Throughout May, cars won’t be allowed on one downtown Portland block.
Portland State University (PSU) and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) announced Tuesday morning that a block of PSU’s campus—SW Montgomery, between SW 6th and SW Broadway—will be closed to automobile traffic during the month of May. Called the Montgomery Pop-Up Plaza pilot project, the car-free block should make it easier for pedestrians and bicyclists to get around.
If the pilot project goes well, the car-free block could become a permanent fixture at PSU. That’s happened before in downtown Portland: Ankeny Plaza became permanently car-free in 2016, after a successful 2014 pilot program.
“As always, we will be using a data-driven approach with traffic counts, surveys and other public engagement that will better inform us as we test this street prototype,” said Chris Warner, the interim PBOT director, in a press release.
In addition to making car-free travel easier and less dangerous, PSU also hopes the Montgomery Pop-Up Plaza will become the social heart of the campus. Parking spaces will be transformed into open seating areas designed by PSU’s Center for Public Interest Design, and the university is planning a slate of events and activities for the month. That includes a kick-off event at noon on Wednesday, May 1.
The idea for a car-free SW Montgomery block originally came from the Southwest Montgomery Green Street plan, a 2009 concept from PSU and PBOT that would have created a pedestrian and bike-friendly path connecting Portland’s West Hills to the Willamette River. That plan was never enacted, but the Montgomery Pop-Up Plaza is a chance for at least one block of it to become permanent.
The SW Montgomery block is adjacent to PSU’s Urban Plaza and the SW Park Blocks, two bustling parts of campus.
“Turning this particular block of SW Montgomery into a public space for students will really help establish PSU’s heart of campus, better defining the school’s identity in downtown Portland,” said Julia Michel, a PSU planning analyst, in a press release.
PSU and PBOT’s announcement comes at a particularly fraught time, as 2019’s tally of traffic-related fatalities in Portland continues to climb, and transportation advocates call for better pedestrian and bike safety measures. According to PBOT’s count, about half of this year’s traffic deaths were those of pedestrians or bicyclists who were hit by cars.
