NE San Rafael Street Advisory Bike Lane Project Update

Dear Portland Neighbors,

The project construction season is close to wrapping up and the NE San Rafael Street pavement restoration and restriping project is nearing completion. 

The striping contractor was called away for emergency road repair. City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) staff is working with them to complete the sections of the street that are missing line markings, that includes NE San Rafael Street from 122nd to 125th avenues.

Part of the project included advisory bike lanes on portions of NE San Rafael Street. During project outreach City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) staff heard concerns from residents, particularly around how the advisory bike lanes would work on NE San Rafael Street between NE 132nd and NE 148th avenues. The advisory bike lanes are on hold for NE San Rafael Street between NE 132nd and NE 148th avenues while further evaluation takes place.   

PBOT has several advisory bike lane projects built and additional locations scheduled throughout the city. Information about the advisory bike lane projects are available at http://www.portland.gov/transportation/ABL. The NE San Rafael Street project team plans to evaluate more advisory bike lane projects, including on the section of NE San Rafael Street between NE 111th and NE 122 avenues before returning to the neighborhood with a proposal for NE San Rafael Street between NE 132nd and NE 148th avenues.  

Based on evaluations of other advisory bike lane projects, PBOT staff will reach back out to Russell and Wilkes residents and community organizations to share the results of our evaluations and discuss next steps for NE San Rafael Street from NE 132nd to NE 148th avenues. PBOT expects to share those results with community members later in 2023. 

Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication with the striping contractor and they inadvertently installed some of the bicycle pavement markings on NE San Rafael Street between NE 132nd and NE 148th avenues. Those markings will be removed. The removal will not compromise the recent pavement preservation work. 

PBOT fully expects advisory bike lanes to make NE San Rafael Street safer and more accessible. In response to community concerns, we want to ensure safety and accessibility goals are met before extending advisory bike lanes into the Wilkes and Russell neighborhoods. PBOT looks forward to continuing community conversations and working together to make the transportation system safer and more accessible to all Portlanders. 

Sincerely, 

Scott Cohen