Rally planned outside PBOT open house for 122nd Ave project

122nd outside Midland Library.

Advocacy groups will join forces for a rally on November 7th at the location where a man and young child were critically injured by a driver while they crossed the street earlier this month.

The collision happened on October 2nd in a marked crosswalk on SE 122nd Avenue just outside Midland Library. That location also happens to be where the Portland Bureau of Transportation has an open house scheduled on November 7th for their 122nd Ave Plan: Safety, Access and Transit project. As we reported back in July, PBOT has partnered with TriMet for a suite of updates on the High Crash Corridor. The idea is to bring 122nd Avenue up to a higher level of safety from Marine Drive to Foster Road so TriMet can boost transit service without worrying that their customers will be in harm’s way.

Some elements of the project have already been completed and at a press conference last month PBOT Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said she’d like to use the street as a model of “transportation done right.”

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But as we saw on October 2nd, there’s a lot of work to be done. It’s also not assured that the plan itself will be robust enough to tame traffic in the corridor.

The Street Trust, Oregon Walks and Rosewood Initiative want to create more urgency around the project and remind PBOT and TriMet that the community will hold them accountable.

Here’s the description of the event:

122nd Avenue is a high-crash corridor. The incidence of pedestrian crashes on 122nd is about 50% higher than the citywide average. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is re-designing 122nd, but it has not clearly stated that the protection of vulnerable road users is paramount. To achieve Vision Zero (the end of traffic fatalities and serious injuries), we need road designs that protect people. Come rally at an open house for the 122nd Avenue redesign on Wednesday, November 7, 5:30 pm at Midway Library, 805 SE 122nd Avenue.

Check out the Facebook event page for more details.

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

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