Slide 2 - What is 122nd Avenue like today?

Information

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is working with the community to develop a comprehensive plan for improvements along 122nd Avenue. This is Slide 2 of our online open house for the 122nd Avenue Plan: "What is 122nd Avenue like today?"

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A high crash corridor

All of 122nd Avenue is designated as a "high crash corridor" for pedestrians and people driving or biking. This means the street is on the top 30 list of streets with the highest number of severe crashes.

PBOT’s Vision Zero dashboard provides the most up-to-date information the bureau's efforts to eliminate deaths and serious injuries from Portland streets.

Over a five-year period, 122nd Avenue has seen 22 crashes of the type tracked by PBOT's Vision Zero team. This includes any fatal or serious crash involving people in vehicles, and all crashes involving pedestrians and people biking—per mile of roadway. Between January 2015 and December 2019, nearly half (47%) of these types of crashes along 122nd Avenue resulted in the death or injury of a pedestrian.

Between 2015–2019, 10 people died as victims of transportation-related violence. Three of them were pedestrians and seven of them were people driving. In 2020 and 2021, five more people died from transportation-related violence on 122nd Avenue, including two pedestrian, one person biking, and two people driving.

Two pie charts that show crashes along 122nd from 2015 through 2019. The chart on the left shows crashes by mode. 47% involved pedestrians (included 3 fatalities), 23% involved people biking (with no fatalities), and 30% involved people driving (including 7 fatalities). The chart on the right shows crashes by type. 44% involved a pedestrian, 28% were turning crashes, 14% were angled crashes, 6% were rear-end crashes, 4% were crashes into fixed objects, 3% were head-on crashes, and 1% were sideswipes. — These pie graphs look at crashes along 122nd Avenue between 2015-2019 both by mode of travel (left) and the type of crash (right). The types of crashes on the right describe who or what was hit and/or what kind of movement of vehicles.

A closer look at crashes

The segments of 122nd Avenue with the highest number of crashes are between NE Halsey and SE Stark streets and between SE Division Street and Holgate Boulevard. Pedestrian crashes are one of the top two most common types of crashes along nearly all of 122nd Avenue. Speeding is also prevalent throughout the corridor. In some sections (like between NE Halsey and SE Stark streets) a large percentage of drivers are traveling more than 10 mph over the speed limit. This was the case before the speed limit was recently changed to 30 mph (between NE Sandy Boulevard and SE Foster Road).

The image below visualizes where Vision Zero crashes have occurred on the corridor between the years 2014 and 2018 (Vision Zero crashes include serious and fatal crashes involving people in vehicles, and all crashes involving pedestrians or people biking). It also illustrates crash "hot zones" or locations along the corridor that have relatively high numbers of crashes.

This image shows the location of crashes for people walking, biking, and driving along 122nd Avenue. — NOTE: In April 2021, the speed limit was reduced along 122nd Avenue between NE Sandy Boulevard and SE Foster Road from 35 mph to 30 mph. Recent fatalities not illustrated in the above infographic include two pedestrians, one person biking, and two people driving.

Sidewalks and wide driveways

The majority of 122nd Avenue has sidewalks on both sides of the street, but a small portion, between NE Marine Drive and NE Skidmore Street, has sidewalks only on one side of the street, or none at all. Quality of the these existing sidewalks varies. Many are narrow, deteriorated, and/or obstructed by utility poles. Some are wide with trees. See some examples here:

The image shows three photos of sidewalks along 122nd Avenue. The photo on the left shows a sidewalk with a utility poll in the middle of the sidewalk. The middle photo shows a picture of a cracked and uneven sidewalk with puddles of water. The photo on the right shows a picture of a wide sidewalk with landscaping on both sides.

Meanwhile, there are many spots along the corridor with wide driveways. These driveways create conflict points between people driving and both pedestrians and people biking. Examples are circled in yellow in the photo below:

The image shows a picture of a car pulling out of a driveway along 122nd Avenue. In the background there is a large parking lot with two wide driveways to enter a parking lot for numerous businesses. These driveways are circled in yellow.

Bike lanes and streetlights

Many of the existing bike lanes are narrow (about 5 feet wide), unprotected from the other vehicle lanes, and as they approach most major intersections, drop off as they become a shared right-turn lane. See examples of this in the photos below:

The image shows two photos. The photo on the left shows a person biking in bike lane along 122nd Avenue. The bike lane has no buffer and is adjacent to a traffic lane and parking. The photo on the right shows a bike lane along 122nd Avenue that is adjacent to a traffic lane and the sidewalk. The bike lane is approaching the I-84 underpass.

The image shows two photos of bike lanes along 122nd Avenue. The photo on the left shows a wide bike lane with a painted buffer on the left side and the sidewalk on the right side. The photo on the right shows where a bike lane has ended and become a shared right-turn lane approaching a signalized intersection.

This image shows a graphic of a wide street with a streetlight on the right side of the street. The light emitted by the streetlight is shown in orange. The orange light does not reach the left side of the street or the far sidewalk where there is a person walking.

One feature along 122nd Avenue that contributes to many concerns about personal safety is the gap between streetlights. According to city guidelines, streets 48 feet or wider, such as 122nd Avenue, should have lighting on bothsides of the street. The majority of 122nd Avenue has lighting only on one side of the street, which results in poor visibility. The image here shows where light falls from a streetlight on one side of the street and how poorly it covers the opposite sidewalk:

Bus stops and bus traffic

Many bus stops along 122nd Avenue are on narrow sidewalks that don't have enough space to place a bus shelter and still give pedestrians room to pass along the sidewalk.

This image shows two photos of bus stops along 122nd Avenue. The photo on the left shows a bus stop with one seat attached to the bus stop pole. The bus stop is along a narrow sidewalk with garbage on the sidewalk. The photo on the right shows a bus stop with a shelter, two benches, and bus schedule information. The bus stop is located next to a parking lot of a shopping plaza.

Furthermore, buses often must move in and out of traffic and pull across the bike lane to reach bus stops.

The image shows a bus stopped at a bus stop. The bus is blocking the bike lane and cars are passing on the left side side of the bus.

All of the conditions on 122nd Avenue conspire so that people riding transit have a highly unpredictable experience, especially during rush hour or depending on what section of 122nd Avenue they're traveling on. Many wait longer for buses which are slower, or have to dwell at stops longer. The chart below shows this variability throughout the day. During the morning and midday, the biggest delays are between NE Glisan and SE Stark streets, indicated here in the darkest red bars. During the evening rush, the biggest delays are between NE Halsey Street and Holgate Boulevard.