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Southwest Portland’s Independent Neighborhood Newspaper
Volume No. 20, Issue No. 6
www.swportlandpost.com
Portland, Oregon
Complimentary
– Page 4
April 2012
TriMet study documents Hillsdale pedestrian problems
By Scott Mobley
The Southwest Portland Post
Hillsdale’s pedestrian transportation
problems are well known anecdotally.
Now TriMet has documented some
of them in a region-wide study of the
obstacles transit patrons face on their
way to and from the bus.
Hillsdale was one of 10 areas around
the Portland area where TriMet sees
The #44 bus stops at Capitol Highway and Sunset Boulevard, March 26. Ac-
cording to a TriMet study this is the busiest bus stop in Hillsdale. (Post photo
by Don Snedecor)
investment in sidewalks, crosswalks,
streetlights and trees doing the most
good.
“Getting to or from a stop is part of
every customer’s trip,” said Jessica En-
gelmann, a senior planner with TriMet’s
planning and policy department.
“The design of streets, sidewalks,
intersections, and crossings all affect
whether a person wants or is able to use
our service,” said Engelmann.
Sixty-five percent of TriMet cus-
tomers in Hillsdale walk to and from
the bus stop, the study said. Only six
percent drive and park nearby before
boarding the bus or have someone drop
them off at the stop (the rest transfer in
from another part of the system).
The bus stop at Southwest Capitol
Highway and Sunset Boulevard near
Wilson High School is by far the busiest
in Hillsdale with 8,158 boardings per
week, according to the study. The stop
at Southwest Barbur and Bertha bou-
levards is the next busiest, with 2,863
boardings per week.
Analysts found the greatest dangers
getting to bus stops along Barbur Bou-
levard, where pedestrians face high-
speed traffic, extra-wide intersections,
disconnected side streets and too few
places to safely cross the boulevard.
Barbur Boulevard has long stretches
without sidewalks, while in other
places the walkways are too narrow,
the study said.
TriMet analysts saw a wheelchair-
bound man exploit a gap in heavy Bar-
bur Boulevard traffic near Southwest
17 th Avenue to reach a bus stop.
They watched elderly pedestrians
and mothers with children rush across
the vast intersection where Barbur Bou-
levard meets Bertha Boulevard only to
see the signal change before they could
get to the bus stop on the other side.
And where there were no sidewalks,
observers saw handicapped men and
women in scooters motor along Barbur
Boulevard’s bike lanes as 35-mile-per-
hour traffic blows by, the study said.
Capitol Highway isn’t quite so pe-
destrian hostile as Barbur Boulevard,
especially through the Hillsdale town
center, where sidewalks are wider and
nicely landscaped, the study said.
Still, some Capitol Highway stretches
lack sidewalks east and west of the
business district. And Capitol Highway
pedestrians must also contend with up
to twice as many driveways – and po-
(Continued on Page 2)
Southwest Portland will host first Sunday Parkways this summer
By Scott Mobley
The Southwest Portland Post
For a half-day July 22, the city will
reserve ordinarily busy streets for walk-
ers, joggers, cyclists, skaters and any
other non-motorized traveler.
The 7.8-mile-long street festival will
wind through the Multnomah, Hills-
dale and Maplewood neighborhoods.
Walkers will stroll and cyclists will
roll through Multnomah Village and
the Hillsdale Town Center, where mer-
chants will be ready. Vendors will also
stake out spots in Gabriel Park near the
route along Southwest Vermont Street.
Roger Averbeck, who chairs the
Southwest Neighborhoods Inc. trans-
portation committee, was among those
lobbying the city to bring Sunday Park-
ways to a part of town well-known as
automobile-dependent.
That dependency is thanks to low-
density development on a discontinu-
ous street grid that winds around hilly
topography and often lacks sidewalks.
Many Southwest Portland residents
walk the area’s extensive trail network
for recreation but drive even for short
errands, Averbeck
said.
“With an event like
this, it’s important for
local residents and
businesses to recog-
nize it’s possible for
people to get around
Southwest Portland
by walking or biking,”
Averbeck said.
“You don’t have to
drive a car for every-
thing you do, espe-
cially for short trips.”
The event, timed
to coincide with the
Terwilliger Parkway
Centennial, will close
or partially close
sections of Vermont
Street, Multnomah
B o u l e v a r d , Tr o y
S t re e t , S o u t h w e s t
Capitol Highway
and Terwilliger Bou-
levard.
Sunday Parkways won’t completely
close off the busiest streets such as Ver-
mont Street and Capitol Highway, said
Don’t forget to renew your subscription. Form on Page 2.
The Southwest Portland Post
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509
Portland, OR 97206
Linda Ginenthal, the Portland Depart-
ment of Transportation program man-
ager coordinating the event. Motorists
will still have one lane.
Residents along the route needing
their cars between the event’s 11 a.m.
start and 4 p.m. conclusion won’t be
trapped in their homes, Ginenthal said.
Sunday Parkways will enlist roughly
300 volunteers to help handle traffic,
including bicycle-mounted escorts to
get motorists to and from homes or
businesses.
Portland Police will direct traffic at
the busiest intersections during the
event.
The city in 2008 kicked off Sunday
Parkways with a street festival in
North Portland that drew an estimated
15,000. This year the city will hold five
Sunday Parkways festivals between
May 13 and Sept. 30, with events also
slated for the north, northeast, south-
east and east sides of town.
Portland modeled its Sunday Park-
ways on the ciclovias of Colombia,
where officials in Bogata, Cali and
Medillin reserve miles of streets for
runners, cyclists and skaters. New
York, Chicago, Brussels, Winnipeg and
dozens of other cities around the world
have adopted this idea.
Visit http://www.portlandonline.com/
transportation/index.cfm?c=46103 for
more information on Sunday Parkways,
including volunteer opportunities.