The Portland Bureau of Transportation has revealed a new proposal for a major redesign of Northeast Broadway. And while the city will remove one general lane for driving and vastly improve several crossings, the unprotected bike lane isn’t as impressive as some folks hoped for.
To refresh your memory, this is happening because of the Broadway Pave & Paint project. Since PBOT plans to repave the street between NE 7th and NE 26th, they are seizing an opportunity to reconfigure the lanes and make other changes. These changes will ultimately connect to a major, federally-funded project from NE 7th to the river that is part of the state’s I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.
But unlike the $38 million PBOT received to transform lower NE Broadway, they have only a meager $500,000 (in addition to the paving funds) to spend on the Pave & Paint section from NE 7th to 26th. That budgetary limit helps explain not just the design choices, but also the reactions to it.
The design concepts PBOT shared back in 2022 showed a parking protected bike lane. But the design proposal revealed yesterday as part of an online open house and survey is an unprotected bike lane sandwiched between two lanes used by drivers. That fact peeved some folks when I shared the drawings yesterday. “This is awful,” one person wrote on Bluesky. “When will PBOT build a real goddamn protected bike lane, and not magical wands and paint?”
BikeLoud PDX Vice-chair Kiel Johnson spoke with PBOT Project Manager Mike Serritella about the project this morning. After their phone call, Johnson told me in an interview that, “The project isn’t living up to the Transportation System Plan.” “We don’t think it will be comfortable for a wide range of riders,” he added. “And the budget illustrates that we continue to underfund these opportunities.”
The bike lane PBOT wants to build is about 11-feet wide (same as the adjacent lane for drivers) once you add buffer zones on each side. But it lacks physical separation — which has been the consensus best practice standard for years now. And in some sections, PBOT has maintained parallel parking spaces that will require drivers to maneuver over the bike lane to reach a spot.
Despite one less lane for drivers, the streetscape in PBOT’s new drawings is still dominated by cars. And as we struggle to regain cycling momentum and prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads, any space dominated by such a deadly vehicle will fail to result in the outcomes we all say we want.
From PBOT’s point of view, this is a major step forward and all they can do with limited funds. “The team believes this recommended design optimizes resources available at this moment in time and sets up the corridor for future upgrades and investments,” their website reads. In contrast to this $500,000 to spend over 20 blocks on NE Broadway, PBOT will spend $16 million to build fully-separated and protected bike lanes on 27 blocks of SW Fourth. The agency also says their proposed design for Broadway does not preclude upgrading the bike facility with more protection in the future.
PBOT can also point to a load of other changes Broadway will receive — like protected intersections where new median islands will greatly reduce crossing distances.
Another thing that gives PBOT confidence is the fact they’ve got political support for a road diet through a major commercial district. Yes the local business association is fully on board with the changes despite losing driving capacity outside their doors — and despite a 4% decrease in total car parking spots along the corridor (11 spaces less than they have today).
It likely didn’t take too much cajoling by PBOT for the business association to agree to these changes however, because current conditions are absurdly car-centric. Between NE 17th and 26th, NE Broadway is as wide as 82nd Avenue (a former state highway). Even PBOT says the street is currently “overbuilt for automobiles” and their analysis found that — even at peak travel hours — drivers use only 50-60% of the total car capacity on the road.
Given this wasted space PBOT has 14-18 feet of roadway space, “to be reallocated along the corridor for community priorities.”
PBOT wants to use that space for a wide, buffered bike lane as well as five new pedestrian crossings (at 11th, 13th, 17th, 19th, and 22nd), two bus stop bulb-outs, and the new median islands at intersections. The maximum speed limit on the street will also be lowered from 30 to 25 mph.
Matt Zajack from the Sullivan’s Gulch Neighborhood Association likes what he sees. He’s met regularly with PBOT, reps from the Irvington Community Association and the Northeast Broadway Business Association since planning began this past summer. “Although it doesn’t hit every item on a long wish list,” Zajack said. “we are excited about the long overdue updates and changes that will bring this road in alignment with current codes and safety standards and better align the vibrant, human-centric business and neighborhood corridor we have here.”
Given the changes on the table and the new parking arrangements (neighbors worry a vast reduction in parking in the corridor means more people parking on side streets), Zajack says the neighborhood is downright “excited” about the project.
PBOT wants to hear community feedback before they finalize their design in February. If all goes according to plan, they’ll repave and repaint Broadway in summer 2025.
— Browse the open house and take the survey to make sure they hear your voice.