Portland Bureau of Transportation ‘mistakenly’ installs bike lanes in NE Portland

By Connor McCarthy

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    PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) — A new set of bike lanes is causing controversy in Northeast Portland.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) installed the bike lanes on Oct. 7th between Northeast Holman Street and Northeast Dekum Street after all of Northeast 33rd Avenue was repaved. However, those who live on this four block stretch of the road said the bike lanes were installed without community input.

One neighbor named Shawn said she and her husband woke up to see her street parking was removed and the bike lanes were in its place.

“We were surprised, to say the least,” Shawn said. “These bold, vibrant, thick white lines blaring at us Sunday morning.”

She showed FOX 12 the only a form of communication from the city about the changes to the street, a letter from PBOT she found in her mailbox, alerting her of the new bike lanes.

“This had no respect. It was a slap in the face. We don’t care what you have to say or what you think,” she said.

The new bike lanes were approved by the Portland City Council in 2021 as part of the Columbia/Lombard Mobility Corridor Plan. However, a spokesperson for PBOT admits that there was no proper public outreach to impacted residents along the corridor required in the plan. PBOT continued on in a statement:

“PBOT did not conduct a parking study, look at the impacts and tradeoffs of the bike lane treatments, or the status quo. Notice was not provided to adjacent residents and the critical step of discussing the project with neighbors was not completed.”

In response PBOT was set to remove the lanes Wednesday at a cost of $25,000, but stopped the project because of a group of bikers protesting the removal project. Christopher Hale joined about one dozen cyclists who stood on the corner of Northeast 33rd Avenue and Northeast Holman Street pushing PBOT to stop the lane removal.

“As cars get larger and larger, as well as wider and wider, that means the edges of those cars are encroaching bike lanes less and less safe,” Hale said. “As an ER physician, I’ve seen what happens when a vehicle hits an unprotected body.”

He said both PBOT and neighbors had to have known these changes were coming since the city council approved the project two years ago.

“Putting this bike lane in and making it safe for people has been in the long-term plan,” Hale said.

Neighbors, including Shawn, said there is already a bike greenway two blocks over from Northeast 33rd avenue and the bike lanes in front of their houses.

“To me, it’s the height of privilege because you disregard people’s livelihoods and their feelings,” Shawn said.

She said going forward PBOT needs to step up communication with neighbors.

“PBOT needs to communicate which they have with other neighborhoods, from what I heard,” Shawn said. “Why not us? That’s another question I want answered. Why not us? What’s so different about us that you couldn’t communicate with us?”

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