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VolumeXLIV
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Number 33
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www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • • August
August 20,
Wednesday
20, 2014
2014
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BY DONOVAN M .
.
S m ITH/T h E PORTLAND OBSERVER
Commuters negotiate between other vehicles, bike lanes and construction projects on the busy North Williams Avenue thoroughfare. In the coming weeks, Portland
ransportation crews will be switching the bike lane to the left side of the street in a move to Increase safety on the street, which sees more than 4,000 bikers at peak
hours and has seen its fare of cycling accidents.
Look to Your Left!
Bike lane on Williams Avenue switching sides for safety
by D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
It’s a street almost everyone can agree has changed
immensely. Now Williams Avenue in north Portland is read
ied for one of its latest flips, quite literally, a lane change and
then some.
Crews are set to break ground in the coming days on a
project that will move the bike lane on Williams from the right
side of the street to the left and bring in a host of other new
infrastructure in a city-led move planned to improve safety
on the heavily used throughway.
Spearheaded by Portland Bureau of Transportation, the
construction will include five upgraded crossings with added
curb extensions and painted crosswalk markings. A new
traffic signal will be installed at North Cook Street, and for
most of the corridor, two lanes of motor vehicle travel will give
way for one lane of motor vehicle travel and one left-sided
bicycle lane. The exception will be a section between Fremont
and Skidmore streets where travelers will share the road.
Speeds will also be reduced from 30 miles-per-hour to 25 and
20 between Fremont and Skidmore.
The project was supposed to be completed some time ago,
but was halted five months into the process after community
members expressed concerns over how African American
residents lacked “substantial” representation in the conver
sations around the changes, especially considering the
street serves historic black neighborhoods that have seen a
vast number of people of color displaced by changes in
housing, urban renewal and other factors.
After some consideration, the city added a committee to
the North Williams Traffic Safety Project, this one dedicated
to honoring the history of African American presence in
adjoining north and northeast Portland neighborhoods.
Michelle DePass is a member of the “Committee to Honor
History on Williams” and also the pre-existing Stakeholders
Advisory Committee, which she said she was recruited for in
the aftermath of the community complaints as city leaders
looked to add more black voices into the planning process.
A cyclist herself, and a resident in the neighborhood on-
and-off for 53 years, as well as an area homeowner, she says
the changes are good, and something she will utilize herself,
but wishes they could have come when the area was mostly
continued
on page 4