Three big bike and pedestrian projects around town are finally rolling forward. The big news last week was that the city got $3 million from the state to help pay for improvements on SE 122nd and Swan Island. The transportation bureau also unveiled details plan to fix the incredibly awkward intersection where NE Lloyd Blvd meets NE 12th Ave.

Here's the rundown.

NE 12th Avenue
The clusterfuck where 12th Avenue crosses I-84 is reason enough for the cyclist slogan, "Avoid the Lloyd." It's one of the five streets slated for bike improvements under the 2030 Bike Plan that City Council passed last year. BikePortland posted a sneak peak of the street changes that will be presented at an open house next Thursday at Calaroga Terrace (1400 NE 2nd Ave). Snapshot:

Thats Lloyd Blvd on the left, intersecting 12th Ave as it crosses the freeway.
  • That's Lloyd Blvd on the left, intersecting 12th Ave as it crosses the freeway.

I think it looks pretty good... though confusing because the improvements would have cyclists hop up on the sidewalk (which instantly becomes, not a sidewalk, but a "shared use path") to cross the freeway. It's something a lot of people already do when they're riding across the bridge, but I doubt everyone will get it.

Swan Island
The shipyards on Swan Island employee hundreds of people who already get around by bike while on the job—some of the yards ban workers from driving the distance between buildings, so it's home to this surprising assortment of grizzled blue collar boilermakers biking around all day. We did a profile of two biking boilermakers back in June, here's the awesome photo:

Dock2-570.jpg

Anyway, the state is covering $2 million of the $2.3 million cost of making the route to the shipyards safer for people on bikes or on foot. The other $240,000 is coming from the city. The project will build sidewalks along the central route the cuts across Swan Island, build a multi-use path down North Going to the island, and turn North Michigan, North Prescott, and North Blandena into "neighborhood greenways" (expect bumped out curbs and speed bumps). Download a pdf map of the project.

SE 122nd Ave
Finally, finally, sidewalks are coming to this long-neglected street. The state grant covers only $870,000 of the $3.35 million project to make SE 122nd safer for people on bikes and accessible for people with disabilities.

The biggest change will be building a mile of sidewalks on both sides of 122nd from SE Holgate to Ramona (check out the pdf map). The project will also makeover 43 corners with ADA curb ramps and install "Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons" (ahem, "traffic lights") SE Raymond and SE Schiller that allow cyclists or pedestrians to trigger crossing lights.