Bike lanes on Prescott and a road diet on Glisan among ‘flexible funding’ project candidates – BikePortland

Metro has opened up the public comment period for a project funding process that could result in some very exciting new additions to the region’s bicycling network — including finally striping a bike lane on Northeast Prescott Street to help it connect to the I-205 path. But if you want these projects to become a reality, you’ve got to comment!

There’s $42 million in federal funding up for grabs through Metro’s regional flexible funding “Step 2” allocation. The process identifies a list of projects to be built over a three-year period and covers federal fiscal years 2028 through 2030. Agencies across the Portland region have submitted 24 applications for projects worth a total of $140 million. With less than one-third of that amount available, and with local budgets very tight, there’s steep competition for the funding.

The City of Portland has submitted six project applications and seeks $36 million to pay for them. The projects include:

• a host of traffic signal upgrades on outer NE Halsey (from 82nd Ave to 148th) and SE Foster (82nd to SE Jenne Rd);
• new signalized crossings and lighting to NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd between NE Hancock and Lombard;
• a road diet, new bike lanes, safer crossings and signal upgrades on NE Glisan from NE 82nd to 102nd Ave;
• a new crossing of W Burnside and Park, along with a shared bike/bus lane on W Burnside from Park Ave to 3rd to connect to the Burnside Bridge (and bike lane on 3rd);
• new bike lanes, crossings and other safety updates to NE Prescott St. between 72nd and the I-205 path; and
• a new segment of the Red Electric Trail running parallel to SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, from SW Shattuck Rd (east of Alpenrose Dairy parcel) to SW Fairvale Ct.

PBOT Project Manager Zef Wagner presented the projects at a meeting of the Portland Freight Committee today.

Wagner said the $8.4 million NE Glisan project is part of PBOT’s strategy to improve bikeways parallel to 82nd Avenue, since a major investment in that major street will not include bike facilities. PBOT’s plan is to reduce the space for car users on Glisan St. by 37% because Wagner said their analysis shows the design offers more capacity than what’s being used. PBOT wants to redesign the 50-foot cross-section from five general travel lanes to three general travel lanes and two, nine-foot wide “separated” bike lanes (unclear if they’ll be protected with concrete, plastic wands, just paint, or what). The project will also improve crossings at 84th, 87th, 90th, and 92nd — including signals upgrades at I-205 to make it easier to cross the freeway.

By reducing the number of driving lanes on Glisan, PBOT hopes to address what they call a crash hot spot. “There have been very high speeds and road departure crashes,” Wagner said at the meeting, “and people have even crashed into the playground at Montavilla Park so there’s been a lot of concerns.”

The Glisan project earned a top ranking in a Metro project scoring process, “So I think it’s looking pretty good [to win funding],” Wagner said.

Another notable project on the list that scored well is one that would invest $8.6 million into NE Prescott Street to add bike lanes and other updates. I’m very excited about this one because I ride Prescott often to reach the I-205 path en route to Gateway Green (and elsewhere). PBOT wants to swap two, eight-food wide on-street parking lanes for buffered bike lanes. Wagner said this is a very important project for connectivity in the area. “There’s really no east-west connection across I-205 for biking and walking and it’s hard for people to get to the I-205 path,” he told freight committee members.

You can read the full project descriptions here.

The public comment period runs through April 30th. You can take a survey, learn more and leave a comment on Metro’s website. The final list of projects will be adopted by Metro Council in July. If you want to testify on any of the projects in person, you can sign up for a spot at the April 17th meeting of Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT).