PedPDX Strategy 5: Seek cost-effective and creative solutions to provide pedestrian improvements

ACTION 5.1: Provide lower-cost pedestrian walkways.

Measures of Success: Design guidance for alternative walkways incorporated into memorandum from City Traffic Engineer (interim) and in design guidance provided in the Pedestrian Design Guide and City Standard Specifications; Miles of alternative pedestrian walkways constructed (not standard sidewalks) 

Status: In Progress 

• The updated Pedestrian Design Guide provides detailed design guidance on alternative pedestrian walkways in Section B.5.4: Alternative Pedestrian Walkways. PBOT staff are currently looking for opportunities to implement this treatment when geography, topography, or neighborhood preference do not allow a traditional concrete sidewalk to be constructed.
• Since 2019, 3.6 miles of Alternative Pedestrian Walkways have been installed in Portland.

ACTION 5.2: Provide interim pedestrian improvements.

Measures of Success: Designs for painted curb extensions and refuge islands added to the Traffic Design Manual; Miles of alternative pedestrian walkways constructed (not standard sidewalks) 

Status: In Progress

• Painted curb extensions (paint and post) were installed as part of PBOT’s Safe Streets Initiative, the bureau’s COVID response work. Interim pedestrian improvements, such as paint and post, have also been installed as part of PBOT’s Quick Build program. • Due to maintenance costs, paint and post curb extensions and other similar improvements are considered interim improvements until a permanent treatment can be installed.
• Alternative pedestrian walkways also may provide an interim pedestrian improvement. See Action 5.1 for more information.
• Since 2019, 3.6 miles of Alternative Pedestrian Walkways have been installed in Portland.

ACTION 5.3: Leverage paving projects for pedestrian improvements.

Measure of Success: Implemented formal process for evaluating paving projects for pedestrian improvements

Status: In Progress

• Beginning in early 2020, PBOT staff from Planning, Capital Projects, and Maintenance and Operations began having monthly meetings to coordinate on upcoming paving projects. This ongoing coordination includes identifying potential multimodal improvements that can be completed as part of a routine paving project. While routine paving automatically includes pedestrian improvements, including rebuilding curb ramps to be ADA accessible and restriping existing crosswalks to be high visibility, other changes, such as changes to roadway striping, new crosswalks, or civil work requires coordination from this group.
• PBOT staff will continue to meet regularly to find leverage opportunities as part of the bureau’s routine maintenance projects.

ACTION 5.4: Convert existing fire signals to pedestrian crossings to help meet crossing spacing guidelines.

Measure of Success: Number of fire signals converted to pedestrian crossings

Status: No Action

ACTION 5.5: Leverage bicycle infrastructure to also serve pedestrians, including neighborhood greenways.

Measure of Success: Updated practices for scoping neighborhood greenway and bikeway improvements

Status: In Progress

• Phase 2 of the Pedestrian Design Guide update will focus on corners and crossings and will include design guidance for floating pedestrian refuge islands in conjunction protected bicycle facilities. PBOT planning staff will work with Traffic Design staff to ensure that appropriate sections are included in the Traffic Design Manual.
• The neighborhood greenway program uses traffic calming as a tool to decrease vehicle speeds and volumes along streets prioritized for bicycle and pedestrian use. The analysis for traffic calming installation uses the neighborhood walkway TSP designation and looks at whether there are existing sidewalks or bumps. This inter-bureau collaboration led to planned traffic calming projects on SE Harold from 92nd to 122nd, NE/ SE 135th from Glisan to Stark, and many North Portland neighborhood greenway streets.
• The neighborhood greenways program has added traffic calming on streets with no sidewalks so that pedestrians feel comfortable walking along the road. This includes SE Mill from 82nd to 92nd, where 15 mph advisory speed limits and signage. Additionally, intersection improvements for neighborhood greenway crossings of busy streets, including Leading Pedestrian Intervals (or Pedestrian Head Starts), parking setback, and high visibility crosswalks.
• PBOT’s Slow Streets program is a component of the Safe Streets Initiative, the bureau’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, PBOT converted 100 miles of low-traffic streets and neighborhood greenways into “local access only” Slow Streets to restrict cut-through traffic and create space for Portlanders to walk, bike, roll, and stroll safely during the public health crisis. The response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive. PBOT has received over 2,000 public comments on the Slow Streets program with a large majority supporting the installations and their impacts on local streets. Fifty-one of the Slow Street installations have been converted to permanent with traffic control devices and 16 more locations are in design.
• There are many places where the Multimodal Missing Links programs has added pedestrian improvements. Some examples are US Grant Pl and NE 33rd (bike box and No Turn on Red), NE Hancock and 33rd (turn restrictions), NE 7th and Going (Crosswalks), NE 9th and Ainsworth (protected crosswalks), and NE 82nd and Tillamook (bike boxes and No Turn on Red).
• New neighborhood greenways in East Portland have been constructed with pedestrian benefits by providing enhanced crossings at busy streets, including the intersections of 155th/157th and SE Stark, as well as 128th and NE Glisan. In fact, most of the greenway investment funding goes to these types of crossings.

ACTION 5.6: Improve unimproved rights-of-way for pedestrian travel.

Measure of Success: Updated frontage improvement requirements for private development in the Pedestrian Design Guide and in Creating Public Streets and Pedestrian Connections through the Land Use and Building Permit Process (the “Blue Book”)

Status: In Progress

• The newly updated Pedestrian Design Guide (phase 1) is a step toward guiding decision making about how to make sidewalks in a more cost effective way, with a process for allocating sidewalk corridor width in constrained conditions.
• The Pedestrian Design Guide includes information on pedestrian connections through unimproved rights-of-way (Section B.5.4.2 Pedestrian/Bicycle Connections), which would be requiring stairs and paths on “paper streets” (a street or road that appears on maps but has not been built) when properties redevelop. PBOT Development Review will continue to look for opportunities to provide pedestrian connections on unimproved rights-of-way.