There ought to be a law,
whereby if you are walking legally, that is, on the sidewalk, in a crosswalk, etc., and a car honks at you in a "hurry up" manner, that the pedestrian has the rights to trade places with the driver, take the vehicle to their destination, while the former driver has to walk.

Why hasn't the Pedestrian Coalition objected to what is planned for the 2,000+ pedestrians that have to cross 82nd Avenue to reach their bus or train every day?

ODOT and PDOT plan to build a fence in the median to force these transferring passengers to use an unsafe, inconveniently located crossing at an intersection north of the station where they will have to cross 82nd Avenue with no intermediate refuge while dodging turning traffic from Jonesmore Street.

Now, although illegal, most people jaywalk because it is more direct and is actually safer than the designated crossing. The fence will replace the pedestrian refuge now provided by the exiting wide median island.

The obvious solution to the jaywalking problem would be to install a wide, well-lit, signalized pedestrian crossing about one block south of the existing intersection that would be much closer to where people want to cross. It could be constructed with a median refuge, a curb extension and, due to its heavy volume of crossing pedestrians, a regularly phased traffic signal like any other heavily used traffic intersection.

This type of pedestrian crossing is not unique and is commonly used where high numbers of pedestrians must cross busy thoroughfares. It would not be a 'mid-block' crossing deemed unsafe by ODOT. It would be an additional intersection spaced between the existing intersections that are more than two blocks apart. This 'intersection' just would not accommodate motor vehicles - except the occasional wheelchair.

Excellent point, Jim. You can line up the crosswalk with Halsey Street. Plus, just widen the sidewalk along the south edge of the freeway between 81st and 82nd (shouldn't be a problem now that the old Elmer's property is sitting empty) and turn the stairway into a ramp, and presto: Halsey would extend to and across 82nd Avenue as a pedestrian street.

As it stands, bus riders need to go almost a block out of their way to cross at the light. And I agree about jaywalking being safer: because of the median island, you need to cross only two lanes at a time.

(Of course, most transit riders crossing at 82nd are using MAX, usually to transfer between MAX and 72 southbound. A simple solution: extend the platform under the viaduct and put another stairway on the west side of 82nd.)

Aren't ODOT and PDOT jumping the gun a bit, as the Station Area Plan process isn't yet complete? The next meeting is tomorrow (Thursday) in fact, and I know for a fact that nobody, nobody, nobody at those meetings has suggested a fence ... maybe it came up at an open house, but it was never presented at the more formal meetings -- quite the opposite, something more along the lines of what Douglas is talking about has been suggested.

A link: Eastside MAX Station Communities Project

(Oh, and what's the new PDOT acronym now that they're the Bureau of Transportation? Is it PBOT, BOT, or COPBOT?)

Is it PBOT, BOT, or COPBOT?)

If they get the Tram they'll be Skynet?

If they get the Tram they'll be Skynet?

(Insert rude snark about the day PDOT became self-aware...)

Here's the PDF for that book/guide:
http://www.stc-law.com/pdf/OPRlegal_guide.pdf

Your "legal rights" as a pedestrian aint worth squat IF YOUR DEAD!

Bob,
Where and when is the Thursday meeting on the station Area Plan process?

From the email I received:

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, January 15, 7:00 - 9:00 pm at East Portland Community Center, 740 SE 106th Ave, Classroom #1.

Purpose of the meeting: to review, evaluate, and refine a set of proposed actions (zoning, transportation, etc.) for each of the six station communities.

Agenda Items:

* Proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendments and Zone Changes
* Supplemental Development Standards
* Opportunity Site Studies
* Transportation Improvement Projects
* Other Actions

Please note that this meeting will primarily be attended by representatives of the various neighborhood groups involved, however it is of course open to the public like any public meeting. I don't know what opportunities there will be given for general comments/Q&A, but the organizers have been quite flexible in the past.

OK, I've been going over the meeting materials, and in the summary of public comments, at least two individuals had responses indicating the topic of a median fence... but looking at the formal list of proposed transportation alternatives, we have:

• 82nd Avenue streetscape concepts/cross-section • Bike Access to station entrance • 80th Ave Bike Boulevard – south of I-84 • NE Schuyler/78th bike connection to NE Tillamook bikeway • NE 86th Bike Boulevard – Sandy to Halsey • Pedestrian/Bicycle Crossing at 82nd/Pacific • Connection to proposed Sullivan’s Gulch Trail.

So is the fence included among the "82nd Avenue streetscape concepts" in another document?

Here's a PDF of the summary map shown at open-houses for 82nd:
http://www.portlandonline.com/planning/index.cfm?c=49038&a=218367

Here's a link to the documents for the "The 82nd Avenue of Roses High Crash Corridor Safety Project".

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=44634

I've gone over the open-house materials, the community survey results, the "Final Report" and "Final Appendix" from January, 2008, and the Status Report from August 7th.

I've searched for "fence", "fencing", and "barrier" and the words do not occur in those documents. I've looked at all instances of the word "median" and none reference any kind of barrier installation.

So where is this fence idea originating from?

From the Status Report document, the following improvements are listed for the MAX station:

Portland Transportation continues to participate in the ONI “CPTED” effort to improve transportation safety in the area and minimize the lawlessness at the bus stop area. Proposed improvements include the following: 1. A corner reconstruction to widen Jonesmore near the intersection with 82nd Ave. in order to provide more space for each of the three travel lanes on Jonesmore 2. Add a Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI) of 5 seconds so when a pedestrian pushes the button to cross 82nd Ave. the current 5-second WALK phase will occur without the Jonesmore traffic receiving a green signal 3. Add a countdown signal for east-west pedestrian travel 4. Add a transit vehicle queue jump of 3 seconds so when a bus is stopped on Jonesmore at 82nd Ave., the right turn only lane will receive 3 seconds of green before the left turn lane does so that a bus in the right turn lane can turn left and get out ahead of the left turn lane traffic 5. Striping changes on Jonesmore 6. Possible curb extensions on the 82nd Ave. of Roses 7. Possible installation of blinking lights with pedestrian crossing signs • Construction for the above improvements is scheduled to begin in late August 2008.

cant they put an additional stairway on the west side of 82nd going directly to the platforms below? now the only stairway is on the east side 82nd requiring one to cross the street.

There is no platform on the west side of 82nd.

cant they put an additional stairway on the west side of 82nd going directly to the platforms below?

They could if they extended the platform westward under the bridge (and possibly widened the gap between tracks to accommodate a platform.) At some point in the far future, necessity may dictate that platforms get lengthened to allow for longer trains.

However, extending the platform underneath the overpass is a potentially bad environmental design, security-wise. It creates an area of the station that is permanently shrouded from view from the street.

But a simple signalized crosswalk near the south end of the overpass would solve a lot of problems.