Piedmont. Portland's Emerald.

>The latest word from Winston Sandino at PDOT is that the two planned crosswalks to Peninsula Park are a go!

1. Albina/Holman Crosswalk (crosses Albina at Holman St.)A couple of years ago PNA wrote and was awarded an ODOT grant to pay for this crosswalk. This summer, it’s finally happening. And in addition to the crosswalk stripes, we get two islands! The Bureau of Maintenance will complete the work this summer–possibly beginning as early as mid-June. See the sketch of the islands below (striping is not shown on drawing, but crossing marks will be included).

2. Rosa Parks Way/Kerby Crosswalk (crosses Rosa Parks Way at Kerby)A couple of years a go Commissioner Saltzman was guest speaker at a PNA general meeting, during which neighbors expressed concern over children dashing across an increasingly busy Portland Blvd. (now Rosa Parks Way) to get the park. Commissioner Saltzman promised to get us an additional crosswalk at the Kerby Ave. side of Peninsula Park. He secured the support of Commissioner Sam Adams and … we’ve been waiting ever since.

Last year PDOT’s Winston Sandino presented a terrific plan for the crosswalk at a PNA General Meeting. It involved an island, a crosswalk, and a crossing light. It also involved reconfiguring Rosa Parks Way by reducing traffic lanes and adding bike lanes–Rosa Parks Way between Vancouver and I-5 is essentially a missing link in a continuous bike lane that exists on the rest of the street.

He has since updated us on what’s taking so long:

“The problem is at the I-5 intersection. There are two traffic signals very close to each other and making the bicycle lane transition has brought up some design and policy issues. We either have to: (a) Reduce the speed from 35mph to 30mph. To reduce the speed, ODOT has to review and approve it. We are working on it. (b) Reduce the lanes at the bridge. There are two lanes coming in from the off ramp freeway to the bridge so the bridge needs to maintain two lanes. We need to convince ODOT that two lanes are not necessary and that we can drop those lanes to one lane in each direction and a center turn lane. We are working on it too.”