Outer Division Street has officially reached emergency status.
The four-mile stretch of SE Division from 82nd to the city limits has long been one of the most treacherous throughways in town. Of the 30 “high crash corridors” PBOT has identified throughout the city, Division causes drivers serious injuries the most often. It’s also the fourth-most dangerous street in town for pedestrians, according to city figures, and the second-most dangerous for cyclists.
So the city, which has long been hamstrung by preemptions on setting its own speeds, just made an unconventional quick fix. By labeling conditions on the long-feared road an emergency, City Council is slowing speeds from 35 mph to 30 mph for at least four months—and likely longer.
"It's a death corridor for too many of our residents," said Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman, shortly before a 4-0 council vote (Commissioner Amanda Fritz is in Arizona) cemented the speed change, which begins tomorrow.
The emergency designation was a bit of a quick-moving surprise, but there are plenty of tragedies to back it up. Most recently, the night in December when two men were run down in separate incidents on the road. The deaths led activists to demand changes on Division east of 82nd.
In response, the Portland Bureau of Transportation first pointed to improvements that were already in the works—like speed cameras (which will be turned on on Monday) and rapid-flash beacons at some intersections. Then, late last year, the city announced it would spend $300,000 to help educate residents of the area about the best ways to navigate the road (among other things).
Then, at some point, PBOT came up with the "emergency" idea.
The move was roundly applauded in a short-ish hearing this afternoon. Audience members were heartened by the speed change, and Mayor Ted Wheeler lavished praise on Saltzman, to whom he assigned PBOT earlier this year.
But there are questions, too.
For one, will the city be able to push through a speed change approved by the Oregon Department of Transportation before the 120-day period is up? PBOT Director Leah Treat voiced hope that it would, but also suggested that PBOT could merely declare another emergency at the end of the current one, if need be (hello, housing emergency!).
Next, will merely changing speed limit signage actually decrease speeds, even without other changes? This is important because of the way ODOT makes decisions about what a proper speed should be: by tacking it to the speed at which 85 percent of users naturally travel. On this stretch of Division, that can range from 37 to 42 mph, according to PBOT spokesperson Dylan Rivera. But the state is loath to set speeds that are more than 10 mph below that 85th percentile measure, so getting speeds lower before doing a traffic study is important.
Most importantly, will the city go further than this? Fully embracing his new role as transportation commissioner, Saltzman today said he was "bound and determined to do whatever I can… to make Division Street safer."
Well, as we reported last year, the city already made Division Street safer—just not THIS stretch of Division.
In 2013, PBOT spent a relatively paltry $100,000 re-striping the road from SE 60th to 80th. The change reduced the street from two travel lanes in each direction to one. It also reduced speeds naturally—before a formal speed limit change went into effect—created more room for bikes, and didn't meaningfully increase travel time, according to PBOT.
Despite all that, PBOT's not proposed similar changes to the road east of 82nd.
True, this type of road restructuring can create awe-inspiring shit storms from cranky drivers—just check Charlie Hales'many, many voicemails re: changes to SE Foster last year. Commissioner Chloe Eudaly today called those planned Foster changes "one of the most contentious elements" of her campaign for office last year.
"When people started complaining to me about the Foster-Powell road diet, I asked, 'How many extra minutes in your day is worth someone’s life?'" Eudaly said this afternoon. "That usually ended the conversation."
Controversy aside, Saltzman tells the Mercury he's not ruling out a road diet. "I'm willing to look at any and everything to make Division safer," he said.
And Mayor Ted Wheeler would like to go further. He voiced support today for adopting citywide speed limits akin to Seattle's, which last year reduced default arterial speeds from 30 mph to 25 mph. "Help me understand why we need to even be going 30 mph in an urban area," Wheeler said to PBOT staffers today.
A citywide limit would be cheered by plenty of transportation activists, but it's out of reach until Portland wins the ability to set its own speeds. As it happens, there's a bill that advocates such a change being proposed in this year's legislative session. It has yet to be scheduled for a hearing.