In short, Burchfield says PBOT's traffic analysis shows two standard travel lanes are necessary in order to create adequate capacity for motor vehicles given the boom in development on the horizon.

This is as closely to heresy as you can get in modern planning circles in Portland.

That jumped out at me too Dave J. What's crazy is that they're talking about doing two lanes for just three blocks. But the "boom in development" he's referring to is happening up the entire Williams corridor. So this is a tiny solution for New Seasons while the rest of the corridor will be screwed.

I think they'll end up regreting this left lane "sharrow" most of all. Mixing bike and car traffic during evening rush hour will cause daily road rage and frequent injuries, many serious. Plus, the left turn into New Seasons is going to turn through the lefthand bike lane. What a clusterf**k. All in the name of "improving" the street. Glad I don't live up there any more.

(Bike Portland is like a super-powered electro-magnet for the type of Portlander I can't stand. For my blood pressure, I really shouldn't visit that site.)

It is crazy to limit car traffic on this street to make it better for bicycles. Put the bikes on a less congested commuter route and leave the cars alone. I drive that stretch of N. Williams regularly and at many different times of day. You could not pay me to ride a bike on it between 3-8 p.m. WAY too many cars coming from the Kerby Street offramp of the Fremont Bridge for me to feel remotely safe.

Not to mention all the parked cars with the potential to open doors into a moving bike. Moving the bike lane to the left side of the street will only make that worse. How many passenger side vehicle occupants are going to think about looking over their shoulder for a cyclist before opening their door?

I'm also amused to hear that making things nice for New Seasons is the reason behind keeping two lanes of car traffic. Would have been nice to have the same consideration for all the downtown businesses that got royally effed by the bus mall rerouting.

New Seasons is probably one of the preferred green and healthy businesses that can expect breaks from the CoP's social engineering harassment.