Gravel update: Progress in places and broom-wielding heroes

Progress!
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

How are things looking out there on the bike lanes you use the most?

Since our post last week there’s been big progress on some key bikeways we’ve been watching and I’m curious how the clean-up is going for you.

In particular, and since we helped make such a big deal out of it to begin with, I want to share the progress on Highway 30 and the St. Johns Bridge.

Sweeping has happened on the bridge sidewalk. It’s not perfectly clean; but it’s a vast improvement. I got some video the day it was swept (2/17):

Here's how the St Johns Bridge sidewalk looks after @PBOTinfo sweeping earlier today http://pic.twitter.com/IqmRbWQlL6

— BikePortland (@BikePortland) February 17, 2017

And on Highway 30 between the bridge and downtown Portland, PBOT has cleaned up a lot of gravel. It’s still dirty in places (there’s a reason it’s called “Dirty 30”), but the sweeping has made a vast improvement. The lead image in this story is of a location north of NW 63rd. As you can see, it was absolutely covered with tree debris nearly a month after the big storms — but now it’s much cleaner. Unfortunately there’s still a large tree just north of that location that blocks the entire bike lane.

Maybe this is why more people don't bike in winter. (Downed tree blocking the bike lane and gravel still remains on Hwy 30 one month after storms.) cc Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT)

Posted by BikePortland.org on Monday, February 13, 2017

Because Portlanders are DIY kind of people and because there’s still so much gravel on the ground, some have taken matters into their own hands. Volunteers with activist group PDX Transformation swept up several places in southeast Portland on February 19th. They cleaned SE Caruthers where it goes under the Martin Luther King Jr. viaduct and they swept SE Madison just west of the Hawthorne Bridge.

Hey PDX people: if you don't like something about the streets you use and you can make it better, DO IT! http://pic.twitter.com/MVAPM9Io8o

— PDX Transformation (@PBOTrans) February 19, 2017

We also saw (but can no longer find) somewhere on social media that employees from Metropolis Cycles swept up North Williams Avenue north of Russell Street last week. Thank you to everyone who is chipping in!

On that note, PBOT Commissioner Dan Saltzman helped patch a pothole in northeast Portland this morning. It’s part of a new initiative by PBOT dubbed “Patch-a-thon” that recognizes the vast amount of potholes left behind by the storms. PBOT says they’re 1,000 potholes behind and they’ve sextupled the amount of maintenance work crews devoted to getting them filled. We hope the city crews have been instructed to pick up the gravel that’s often left behind next to potholes — and left behind by their patching material.

There’s no way around it: this winter has been brutal for bike riding. We hope you’ve been able to perservere through the snow, cold, rain, flat tires, and all the other daily insanities that come with riding a bike everyday in America. Just remember you’re not the only one out there and we’re with you in spirit.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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