

By the end of 2025 Portland could have a protected bikeway couplet through the heart of downtown. At a meeting of the Downtown Neighborhood Association this morning, a Portland Bureau of Transportation staffer presented an update on the Southwest Broadway and SW 4th Avenue projects and shared the latest on when we can expect to see major changes in these key north-south streets.

PBOT Capital Project Manager Gabe Graff started his presentation by getting DNA members up to speed on SW Broadway (it was the first time he was in front of the group since the Broadway bike lane scandal happened back in September). I noticed how he carefully described what the kerfluffle was about. “We installed a parking-protected bike lane… And our data shows that that’s working pretty well,” Graff said. “But we have had we have heard some concerns from some specific stakeholders — and particularly our director and Commissioner were concerned that the design that was was not working very well.”

Graff then said PBOT plans to break ground on three new valet loading platforms on Broadway in January. As BikePortland reported in September, the new platforms will be located in front of the Vance, Heathman, and Benson hotels. He also said PBOT wants to get rid of the existing, white plastic flexi-posts that define the cycling space today and replace them with concrete medians, curbs, and planters. The idea would be make the corridor safer for walkers (who could wait on concrete medians to cross), and more “aesthetically pleasing” while upgrading the existing temporary materials to something more permanent. 

Note the image on the right where green outlines future concrete medians on SW Broadway.

(Photo: Shannon Johnson/BikePortland)

Our first Christmas after I began biking with my kids was particularly special: every kid got a “new” (used) bike. I loved seeing the brightly colored bikes all lined up in the living room, circled around the tree. It was a happy moment, filled with the joy of the memories we’d made, and the rides we were looking forward to. It was a celebration that my newfound joy of biking was also a joy for my children, a joy and gift that we could share together. Furthermore, I was 9 months pregnant that Christmas, due any day, and seeing the array of little bikes under the tree gave me hope for our family’s coming year, as they were a vivid commitment that we would keep riding, even after a new baby joined our crew.

That first magical year of our biking journey!

Of course, we do a lot of bike hand-me-downs, so our tree doesn’t get to be adorned with new bikes every year. But biking gifts are a holiday staple. I don’t want to suggest we need new bike gear every year; but when bike-related gifts feature under our tree, they are a representation of how much of a gift biking is for us, and how committed we are to continuing to bike as our family grows and changes each year.

Most of these items are not cheap, and I feel badly about that, because I know it sucks to see things and not be able to pay for them. Maybe our family biking allows us to save enough on gas to pay for this stuff. I don’t know for sure. But I know that biking has been such an improvement to our lives (especially to my life as a mother) that it’s worth investing in, as much as we can manage (and so much better than video games!). Often, we make do with what we can (look for a “DIY” post coming next year) because we can’t afford all the cool gear I would love to have. But we also have found that quality gear and upgrades have been worthwhile, and have helped us bike more, bike farther, and bike happier. 

Looking north on NE 33rd from NE Holman. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Crews hired by the Portland Bureau of Transportation removed the bike lane on Northeast 33rd Avenue on Monday morning. They finished a job they started on November 1st but were forced to pause due to protestors who stood in front of their trucks.

There was no one to stop them this time.

Men in two trucks took turns going over sections of bright white and green paint. They peered out the windshield over their steering wheels as an attachment with stiff bristles aided by a spray of water whirred swiftly and erased infrastructure that — for the last three months — provided some safety for bicycle riders between a greenway route on NE Holman and existing bike lanes over Columbia Blvd at NE Dekum.

PBOT initially planned to remove this (relatively new) bike lane because they said it was installed by “mistake.” Due to an administrative error, PBOT striped the new lanes without notification to adjacent residents. When that mistake was compounded with strong opposition from some residents who saw it as a continuation of historic mistreatment by the City of Portland, PBOT felt it was impossible to leave the bike lanes in while they dealt with the neighborhood fallout.

I had to flip a coin this morning. Because it’s not ten comments of the week, or two, it’s just one.

