One of the city’s main north-south corridors will get a cool $9.6 million for safety improvements.
The U.S. Department of Transportation gave the city of Portland the money to alleviate issues in the “high-crash corridor” along a seven-mile stretch of 82nd Avenue, which runs through both Northeast and Southeast Portland. The Portland Bureau of Transportation reported that 14 persons were killed and 122 people were seriously injured in crashes south of Northeast Lombard Street between 2012 and 2021. At least four more people died in 2022 and 2023, according to preliminary PBOT estimates.
The funds will “close critical crossing gaps, deploy proven tools to address high-crash locations, and improve safety and equity,” according to the transportation department. In some spots, the city will add raised center medians, pedestrian signals, full traffic signals and “no turn on red” signs at “major traffic signal intersections.”
The money will also back new studies that could lead to new “develop roadway design alternatives and safety action plans for additional multi-lane high-crash-network streets.”
It’s the second big cash infusion for the road this summer. The 82nd Avenue Transit Project, touted during a visit earlier this year from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, collected $39 million. The city last month broke ground on some $185 million of projects on the corridor.
A release issued by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici noted that most deaths along the stretch, between, roughly, Northeast Lombard Street and Southeast Clatsop Street, occurred “when pedestrians and bicyclists crossed at unsignalized intersections or mid-block locations.”
“Whether Oregonians are walking, biking, or driving, they deserve safe streets in their neighborhoods to get where they need to go,” Merkley said in the release.
“Congressman Blumenauer has been unwavering in his mission to improve 82nd Avenue and the lives of many families and communities of color who call neighborhoods along this busy corridor in Portland home. I will keep working alongside him and the Oregon delegation to deliver federal funding for safety improvement efforts like this that will help reduce crashes and save lives.”
“This is another solid accomplishment for our vision to redefine 82nd Avenue from an eye sore to an icon,” added Blumenauer. “This investment will make it safer and more efficient, and unlock development opportunities while improving wealth for the surrounding community. It is a remarkable success already, and a testament to our strategy of relentlessly looking for opportunities that propel our city forward. Money well spent.”
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