How Not to Ride MAX


Thanks to Jonathan Maus from bikeportland.org for this photo he snapped on Sunday near the Gotham Tavern along Interstate MAX.
Thanks to Jonathan Maus from bikeportland.org for this photo he snapped on Sunday near the Gotham Tavern along Interstate MAX.


7 responses to “How Not to Ride MAX”

  1. Before critics jump in and say that the presence of the MAX tracks prevented a legitimate freight operation from taking place, please refer to the following map:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=portland,+or&ll=45.538162,-122.674201&spn=0.005215,0.01339&t=h

    The truck could have pulled along-side this warehouse on N. Thompson Street, or made a trip around the block via N. Tillamook / N. Kerby.

    However, in deference to those critics, had the trucker missed these two streets, returning to the area would have been quite an inconvenience.

    The local street grid in that area is quite disrupted, however the major disruptions come from I-5 and automated switching operations along the UP right-of-way.

    – Bob R.

  2. “Before critics jump in and say that the presence of the MAX tracks prevented a legitimate freight operation from taking place”

    and even if the tracks were not there he’d still be blocking off one whole direction of Interstate Avenue road traffic

  3. Well that is just plain messed up.
    Not long ago I saw a semi truck take a corner way too close and it ran over that rear end of a subaru parked on the corner just up the street next to Mint.
    Goes to show that heavy industrial needs its own areas outside of the live/work/play scene I think.

  4. Given the number of trucks that come and go at UPRR’s Albina yard…all via Russell and then industrial activity in Lower Albina…Widmer, Smeer Sheetmetal, Tarr Oil, etc., I’m impressed that this sort of error happens so infrequently.
    I was on the Interstate MAX CAC, and considerable effort was made to accommodate freight, especially from Going Street south along the MAX line. We kept the bike lane as well from Killingsworth south, despite some hand wringing. But by and large bikes, freight, private vehicles, buses and MAX get along pretty well in the vacinity of this misque.
    What was this guy trying to do anyway?

  5. I’m sorry… I can’t think of anything positive to say… that just looks idiotic.

    I don’t drive tractor trailers, but I did for a week or two helping out some friends and “I” could have gotten into that blasted space WITHOUT touching the tracks. (OK, I might have got some curb, but no where near the tracks.)

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