mohair
What I don't understand is why the city wants to narrow Spokane St. Like it or not, it's a major traffic route to/from the Sellwood Bridge. I foresee a serious back lash movement within six months.
This whole "bike boulevard" thing is based on urban grid-traffic. From what I've heard, it works well on the East Side (SE Lincoln?) which is good. But the idea has become a buzz phrase and bobble head management thinking is taking over. Most notably in designating Terwilliger Blvd/Westwood/Cheltenham/Dewitt/Sunset Blvd. as a bike boulevard for Hillsdale going to/from Wilson High School. The first step has been to place a concrete island at the intersection of Cheltenham Drive and Pendleton to "divert" traffic onto Dewitt to connect with Sunset Blvd. This presents drivers and cyclists hoping to get on to Sunset Blvd. with traffic coming from seven channels: The library, the liquor store/post office/offices, the medical offices directly across the street from the library, the mini-mall that houses Salvador Molly's, the Hillsdale Pub, and of course traffic coming up from the Capitol Hwy/Sunset Blvd/Wilson High intersection.
My opinion is that the city is trying to force-fit the "concept" onto a non-urban traffic system and that is a bad idea. My concern is that someone in a car is going to come out of one of those "channels" and take out a family of cyclists. At which point there will be weeping and moaning, finger pointing, and some serious law suits.
The first step seems pretty obvious to me: ban on the street parking on Sunset Blvd. Of course, this means the people who use the east side of Sunset Blvd from Dewitt to Pendleton as a TriMet park and ride will have to find somewhere else to park.
Oh by the way, the Hillsdale Business Association is busy with big plans to get a "Main Street" grant to "restore" the strip mall. One plan is to raze the medical offices and build a bigger structure. Bigger means more traffic. The one bright point is that this will require the three families who own the property to cooperate. Seeing as how they've been feuding for over 50 years, I don't see this as likely. A good visual is to look at the "subdivided parking lot" in front of the liquor store.
If someone wants to really come up with a winner, find a place on the west side to build a "Springwater Corridor West."
The big problem is that I haven't seen a flat piece of real estate that would serve anywhere east of Beaverton. And good luck on getting Portland, Beaverton, Multnomah County, and Washington County to cooperate.
++++
On Mar 6, 2010, at 5:21 PM, David Hart wrote:
> Interesting article.
>
> The comments are more entertaining
>
> http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/03/mayor_adams_finds_20_million_f.html#postComment
>
> --