"Here is a current picture of the now-unsafe bike lanes on Multnomah with leaves piled up. I'm not sure if there is room for a street sweeper to go through and pick up the leaves or not. (Even if Lloyd Center cleans up the leaves, the gravel after the first "sanding" of the road will make these bike lanes more dangerous.)"

I had the exact same thought - it will now be impossible to keep the bike lane clean, since street sweepers can't fit into the bike lane.

Given the number of the leaves in the bike lane, I'd be in the car lane if I were cycling down Multnomah...

Do you ever wonder what Portland would look like if Earl Blumenauer had had a happy childhood?

Um, maybe like the North Jersey shathole you crawled out of?

I wonder when the first bike-by shooting will occur.

Word is, this is on its way to SE Foster Road. A road that is already congested during commute hours. With the cooperation of our poor man's would-be gentrifiers, and silencing of any dissident voices that might mention that making in harder to get to and from family wage jobs is not in the neighborhoods' best interest. Don't even try to mention that this self-selected group of yes-folks might not be representative of a economically, educationally and ethnically diverse negihborhood. They know what's best. They have even read up on those "other people".

Maybe Earl's boîte is tied a bit too tight.

I used to think transportation planning was all about how to get people places most efficiently. And I used to think that housing authorities were all about finding housing for indigent people. Either I am living in an alternate universe, or idiots have taken over government. Is there anyone able to dismantle beaurocracy? It doesn't seem our elected officials can do much anymore and the underlings have free reign to reign supreme.

We were down there on Saturday and some of the lanes were already painted. What's with the yellow lanes? Are they bike boxes? Are they only for taxis? And my former-bike-commuter husband also said bikes would move into the roads to avoid the unsafe bike lanes.

Looks like Mr Earl BlueManure is not only a reader of this fine blog, but a poster as well.

Also seems that BlueManure also is a little testy this am.

Thanks Jack

Street sweepers CANNOT get through there. I work in the Lloyd District and drive and then walk up Multnomah St.. There are 3 foot tall poles that stick up BETWEEN the bike and car lanes to mark where the lanes are divided. It's ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!

They actually added some parking spaces where the bike lanes used to be and moved the bike lane out into the street, eliminating an entire lane of traffic.

So parking (metered of course) is a slight improvement, but all the jockeying around is going to be interesting to see how long before somebody gets crunched.

Right now the economy sucks, so a single lane is not a big deal. If things ever get moving again, then this design will prove stupid.

It's not a stupid design if you simply accept the reality that it's part of a much larger plan to encourage people who want to live in the world's largest bicycle-only city to relocate here and otherwise drive everyone else out, similar to how you would go about colonizing an occupied territory without having to resort to military force.

As Tim states. People are being paid to put it in, then they will be paid to take it out. Those who are being paid will benefit. Those of us paying... not so much.

My guess is that PDOT has a prototype bike-street cleaner to get into those three-foot wide lanes. Alternatively, those hauling their kids in the bike trailers can attach brooms to the back of the trailers.

Maybe Portland's transportation bureau should go on a "budget diet".

Tim,

You are wrong, the bike lanes are still against the curb. In sections there is just a divided space that will eventually house planters. In the other space the parking is in between the car lane and the bike lane. (Making it go Car > Parking > Bike.)

So bikers still have a straight shot where the bike lane always was, against the curb.

Of course I saw one biker out today, and he was using the car lane since the bike lane is completely covered in leaves. (The bikers are probably as confused on the drivers about how all this new unique, and changing every block road design is supposed to be used.)

If the existing sweepers can't go through, then PBOT will just have to buy some specialized sweepers that will. Win win! as PDXlifer observes.

Street cleaning is no problem. Just ban parking on alternate sides of the street at certain times, on certain days... just like they do in the big city.

Everbody likes the way they do it in the big city, right?

Remember the big snow event back in 2008? There was an inch of gravel in many bike lanes 6 months later. Bridges seemed particularly bad (I recall specifically the St Johns bridge having gravel on the sidewalks, and along the road.

Bike lanes along Terwilliger are notoriously piled with debris, which is astounding since arguably it should be an obvious safe route.

That's my big problem with portland's bike hype. It's all about spending money on "feather-in-cap" projects for show, rather than taking care of the roads and bike lanes that already exist.

We have to get rid of cars -- If I make a right turn in my car I'm breaking the law: I'm not in the right-most lane. Now I'll be crossing TWO lanes. Perhaps ban RH turns? (Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.) For parked cars it used to be that only the driver had to be cautious opening the door into traffic -- now passengers have to look.

As for trucks making right hand turns and squishing cyclists, this makes it even more likely because the cycles are hidden by a row of parked cars. I wish these incompetent buffoons had just continued playing Sim City or Second Life and let design and engineering to the professionals.

What has escaped mention is as part of the Barbur Boulevard repaving project from Hooker to Naito, PBOT was kind enough to change where the second lane southbound ends so that it ends prior to Hooker (right at the bus stop in front of AllStar Fitness). The result is that if the pedestrian signal is activated, traffic on Barbur now backs up all the way to Sheridan Street which is consistently clogged with traffic headed to the Ross Island Bridge - causing mass gridlock for folks headed south along Barbur to Burlingame and points southwest.

This is a hilly part of town that is not conducive to many cyclists - the pros have no problem, but the average Joe cyclist is not going to deal with the hills and the fast traffic and narrow (and in some cases non-existent) bike lanes. Barbur has already gone from four lanes down to three...

I'm also pretty sure the City of Portland is going to buy up a couple hundred of these:

http://www.tennantco.com/am-en/pages/ProductDetails.aspx?item=500ze#gallery-1

Of course funded by a new tax...take your pick. Sales tax, head tax, income tax, vehicle registration tax...ANYTHING but a bicycle or bicyclist tax.

Hey Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm:

The next Foster Road project meeting is November 15th 6pm, at SE Works (79th & Foster). This is the one where everyone is brainstorming ideas for how to "improve" the street. It's definitely one of the meetings to go to if you want to advocate for keeping 4 lanes. If you can't make the meeting, email the project planner Mauricio: Mauricio.Leclerc@portlandoregon.gov