New Seasons Market announced this week that it will adjust the design of the new store on Hawthorne to avoid negatively impacting an adjacent bicycle boulevard. The decision is based on findings from an independt traffic study to determine whether a vehicle access ramp to the 39-space rooftop parking lot should be located on SE 40th or SE 41st Avenue.
Early draft rendering of the new New Seasons store at SE Hawthorne and 41st.
In the original design, the ramp entrance to the parking lot was located on SE 41st Avenue, and the receiving door for freight and delivery trucks was on the opposite side of the store on SE 40th. The BTA and neighbors, once we heard about the plans, became concerned that car traffic into and out of the parking garage might use the SE 41st bicycle boulevard, even taking it to reach SW Taylor or SE Lincoln streets to get to SE 39th Ave (Taylor and Lincoln are also bicycle boulevards). New Seasons commissioned the independent traffic study to help them make a decision about the store design.
Staff from the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the BTA, as well as many SE 41st neighbors, agreed that flipping the design and placing the parking garage ramp on SE 40th and the truck receiving area on SE 41st would be best to maintain an existing safe bike route and to maintain traffic flow on Hawthorne. The independent traffic report supports that conclusion: “SE 41st Avenue… should be operated to encourage bicycle travel and discourage vehicle travel.”
Regardless of which street gets the parking ramp, and which gets the trucks, good designs will be essential on the streets, ramps and curbs to communicate just how much bicycle and pedestrian traffic should be expected in the neighborhood around the store.
Read the full report for a more detailed traffic analysis and review.
When is this store scheduled to open?
The store is scheduled to open in October of 2010.
You can learn more about the new store here. (Though some of the details about ramp placement have now changed.)