The Broadways Bridge is supposed to be open to only people on bikes or on foot for the next week, and this city’s driver’s just will not accept that.

Cops have arrested a man after he refused to countenance the closure signs at around 9:45 am, hopped the curb (presumably taking out some of the traffic cones that are out there corralling cyclists) and tried a sneak maneuver into the Pearl. This cannot have been a mistake—there is nothing ambiguous about the Broadway’s bike/ped path.

One of the more surprising things about this, actually, is how close the driver came to succeeding. What if the bridge had been closed for minor electrical work and elaborate scaffolding wasn’t taking up half of the bike/ped path? This guy would have cruised.

No one’s been hurt, so this stunt will get some guffaws, but stuff like this is happening with bizarre frequency on the city’s bridges this year. In June, a driver experiencing what cops called a “medical event” (but what was really choking on soda) ran up on the Burnside Bridge walkway and killed 36-year-old George Ben Harrison.

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In late April, a suspected carjacker overturned on the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge, tumbling the car onto a roadway below.

And, of course, mayhem occurs away from Portland’s bridges all the time, which is one of the reasons why activists have been increasingly vocal, of late, and Portland officials jumped at the chance to adopt “Vision Zero” earlier this year.

Exactly what that adoption leads to is still an open question.

I'm a news reporter for the Mercury. I've spent a lot of the last decade in journalism — covering tragedy and chicanery in the hills of southwest Missouri, politics in Washington, D.C., and other matters...

7 replies on “A Driver Attempted to Navigate the Broadway Bridge Bike/Ped Path This Morning”

  1. As the person who watched him enter the path, was biking directly behind him (waving my arms and yelling), and took this photo – I can attest that there was something wrong. He was going very slowly, but consistently down the bike ped path. When he reached the scaffolding that was jutting out over half the path, he didn’t slow down or seem to notice it. He just slammed right into it going 10mph.

    I honestly don’t believe he was trying to be sneaky or anything of the sort. He was confused and very likely physically under the influence. Please take this opportunity to redirect your attention and reach to the 82nd & Glisan St. crash / pedestrian fatality from this morning: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=6471&ec=2&ch=twitter

  2. “city’s driver’s”, “The Broadways Bridge”…

    Jesus… fuck! Just stop hiring eighth graders to write for your blog, okay Merc?

  3. CARS ARE EVIL !!
    Bikes are the only responsible way to travel !

    Yeah, this driver was an ass, but how many stories do you report on bike-caused accidents?

    Oh, I’m sure they never happen…

  5. You two know that cars tend to be significantly heavier and faster than bikes, right? See, they got these things, whatsit, engines that propel them with significantly greater force at the space in front of them than the way a bike would. With those whatsits, dumb human legs.

    People do not generally, whatsit, die when a cyclist forgets how physics work.

  6. I love how this is compared to someone losing control of their car and hitting a pedestrian on the Burnside Bridge. Clearly the same exact thing.

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