City project will help N Ainsworth achieve its destiny as a bike street – BikePortland

The City of Portland is nearing construction on a project that will help North Ainsworth finally achieve its true potential as a key east-west cycling thoroughfare. Already a bike route in name, the street has suffered for years from having too many drivers going too fast too often. With new bike lanes, traffic calming measures, parking removal, and other changes coming to the street, Ainsworth will soon move closer to becoming the low-stress street it’s meant to be.

As I reported back in May, Ainsworth is primed for major upgrades since it was cited as a top priority in the North Portland in Motion Plan. It’s a street that is supposed to be a major bike route — and it actually is in terms of people who ride on it — but its design leaves a lot to be desired. It currently has almost no dedicated bike infrastructure in the very popular section between the North Michigan Avenue neighborhood greenway and Willamette Boulevard. That segment also passes Ockley Green Middle School and connects to several major north-south bike routes.

That’s why the Portland Bureau of Transportation will break ground this fall on a $400,000 project to add buffered bike lanes, install speed bumps, and make other important changes to the street. Below are the elements of what PBOT is calling Phase 1:

• A leading pedestrian interval (LPI) at Ainsworth and N Interstate. This is where the “walk” signal goes green before the main signal so that people on foot get a head start into the intersection.
• “Fire-friendly speed cushions” will be installed west of N Interstate to reduce traffic speeds. Hopefully they’re installed more effectively than the previous ones PBOT installed further east on Ainsworth.
• A new buffered bike lane between N Michigan and Interstate. This is the section that goes over the I-5 bridge. PBOT plans to prohibit curbside parking on two blocks between N Maryland and Michigan (see map) to make room for the bike lane.
• To gain more room for the bike lane and reduce the presence of cars in front of Ockley Green Middle School, PBOT will prohibit parking on the south side of Ainsworth for one block between N Maryland and Montana.

Below are new graphics from PBOT to help explain the changes:

Phase 2 of the project will include a public outreach process to determine the best design for using modal filters and diversion tactics to reduce the number of car users between N Denver and Greeley (this is the diversion plan for the Omaha Treeway I mentioned back in May). PBOT needs to find a solution for getting auto traffic volumes down to acceptable neighborhood greenway thresholds in the westernmost portion of the project. “The goal of this phase is to emphasize N Ainsworth St as a local street and meet speed and traffic guidelines for neighborhood greenways,” PBOT says.

Once PBOT hears from the community, they plan to install a pilot diversion treatment at N Omaha by spring of next year if not sooner.

PBOT will spend the rest of this summer doing design and public outreach, with some initial elements being installed this fall. The new bike lane should be completed by next spring. For more on this project, see PBOT’s website.