This week, TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen officially committed his agency to making the changes necessary to allow bike passage through the Rose Quarter Transit center.
His decision culminates years worth of internal and external advocacy around the issue. In 2005, the BTA named the Rose Quarter in our Blueprint for Better Bicycling as one of the major barriers to bicycling in the region, based on our surveys of Portland residents. Since then, TriMet has applied for two grants to fund the necessary changes and was turned down both times. Outside consultants evaluated the area and concluded it couldn’t be done. Even internal advocates for the change at TriMet thought maybe it was a lost cause.
But after a big push this year from TriMet staff, the City of Portland, the Lloyd District, and the BTA, we’ve found a solution! TriMet will move some buses off of NE Wheeler (the north-south axis of the transit center) and will make some curb changes, to reduce bus frequencies and make enough space for a 12-foot two-way bike lane down the center of the street.
TriMet’s work will be done by August 31st, at which point it will be up to the City of Portland to lay a long green ribbon of thermoplastic down the middle, with a bike box at the corner of NE Multnomah. That, plus a few signal changes, will make NE Wheeler safe and hospitable to a wider range of bicyclists than either it or the “legal” route (which involves more turns, tracks, hills and a left turn off a big street) currently are. The funding is uncertain (that green plastic is expensive!), but PDOT staff are hoping for a September completion.
After Austin Miller died in a collision with a TriMet bus in Beaverton five months ago, TriMet became more concerned about bike-bus conflict points. Fixing the Rose Quarter Transit Center stems, in part, from their desire to eliminate the risk of having bikes and buses mix poorly there, as well as a desire to good partners in sustainable transportation for the Metro area. The BTA and TriMet will soon be evaluating other bike-bus conflict areas, as identified in recent surveys of TriMet operators and Metro-area bicyclists. TriMet has also developed a 2-hour training module that all of its operators will take in 2008 on driving around bicyclists.
YAAAAYYY to TriMet staff, the City of Portland, the Lloyd District, and the BTA!!!!!!!!!!!
This is very good news. I really wanted to turn up this intersection on the way home this evening. It is definitely the more “cargo-bike-friendly” route through this area.
Keep up the great work everyone!
This has been a major need for a long time, and with double-digit increases in the number of Portlanders bicycling for the last few years (and a 30% increase expected this year), it’s even more urgent. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to the BTA and TriMet for working so hard to find a solution, and for implementing it so quickly. I can’t wait to ride through the Rose Quarter!
This is the best news I have heard all summer!
This is part of my commute to town and I have struggled with respecting the law and following the failed logic of this entire area.
I am glad Trimet is willing to make some modifications to allow logic to prevail!