Improving safety through design elements
Crash data from 2019-2023 demonstrates a clear need for safety improvements on Park and Portland avenues. In that five-year span there were 809 total crashes in this area, 75% happened at intersections while 25% happened between intersections. Of those crashes, 49 involved vulnerable roadway users (29 people walking and 20 biking), 23 serious injury crashes and one crash where an individual lost their life.
The project team evaluated different design options to make the corridor safer for people biking, walking and rolling. Learn more about these design elements:
Delineator-protected bike lanes
Delineator-protected bike lanes are bike lanes with plastic “bollards” (or “delineators”) that create separation between the bike lane and the vehicle lane. These types of bike lanes can help calm vehicle speeds and visually reinforce separation between vehicles and people biking.
Concrete curb protected bike lanes
Example of on-street concrete curb protected bike lanesOn-street concrete curb protected bikes lines provide physical separation between vehicles and people biking. Curb protected bike lanes provide more protection for bikeways by enhanced separation between vehicles and bicycles and reducing vehicles encroaching into the bike lane.
Curb extensions
Curb extensions, or “bump outs”, are when the curb line is extended into the road at intersections. Curb extensions allow for the bikeway to transition to sidewalk level at intersections and create shorter crossing distances, protection for people biking, visibility of people walking, slower turning speeds for vehicles, narrows the road and provides opportunities for greening.
Example of parking lane mediansPark lane medians
Parking lane medians are installed in the parking lane between the vehicle travel lane and the bike lane. This addition provides similar benefits as curb extensions such as shorter crossing distances, slower vehicle turning speeds, protection for people biking and calmer vehicle speeds.
Closed center median
Closed center medians are like regular center medians as they allow people walking and biking to cross the road in two phases and calm vehicle speeds by visually narrowing the traffic lane and requiring people driving to steer around them. Additionally, closed center medians prohibit vehicle traffic from crossing the road at a specific intersection, reducing the amount of vehicle traffic at that intersection as well as the number of conflict points between vehicles and all other people on the road. Closed center medians have curb cut outs that still allow people walking and biking to cross.
Example of a closed center medianFinding these roadway elements in the current design options
The project team used curb extensions, parking lane medians, and closed center medians in the draft design concept. These elements are used throughout the draft design concept and offer safety improvements at intersections. The appropriate intersection treatment was selected by analyzing each intersection based on the following criteria:
- Number of people driving, biking, and walking
- Signalized or unsignalized intersection
- Proximity to activity centers
- Crash history
- Connection to the existing bike network
- Transportation disadvantage (Justice 40)
- Community priority
- Engineering judgement
Intersection treatment options
To provide a recommendation on the best way to improve safety for people biking on Park and Portland avenues we conducted technical analysis, consulted with partner agencies and considered public feedback collected to this point. All this data helped the project team provide the recommendation of concrete curb protected bike lanes to improve the safety of people biking in the project area.
You can view the draft design concept here.
We’ll collect feedback on the draft design concept throughout the spring of 2025. Then, we’ll use that feedback to create a final design that we’ll bring back to the public in late summer 2025.
