(May 9, 2022) We’ve been making changes in the central city throughout the pandemic, partnering with local businesses and adding pickup / drop-off locations in strategic locations.
This summer, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will begin converting existing Hotel Zones along SW Broadway to three-minute pickup/drop-off zones. This change is being implemented in concert with the SW Broadway Bike Improvements project to maximize efficiencies and limit construction impacts to the public. The new SW Broadway bike lane will be a comfortable, low-stress bikeway that welcomes Portlanders and visitors alike to the downtown core.
PICKUP / DROP-OFF ZONES
Implementing pickup/drop-off zones was a recommendation that emerged from a 2019 Task Force for passenger loading zones within meter districts.
In summer 2022, existing Hotel Zone signs will be replaced with three spaces of three-minute pickup/drop-off. Hotels with valets may be allowed up to 20 minutes when a valid valet slip is on the vehicle’s dash. The three-minute spaces will allow all for a shared parking space while still providing high-turnover parking in front of hotel entrances.
“Converting single-use hotel zones to passenger loading zones along SW Broadway is good parking management,” said Tony Jordan, President of the Parking Reform Network and a member of the 2019 Task Force. “High-turnover passenger loading zones will alleviate curbside congestion and hazards caused by taxi and ride share pickups and drop-offs and provide more flexibility for PBOT to respond to shifts in how people get around the city.”
SW BROADWAY PROTECTED BIKE LANE
In summer 2022, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will also construct the SW Broadway Bike Improvements project. The project will install protected bike lanes between SW Oak and Clay Streets, upgrade traffic signals, and implement parking changes.
This project completes the missing link of a north-south protected bike lane between the Broadway Bridge to the north and Portland State University (PSU) campus to the south. The bike lane will be protected and moved against the curb on the west side of the street. Parking and loading zones on the west side of the street will be located between the protected bike lane and travel lane.
"As a commuter school, the majority of PSU's population lives off campus. Providing safe, low and zero-emissions ways of accessing PSU is critical to student and staff well-being,” said Portland State University Senior Campus Planner Liz Hoekstra. “The extension of a protected bike lane along Broadway to Clay Street will ensure safer connections to and from PSU's campus for our students and employees that bike commute. Hopefully, it will also inspire an increase in the number of bike commuters."
With the Broadway Bike Improvements project, some on-street parking will be removed and some loading zones will be relocated or consolidated. Most parking along the east side of the street will be unchanged.
The SW Broadway Bike Improvements project is one of the 18 projects identified in the Central City in Motion plan, approved by City Council in 2018. This project is designed to help our transportation system accommodate more Portlanders and visitors as they return to employment, educational, and cultural opportunities in the Central City in the coming years.