Parking fees lead to safe street upgrades in northwest – BikePortland

Here’s an example of putting a higher price on car use can benefit an entire community.

One of the ways the Portland Bureau of Transportation manages curbside parking in areas with high demand for spaces is to form parking districts. PBOT then works with neighborhood residents (via volunteer committees) to invest the resulting parking meter and permit revenue back into street upgrades.

Over the past year, PBOT worked with the Northwest Parking District Stakeholder Advisory Committee on a project to make walking safer. With input from PBOT’s Vision Zero team and recommendations from the Northwest in Motion Plan, they came up with a list of 15 intersections where the installation of a “no turn on red” policy and/or a “pedestrian head start” (a.k.a. leading pedestrian interval or LPI) could make a positive impact on safety for non-drivers.

In an update from PBOT shared today, they’ve completed these upgrades using funding approved by the committee. In addition to signage aimed at preventing right turns on red and signal changes to give walkers a head start through intersections, PBOT also added accessible push buttons at some of the intersections for folks who are blind or have low-vision.

For the uninitiated, pedestrian head starts give walkers a green signal several seconds before drivers. This gives walkers a chance to get through the intersection and it makes them easier to see by right-turning drivers. Think of these signals as bike boxes for walkers. PBOT cites studies that show pedestrian head start treatments can reduce pedestrian-vehicle collisions as much as 60%.

A July 2024 PBOT memo about the project said all 15 intersections could be upgraded for just over $140,000 — which shows just how affordable these upgrades are. (Note I’m not sure if the recently completed work took care of the full 2024 proposal. I will update this post once I clarify.)

According to that memo, PBOT created new “no turn on red” restrictions at 15 intersections, pedestrian head starts at 11 intersections, and new accessible push buttons at five intersections in the Northwest Parking District.

The intersections included: NW Everett at 18th, 19th, 21st, and 23rd avenues; NW Glisan at 18th, 19th, 21st, and 23rd; NW Lovejoy at 18th, 19th, 21st, and 23rd; NW Northrup at 23rd; NW Raleigh at 23rd, and NW Thurman at 23rd.