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82nd Ave. fence returns

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Despite the critics’ best efforts, advocates for an 82nd Avenue fence appear to have succeeded.

The proposed fence, a stamped aluminum barrier sitting atop a cast concrete base, would extend 300 feet along the center of Northeast 82nd Avenue between Jonesmore and Wasco streets, near the MAX light rail station. It is intended to force commuters trying to make connections between MAX and the line 72 bus to use the Jonesmore crossing and stop jaywalking across the avenue as they do now. This, proponents say, impedes traffic and invites serious accidents.

Government officials and the Madison South Neighborhood Association have bought into the barrier as the best possible solution. The Montavilla Neighborhood Association and some transit advocates have not. The proposed solution, they argue, impedes pedestrian movement for the convenience of motorists; they say it would be better to attack the root of the problem by making the crossing more convenient.

The opponents brought their case to Mayor Sam Adams, who oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and he ordered city staff to put the project on hold while other options were considered. In an April 22 letter he detailed these investigations.

Staff looked at installing a new traffic signal on the south end of the platform, having the buses stop closer to Jonesmore, moving the crosswalk farther south and extending an existing median island through Jonesmore. In all cases, staff concluded, there would be a long distance between the bus stop and a crosswalk (the shape of the bus pullout would not allow buses to stop very close to the intersection), so many riders would continue to try to jaywalk, and the problem would continue.

“As a result, I have come to the conclusion that we must develop a median island structure/fence that ensures that crossings occur in the protected, signalized crossing of 82nd Avenue at Jonesmore,” Adams wrote. “While I understand that not everyone in the community agrees, this conclusion is shared by ODOT, PBOT, TriMet, Portland Police Bureau and the Madison South Neighborhood Association.”

Last month, David Linn of Montavilla and others appealed to the Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program board to resist the fence. (SEUL provides support services for inner Southeast neighborhood groups, as the East Portland Neighborhood Office does for neighborhoods east of 82nd Avenue.) “The process was tainted the whole time by ODOT’s position that no alternative could be discussed,” Linn said.

SEUL board member Pete Jacobson replied, “The mayor’s letter suggests that alternatives were investigated. He seems to have addressed two proposals.”

Critics of the fence have called for mid-block crosswalks without signals. Traffic engineers says this is too dangerous for a state highway with the volume and speed of 82nd, but critics point to other streets, such as Northeast Sandy Boulevard, where they have been installed recently. Another possible solution that was advanced is to build a second stairway to the station platform, eliminating the need to cross the street at all; engineers say this is prohibitively expensive.

The SEUL board declined to take a position on the issue, instead assigning some members to study it.

Adams’s letter did call for at least one more public meeting to discuss the design and appearance of the proposed fence. This had not been scheduled at press time.

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