The Portland Bureau of Transportation has been engaged on the North Portland in Movement (NPIM) undertaking for nearly two years now, following the identical ‘in movement’ framework they’ve used to discover lively transportation wants in different areas of town.
Final summer time, they ramped up public engagement efforts, internet hosting three Pedalpalooza rides throughout the north Portland peninsula (BikePortland tagged alongside for one in all them) in addition to pop-up occasions on the Kenton and St. John’s farmer’s markets to share undertaking concepts, and extra.
In September, PBOT launched a record of potential NPIM tasks in a web based open home and acquired over 700 written feedback, demonstrating how substantial public outreach can repay.
So, what did north Portlanders should say about greenways and the state of streets of their neighborhoods?
Greenway priorities
The NPIM undertaking concept record consists of a number of potential new neighborhood greenways throughout north Portland. A chart included in PBOT’s engagement abstract breaks down which attainable new greenways acquired essentially the most help from respondents. In accordance with open home commenters, the highest three greenway tasks are the Higher St. Johns Greenway Community, Decrease St. Johns/Cathedral Park Greenway Community and the Willamette Blvd Greenway undertaking.
Hall priorities
NPIM planners have additionally sketched out concepts for hall enchancment tasks, which might contain near-term implementation of infrastructure like site visitors calming remedies, new marked crosswalks and even buffered bike lanes. In accordance with the survey respondents, the highest three corridors in want of such enhancements are Willamette Blvd, Lombard St and a number of other streets round Cathedral Park.
Nonetheless, PBOT supplied potential designs for hall enhancements on Willamette and round Cathedral Park, however not for Lombard. Elements of Lombard are owned by the Oregon Division of Transportation, which put in bike lanes on a stretch of the road final yr. PBOT has additionally been engaged on a Lombard repaving undertaking in downtown St. Johns, however the NPIM draft paperwork don’t at the moment embrace any plans for the hall.
Different feedback and considerations
Along with their abstract report, PBOT supplied an inventory of the open-ended feedback from the open home, which level to another developments in considerations from north Portlanders.
Quite a few feedback pointed to considerations about road racing throughout the peninsula, asking PBOT to intervene with infrastructure to discourage this habits:
“I selected the N Ainsworth undertaking as a result of dashing/ road racing has been standard, and it’s a severe security hazard for the various pedestrians/cyclists. I consider a roundabout positioned at N Denver and N Ainsworth might do rather a lot to cut back the dashing and racing behaviors.”
“Initiatives to gradual site visitors and construct higher bike infrastructure on Fessenden and Portsmouth are my precedence as a result of the drag racing on these streets is out of hand. I reside at this intersection and I’ve had two automobiles totaled in two years whereas parked in entrance of my home attributable to extreme and erratic driving. Each have been hit and runs. The unsafe driving is completely uncontrolled.”
Others commented on dashing points extra usually:
“I’ve lived on N Charleston & N Smith for 9 yrs. In that point I’ve observed a rise in reduce by site visitors and extreme speeds over 50mph. That is additionally marked as a secure route to high school which seems like a joke on most days…Many drivers pace down our highway between Central and Smith as a result of there aren’t any calming measures. Even when cease indicators was added at N Hudson or a crosswalk at Central/Charleston I feel the difficulty can be enormously improved.”
“I consider that improved bike and pedestrian infrastructure alongside N Willamette and N Ainsworth are essentially the most pressing tasks. I respect that the pace restrict alongside Willamette was just lately decreased to 25 mph, nevertheless, many automobiles nonetheless exceed that restrict by 10 or extra mph…I consider that elevated pedestrian crossings, buffered bike traces, and pace cameras are wanted to gradual site visitors down. Diverters and pace bumps are desperately wanted on N Ainsworth as increasingly drivers pace down this road as a reduce by between N Interstate and N Greeley.”
Then there have been some individuals who expressed skepticism in regards to the undertaking as a complete. One commenter wrote:
“You might be forgetting these of us who have to go to work in a well timed method. I’ll NEVER trip a motorbike, nor can I trip a motorbike. But they’re creating unsafe driving circumstances. Folks on bikes have to not put on darkish clothes at night time. Their bikes have to have lights on their tires and a lightweight within the entrance and an excellent mild on the again of their bikes. Moderately than losing the cash mucking up the site visitors move, spend it on higher road lighting and SAFETY ‐‐ as in criminals working these neighborhoods.”
However normally, most individuals appear to be excited in regards to the potential for brand new lively transportation tasks in north Portland. It’s solely a matter of which of them can be prioritized given restricted funding.
The way forward for NPIM
The NPIM staff says they are going to have a draft plan out there for public assessment in June, after which PBOT will develop the ultimate plan and produce it to Portland Metropolis Council. If all goes nicely, this might occur by the top of subsequent summer time, and infrastructure installments might start shortly thereafter.
The NPIM staff additionally plans to proceed their sturdy public engagement efforts and host extra neighborhood walks and bike rides this spring and summer time. Keep tuned for extra data on the plan as it’s out there. For now, you’ll be able to check out all of the potential tasks on the NPIM web site.
Taylor has been BikePortland’s employees author since November 2021. She has additionally written for Road Roots and Eugene Weekly. Contact her at taylorgriggswriter@gmail.com
