What is vision clearance?
Vision clearance, or "daylighting," is a safety measure that removes parking near intersections and crossings to improve visibility and reduce crashes. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) explains why visibility is essential for traffic safety and how vision clearance can help:
Visibility and sight distance are parameters central to the inherent safety of intersections, driveways, and other potential conflict points. Intersection design should facilitate eye contact between street users, ensuring that motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit vehicles intuitively read intersections as shared spaces. Visibility can be achieved through a variety of design strategies, including intersection “daylighting,” design for low-speed intersection approaches, and the addition of traffic controls that remove trees or amenities that impede standard approach, departure, and height sight distances. Sight line standards for intersections should be determined using target speeds, rather than 85th-percentile design speeds. This prevents wide setbacks and designs that increase speeds and endanger pedestrians.
Learn more about vision clearance on this NACTO webpage.
Guidelines
Vehicles parked on Portland streets can block sightlines and make intersections tricky to navigate. In some cases, we can make intersections safer by setting on-street vehicle parking away from intersections.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) guidelines support setting back on-street parking at "uncontrolled approaches" to crosswalks on pedestrian priority streets that provide important pedestrian connections to transit and other key destinations. Uncontrolled approaches are the parts of intersections without stop signs or signals. (Crosswalks may be marked or unmarked; under Oregon law, every intersection is a crosswalk regardless of whether markings are present.)
Implementation
PBOT typically applies vision clearance to streets only during paving and capital projects, per a 2020 Engineering Directive. However, in recent years we have had some additional funding to complete focused vision clearance work.
In 2021-2022, PBOT completed vision clearance at over 350 uncontrolled intersections on Portland's highest crash streets.
For 2025-2026, PBOT has additional general funds to complete targeted vision clearance near schools, on neighborhood greenways and in pedestrian districts for pedestrian safety and visibility. When complete, we will have cleared an additional 200 locations around the city in these high priority locations.
Where vision clearance is implemented along neighborhood greenways and in pedestrian districts, "no parking" signage will be installed at select intersections. PBOT is notifying business and neighborhood associations, as well as nearby residents and/or businesses.
For locations adjacent to schools, PBOT will paint curbs yellow to increase awareness and create full intersection visibility. At this time, PBOT is prioritizing schools with existing bike buses, Title 1 schools, and schools that have recently piloted safety projects.
Bilingual educational lawn signs will accompany the yellow curbs to help inform the school and local community about the change, along with notification letters sent to impacted residents. PBOT is coordinating directly with school district staff to notify families. The current funding allows PBOT to complete this work at a small number of schools across the city. PBOT’s goal is to eventually apply these changes to schools citywide but is only able to support these locations at this time due to limited funding.
Eligibility
Streets eligible for vision clearance are "pedestrian priority streets" that include:
- City Walkways: a pedestrian classification intended to provide safe, convenient, and attractive pedestrian access to activities along major streets and to recreation and institutions; provide connections between neighborhoods; and provide access to transit.
- Neighborhood greenways: quiet, slow streets that prioritize people walking, biking, and rolling.
- Federally classified arterial and collector streets in Pedestrian Districts and High Crash Network streets. Pedestrian Districts are "characterized by dense mixed-use development with a concentration of pedestrian-generating activities." High Crash Network streets are Portland's 30 streets with the most serious crashes.
This is the landing page for the Vision Clearance Eligible Streets map. It shows the streets eligible for vision clearance. PBOT understands that this map is not screen reader accessible and is working toward a permanent solution. Due to the complexity of the information the map provides and the currently available map platforms at the city, we ask for your patience while we work on a technology-based solution. As we work toward providing that level of accessibility, please contact PBOT's Pedestrian Coordinator to reach PBOT staff who can assist you to get the data you need from the map. You can also contact PBOT’s ADA Coordinator at Lisa.Strader@portlandoregon.gov or at 503-823-5703.
New capital projects and private development
We apply vision clearance guidelines to new capital projects and private development that PBOT leads or reviews.
PBOT also applies guidelines proactively as funding allows and evaluates intersection visibility in response to public requests.
Report intersection visibility issues
- Call 311 (503-823-4000 outside Multnomah County) to report an intersection visibility issue.
- Call 503-823-5644 (PBOT Parking) to report parking violations, including vehicles parked within 50 feet of an intersection that are more than 6 feet in height (see City Code 16.20.130).
- Questions? Please contact us.