Friday’s story about BikeLoud PDX’s decision not to protest the removal of the bike lane on Northeast 33rd Avenue (which happened this morning, story coming soon) continued the avalanche of strongly-felt opinions about this PBOT screw-up. Maybe you think the issue has already been adequately hashed out. But you might have missed a comment that came in Sunday afternoon, one of the most insightful perspectives on Portland I’ve read.

Here’s ITOTS’s take on how our city handles some racial conversations:

“This time, that conflict happened on NE 33rd, but it is not an isolated instance, and is in fact an ongoing experience for our neighbors of color, particularly Black people.” — BikeLoud PDX

This phrase emerged in the last few years, but we need to get even more specific here, because as lovely as it is to “center” black voices, that’s not a specific enough description of who is experiencing these conflicts negatively. Reversing this project doesn’t center black voices and doesn’t provide a pathway to resolve these kinds of conflicts (when they actually are substantive) in the future.

‘Sham’ process inflates IBR value: Don’t miss this assessment of the “fuzzy math” being used to justify the Interstate Bridge Replacement project, which economist Joe Cortright said should be considered as a federal crime. (Streetsblog USA)

Life with an a cycling lover: A sweet little column that I think a lot of “avid cyclists” can relate to. (Gold Country Media)

Rebuild walking culture: It’s very likely that a major reason more Americans are being killed while walking is that so few of us are doing it. (Streetsblog USA)

Major honor: Major Taylor, the first Black American global sports star who was simultaneously revered for athletic prowess and reviled for the color of his skin, is up for a congressional gold medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by lawmakers in the Capitol. (The Washington Post)

Commissioner Mingus Mapps and PBOT Director Millicent Williams prepare notes before speaking at this morning’s press conference. (Photo: Lisa Caballero/BikePortland)

— Lisa Caballero contributed to this story.

Standing on a gravel street in southwest Portland this morning, Commissioner Mingus Mapps kicked off the campaign to renew the local gas tax. As we hinted last month after seeing early drafts of the proposal, Mapps confirmed today he won’t increase the tax and it will stay at the 10-cent per gallon rate for the next four years. Mapps’ Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is in crisis-mode and desperately needs the money, so he was surely tempted to ask for more — but must be mindful of voter sentiment and can’t afford to come away empty-handed.

The tax funds the Fixing Our Streets (FOS) Program first approved by voters in 2016 and renewed in 2020 as a local source of transportation revenue. FOS funds projects like Safe Routes to School, the gravel streets program, and other projects citywide. Its largest expenditure so far has been the recently completed Capitol Highway project. The funding is crucial because only about 20% of PBOT’s $510 million annual budget is discretionary revenue.

Commissioner Mapps and Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) Director Millicent Williams announced the plan at a press conference near a rivulet on SW Arnold Street, one of southwest Portland’s many unpaved streets. It was cold, but spirits were high because, let’s admit it, dump trucks and big equipment bring out the kid in everyone. By the end of the event, PBOT’s maintenance crews had nearly completed grading and graveling the street (they would have been done sooner if they hadn’t had to dodge the assembled press corps).

Kiel Johnson stood in front of a truck to prevent it from removing bike lanes on 33rd Ave on November 1st. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

As news broke this week that the Portland Bureau of Transportation would remove the new bike lanes on Northeast 33rd Avenue, many of the responses I heard online were, “When is the protest?!”

While PBOT’s first attempt to erase the bike lanes was meant with aggressive tactics, this time around the same person who stood in front of a striping truck and stared down its driver, is calling for calm. “I do not support blocking next week’s striping removal, and anyone doing so are not acting in the best interest of promoting biking for all communities,” wrote BikeLoud PDX Vice Chair Kiel Johnson in a letter to members sent out today.

Johnson said Portland bike advocates are justifiably angry, but that — unlike the initial protest when no one knew what was going on — “we need to acknowledge the multitude of truths; we need to recognize the truths of others in order to navigate and be inclusive of a city full of people with many different lived experiences.”

Here’s how Johnson framed the situation on 33rd and its “multitude of truths”: