Portland leaders approved immediate safety improvements Wednesday near a dangerous stretch of Powell Boulevard following a recent crash that killed a well-known local chef.
City commissioners voted 5-0 on an emergency ordinance for changes to Southeast 26th Avenue near state-owned Powell Boulevard near Cleveland High School.
Powell is considered one of the city’s most dangerous streets for pedestrians. Seventeen people have died in crashes on the boulevard since 2017, according to a release sent out Wednesday by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office. Two weeks ago, local chef Sarah Pliner was killed by a truck driver while biking near the intersection of Southeast 26th Avenue and Powell.
The Oregon Department of Transportation, or ODOT, owns the road. Hardesty, who oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation, or PBOT, said she wanted to “light a fire under [ODOT’s] butt” with the city ordinance.
“I want to be really clear: PBOT is not waiting for ODOT to take action,” she said.
While city leaders have no power to make improvements on Powell, they can make changes on 26th Avenue adjacent to Cleveland High School. At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Wendy Cawley, a city traffic safety engineer, said the bureau will implement a 20 mph school zone on 26th Avenue, paint a green bike lane and a bike box in both directions, and install a pedestrian crossing. The speed limit on 26th Avenue is currently 25 mph.
The emergency ordinance also directs the transportation bureau to “propose additional safety improvements” on other parts of Southeast 26th Avenue and Powell Boulevard and asks ODOT to establish a 20 mph school zone around all schools on state-owned roads. Mayor Ted Wheeler said he was surprised to learn that the city doesn’t automatically identify school zones and restrict speeds near campuses.
“I’m sorry I didn’t notice that. I just assumed as a matter of course that that was the case,” he said. “We should fix that.”
Hardesty, who is in a tough reelection fight this fall, said she’s also looking for ways to transfer Powell Boulevard to city control and, as part of the ordinance, will ask state and city transportation officials to work together to figure out how much such a transfer would cost. She did not provide an estimate at Wednesday’s council meeting.
This spring, the city successfully took authority for 82nd Avenue, one of Portland’s most dangerous roads for pedestrians, from the state after multiple pedestrian deaths.
ODOT communications manager Kevin Glenn said that the agency will be updating the painting to improve visibility on nearby intersections and installing a school speed zone next to Cleveland High School.
“We support the efforts of Portland City Council to drive immediate action on this issue,” Glenn said in a statement. “The changes we are working on are significant and we appreciate the local support for those changes the Council has provided.”