NEWS RELEASE
North Williams Avenue street design installation begins; left lane to close shortly
“A Safer Place for Everyone” outreach campaign
features safety messages from residents
(September 16, 2014) – Construction begins later this
week on a new street design for North Williams Avenue, a corridor that serves a
growing neighborhood as well as being a popular commute route between downtown
and North Portland.
The new street design will extend from NE Broadway
to Killingsworth Street and will require up to three months to complete. Safety improvements will benefit all
travelers, especially pedestrians, and changes will affect the look of the
street and traffic flow for all travelers.
Early in the project, the left lane of North
Williams Avenue will close to all traffic. No detours will be in effect but alternate
routes are available during construction.
The alternate route for people traveling by
bicycle is NE Rodney Street, a neighborhood greenway that is a designated
bikeway and has been upgraded with speed bumps to discourage cut through motor
vehicle traffic. The alternate routes
for drivers are NE Martin Luther King Boulevard or N Interstate Avenue.
The new street design will include these major
improvements:
·
A new traffic signal
will be installed at the busy N Cook Street crossing.
·
New striped crosswalks
and curb extensions at five crossings will improve pedestrian visibility,
making it safer and easier to cross.
·
Bus and bike travel
are being separated to reduce conflicts and improve safety. Buses will continue to stop on the right side
of the street while the bike lane will be expanded to a width of 12 feet and
transferred to the left side.
·
The speed limit is
being lowered to 25 mph along most of the corridor; and 20 mph where foot traffic
is highest, between NE Fremont and Skidmore streets.
·
Green transition zones
in the left side bike lane indicate where motor vehicles cross the lane to turn
left.
The left side bicycle lane is expected to open in
mid-October, once the Cook Street traffic signal is operational.
The crosswalk restriping and additional
construction are expected to entail minimal traffic disruption.
The project was developed in 2012 after a 16-month
public involvement process to identify how to make N Williams Avenue a safer
place for all travelers and to address longstanding community concerns over
pedestrian safety in particular.
“A Safer Place for Everyone”
The Portland Bureau of Transportation is launching
“A Safer Place for Everyone” outreach campaign to inform people of the new
street design and encourage all travelers to share the road. The campaign is an outgrowth of the public
involvement process where people suggested increased outreach around safety.
The “A Safer Place for Everyone” campaign features
residents sending their safety messages to fellow residents via a series of banners
and A-boards. The banners, soon to be posted to light fixtures along the
corridor, will be displayed through the winter.
The transportation bureau also mailed an “A Safer
Place for Everyone” brochure to area residents and distributed to local businesses
and other gathering places. The public
is encouraged to share photos and their own messages on social media with the
tag #northwilliams.
More
information is available at www.northwilliamssafety.org including a map and construction highlights.
View the “A Safer Place for Everyone” banner
campaign. View the “A Safer Place for Everyone” brochure.
Contact:
Diane Dulken
Portland Bureau of Transportation
503-823-5552
Twitter @PBOTinfo
