Too Fat?

No, this isn't about suburbanites being overweight because we drive around all day instead of walking or biking - that subject will come up in a future post.  (BTW - it isn't true.)  This one is about roads.

Portland has fat streets - maybe obese!

Portland is going on a "Road Diet".  
 You take a 4-lane street, lop off either one or two lanes and make it into a 2-lane road.  The old traffic lanes can now be used for pedestrian or bikeways, medians, turn lanes, etc.  (Use the search box at the bottom of this page to look up "Road Diet "in Wikipedia)

SE Division:  In the case of SE Division St., the goal is to be to slow down traffic and make bike and pedestrian traffic safer.   I don't think anyone wants streets to be unsafe, but how slow do you have to go, and what other alternatives exist to achieve the same result?

The City of Portland has (or had) a policy of establishing bike routes around the city that made 2-wheeled and 2-footed travel safer without any (or hardly any) infrastructure changes.  The concept is obvious and simple: bicyclists and walkers should be separated from busy streets where auto use dominates the roads - usually on main thoroughfares and commercial districts.  Bikes use side streets instead.

Here is a SE Portland Bike/Walk Map that clearly shows designated bike routes through that part of town.  Note there is no recommended route on the major E-W thoroughfares for bike or pedestrian use.  Foster, Holgate, Powell, Division, Belmont, Burnside, Sandy all have streets a block or so away that are deemed safer for slower traffic.  East of 82nd it appears there are multi-use pathways for the bikes and walkers, but there are few options for getting across the I-205 Freeway.  There are other options on the east side.

Just be careful when someone starts talking about road diets.  Do we want to assist auto traffic or bike and pedestrian traffic, and what OTHER alternatives are there?  there are plenty of car-hating folks who want to separate us from our carbon-burning, personal transportation machines - but don't feel guilty just yet.  Ask yourself if this is necessary?    

'Road diet' gets mixed review

Portland Tribune:  Thursday, 03 October 2013 07:00 | Written by Steve Law | 

“People have said it’s slower,” Ott says. “When you look at rush hour, there’s a pretty long line of cars going in both directions.”

Division Street between Southeast 60th and 80th avenues was the first in a wave of planned “road diets,” where four lanes of vehicle traffic are pared to two, allowing room for a new middle lane and, sometimes, bike and pedestrian improvements. Glisan Street between Northeast 62nd and 80th avenues got the same treatment after Division, and the city hopes to do road diets on Foster Road and other high-traffic streets.