On a scorching Sunday at the end of July a couple years ago, I hopped on my bike and raced over to Portland’s Central Eastside, where a massive and revelrous gathering was taking place. I had been looking forward to the event for weeks, knowing it would be a real “who’s who” of Portland; a social event that could very well go down in the city’s history books. 

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m referring to the grand opening of the Blumenauer Bridge— the bike and pedestrian I-84 crossing on Northeast 7th Avenue— on July 30, 2022. As funny as it sounds, the event actually was quite the blowout. The bridge’s namesake, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, was of course present, as was the majority of Portland City Council and even the elusive former commissioner Chloe Eudaly. Commissioner Dan Ryan posed, looking wildly happy, with Blaze the Trail Cat; then-Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty gave a flustered Blumenauer a big smooch on the cheek. All of Portland’s bike crowd was there, and were quite energized considering the World Naked Bike Ride took place the night before. For one day, Portland was united, and it was all to celebrate the Blumenauer Bridge. 

I’m painting this picture to make it clear that the enthusiasm in the crowd that day was genuine. People were very excited about the new piece of car-free infrastructure, and all the groundbreaking connectivity between North/Northeast and Southeast Portland it promised. But there was a problem. Not necessarily with the shiny, brand new bridge, which was always just as pleasant as a bridge could be, but with everything that surrounded it. 

At the time, the bike infrastructure in the area—particularly south of the bridge in the Central Eastside—kind of sucked. This was particularly true of the intersections involving Sandy Blvd, the diagonal throughway that every Portlander has a love-hate relationship with, but other examples come to mind, too. That’s why I’m so happy to report that today, things look quite different in the Central Eastside than they did when the Blumenauer Bridge opened two years ago. (And I’m not talking about the Soho House. But I am familiar with that ordeal.) 

Yesterday, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) took to social media to announce the debut of the signal on SE Sandy Blvd at SE 11th Avenue and Ankeny Street (a few blocks south of the Franz Bakery Outlet on 11th Ave, near the former home of Michael's Italian Beef and Sausage Co.) and the end of a long era of nightmarish, dangerous confusion at that intersection. Ankeny is one of Portland’s marquee greenways, which are intended to prioritize people biking, walking, and rolling.

 

 

PBOT has done a particularly good job with this greenway, placing traffic diverters in strategic locations to make it unpleasant for people driving cars to use the street as a throughway, which makes it much more pleasant (and safe!) for people on bikes to get around. Ankeny is also home to the Rainbow Road Plaza, a car-free area where people can sit outside cafes and bars, drinking wine or espresso and feeling quite European. 

But in order to get to the wonderful Rainbow Road Plaza from the west, you might find yourself at the aforementioned, horrible intersection. Now, thanks to the magic of traffic signals, things are looking a lot brighter. 

The signals at SE Sandy/11th/Ankeny are part of PBOT’s Central Eastside Access and Circulation project, which is included in the city’s larger Central City in Motion plan. Signals will soon be in operation on SE Grand Ave and SE MLK Blvd at Salmon Street, too, making those busy streets easier to cross. The formerly terrible intersection at SE Washington/7th Ave/Sandy (right across from Rum Club and the Next Adventure Paddle Sports Center), was another site of some major upgrades in the last year, with much thanks to the organization Depave, which has done a lot of advocacy work at the site over the last few years. And north of the Blumenauer Bridge, a bike lane was installed on NE 7th Avenue between NE Broadway and NE Tillamook last summer (just north of the Chipotle on NE 7th), which is pretty nice when there aren’t cars parked in it. 

Now, there’s a caveat to all this enthusiasm. A recent OPB report about Central City in Motion noted PBOT is behind on its big plan to make active transportation improvements in central Portland (on both sides of the river). Bureau leaders chalk the lag up to funding deficits, but transportation advocates think the cause has “fallen by the wayside.” Either way, many projects that would make it easier and safer to bike, walk, or take public transit in Portland aren’t getting done. 

But it’s clear there’s a vision for the Central Eastside, and despite the somewhat slow rollout, some of it is coming to fruition. Projects like the OMSI District plan, which aims to turn the area around the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry into a new neighborhood with ample, dense housing and new natural spaces, are getting underway. Advocates with the pro-housing organization Portland: Neighbors Welcome have begun their “Inner Eastside for All” campaign, promoting a fully-funded inclusionary housing program and building code reform to transform the Central Eastside. 

There’s also the possibility of, and increasing enthusiasm for, a bike lane on Sandy Blvd, which would be truly life-changing for Portlanders seeking a quick route across the city’s east side. These changes will be met with resistance. But hopefully, by that time, we’ll have city leaders who will be willing to persevere. 

During the Blumenauer Bridge opening ceremony two years ago, Rep. Earl Blumenauer himself outlined a prospect for Portland’s future as a bike city. Instead of asking Portlanders to lower their expectations for building more bike infrastructure in the city, he asked city leaders and transportation advocates to think even bigger. 

“Let’s commit to getting two million bicycles out of garages and attics. Let’s take that goal for 25% bike mode share and make it a third,” Blumenauer said. 

That might seem unrealistic, but I agree that we should shoot for the stars. Portland is a city where people get very excited about new car-free bridges and traffic signals. Let’s think big, both for the burgeoning Central Eastside and beyond.