City wants to improve downtown for non-drivers with ‘Walk Portland’ pilot – BikePortland

There’s often backlash whenever we talk about spending money on marketing instead of infrastructure. But sometimes you just need to show people that something exists (a.k.a. marketing), and then try and persuade them to do it. When it comes to downtown Portland, contrary to all the haters and false narratives, it really is a great place to walk. It’s not that big and we’ve got nice things to see, awesome events going on (especially in summer) with cool shops and food destinations all over.

So I’m pretty optimistic about the joint pedestrian wayfinding effort from nonprofit Oregon Walks, Travel Portland and the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). Officially launched the first week of August, this $150,000 project (and please don’t tell me how many crosswalks they could have built with that because the funding comes from a tourism-related grant), is a bunch of signs and markings that help folks get around downtown without a car. There’s also a companion website that lists events and shops along the route.

It’s called “Walk Portland” and it’ll be a three-month pilot that will run through the end of October. It’s a pilot and yet another effort to increase foot traffic in the downtown core. After the three months is up, professional planners and marketing folks will get together to assess what they’ve learned, combine it with public feedback, and design a future permanent wayfinding system

The Walk Portland route goes between Salmon Street Springs on SW Naito to Powells Books on NW Couch. They’ve chosen the SW Yamhill/SW Morrison couplet to take folks between SW 2nd and SW 10th. The route also utilizes SW Harvey Milk Street.

Oregon Walks Executive Director Zachary Lauritzen said the system will help people feel more confident — whether you’re new to town or have lived here your whole life. And Travel Portland President and CEO Megan Conway says it’s about being inclusive: “A place cannot be truly welcoming without being accessible and pedestrian-friendly.”

If you need an excuse to check out the cool new signs and markings, be sure to put the Downtown Sunday Parkways on your calendar for September 14th — part of the route intersects with the Walk Portland route.

And tomorrow night (Tuesday, August 19th), PBOT Pedestrian Advisory Committee will meet in person for a walking tour of the system. Everyone is welcome to join them. If you’d like to hear about the Walk Portland initiative from city planners and other smart folks, meet at 6:00 pm at the southwest corner of Pioneer Courthouse Square. The plan is to do a one-mile walking route that will, “allow participants to see all of the different interventions for the pilot, including both directional (small) and orientation (large) signs, nudge signs, sidewalk decals, and viny storefront window coverings.”

If you can’t make Tuesday’s night walk (where you can share feedback directly with city staff), be sure to take the survey after you’ve taken a closer look. Feedback is really important on things like this, because it’s being done specifically to see how people respond to it.

For more info on the project, check out WalkPDX.com.