North Ainsworth Street between Willamette Boulevard and Peninsula Park is a hidden gem in the bike network. It’s an extremely popular cycling street due to its direct east-west connections, low-stress crossing of I-5, relatively few traffic signals, and low number of car drivers. Despite its heavy bike traffic however, it has almost no bike-specific infrastructure and as the volumes of car and bike users increase, it’s headed toward a breaking point.
Thankfully, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) plans to save the day with a $400,000 project that will raise the profile of Ainsworth as a major cycling street and improve its safety for all users. The goals are to lower driving speeds and volumes and establish Ainsworth as a low-stress neighborhood greenway. Based on recommendations in the North Portland in Motion (NPIM) plan passed by City Council last year, PBOT officially launched a project in April that will bring significant changes to the street. The project is still in the development phase and some of the NPIM concepts will need to be vetted with Portland Fire & Rescue before more detailed designs can be finalized.
This is welcome news for folks who ride on the street — especially whoever recently plastered the corridor with homemade, pro-bike signs. If you’ve been on the street lately, you’ve probably noticed them. “Ainsworth Neighbors Ride Bikes,” “Ainsworth is for Bikes,” “Ainsworth Slows Down for Bikes,” the signs read. According to the person who posted them (who I’ll keep anonymous for now), it’s all part of the process of raising the street’s profile. “Ainsworth is sort of in a grey zone,” he shared in a phone conversation this morning. “So many people use it to bike and walk, but it doesn’t seem to have tipped over the threshold to being a biking and walking street.”
The activist who posted the signs added he’s also trying to send a message to drivers, who use Ainsworth as a convenient cut-through and alternative to nearby (and larger) neighborhood collector streets N Killingsworth and N Rosa Parks Way. “Those are so close by,” he said; but he also realizes drivers like Ainsworth for the same reasons cyclists like it. “It’s a quick way for drivers to zip over the Greeley and Interstate; but to me that feels like an abuse of that road with Rosa Parks and Killingsworth so close by.”
PBOT has several changes in mind they hope will influence how — or if — people use the street. Their plan isn’t finalized and a public design process will kick off this summer, but the NPIM recommendation gives us a clue about what’s most likely to come (see below).
Between N Michigan Ave (already a neighborhood greenway) and N Interstate, PBOT will add buffered bike lanes to separate drivers from bike riders. This will require removing parking on the north side of the street between N Maryland and Minnesota. PBOT will add a new crosswalk and median island outside Ockley Green Middle School and a leading pedestrian interval (LPI) will be added to the signal adjacent to the school at N Interstate. To further calm traffic in front of the school, NPIM calls for an expansion of the curb zone between N Interstate and N Maryland in order to reduce the crossing distance. These changes near the school are also designed to improve the existing dangerous chaos by many drivers during drop-off and pick-up.
Then from N Interstate to Willamette Blvd — where the road narrows — PBOT will apply neighborhood greenway design standards and use traffic calming and modal filters to achieve the desired effect. The plan is to install bike-friendly speed cushions and “sharrow” pavement markings between N Willamette and Denver. The largest change could come to the intersection of N Ainsworth and Omaha, a wide street with a “treeway” in the middle of it. PBOT wants to extend the Omaha Treeway across Ainsworth, cutting it off completely to drivers while allowing bicycle riders, emergency vehicle drivers, and walkers to filter through (they’ve done a similar treat at NE Mason and 72nd).
PBOT just kicked this project off in April and they hope to begin construction and complete the project this fall. Whether the final product mimics the NPIM recommendation or not, remains to be seen. PBOT will do more outreach in the coming months. Stay tuned for updates.
