Portland drivers, prep for the slow-down: Streets are putting on the brakes as the city speeds ahead with its traffic calming crusade. As part of the Fixing Our Streets program, 2024 will see a slew of projects aimed at curbing the rush through neighborhoods, with Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) paving the way for safer, more equitable streets.
Areas rifling with traffic and speedy drivers, marked on the PBOT Equity Matrix with high scores, are getting the treatment; SE Harold from 92nd to 122nd and NE 139th between NE Glisan and SE Stark are first on the docket for construction, the city now laying down the foundation, according to the City of Portland, Oregon. These projects come with a badge of necessity, prioritized for their locations in high equity rating zones, the matrix's scores of 7 or higher a glaring signpost that change is due.
Meanwhile, NE San Rafael is fully dressed in design, ready to go under the knife in the fall post-pavement facelift set for summer. Drivers be advised, that by fall, NE San Rafael's stretch from 125th to 138th will be a construction zone, as per the City of Portland, Oregon. And let's not forget about SW 45th Avenue and SW Broadway Drive; they're up next, with designs being sketched out for a late 2024 or early 2025 surgery.
For the full scoop, Portland's traffic tamers at PBOT have laid it all bare on their website, but for the local motorists, the bottom line is crystal: Slower speeds are on the horizon, and neighborhoods might just reclaim their streets with a sigh of relief, as engines are tamed, and the city's heartbeats, perhaps find a new, calmer rhythm to pump life into its streets.
