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  • PBOT Says “No” to Bike Lanes for Hawthorne Blvd

  • Source: PBOT

    In case you haven’t heard, PBOT just announced its decision not to add bike lanes to SE Hawthorne Blvd east of SE 24th. When it repaves Hawthorne this coming summer, PBOT will restripe it with parking lanes on each side, a through-traffic lane in each direction, and a center turning lane -- but no bicycle lanes. This is instead of the current configuration (west of Cesar Chavez Blvd) of parking lanes and two traffic lanes in each direction. The new configuration west of Cesar Chavez matches the current setup from Cesar Chavez to SE 50th.

    Instead of bike lanes on Hawthorne, PBOT proposes additional north-south greenway connections from the parallel Salmon/Taylor and Lincoln/Harrison greenways to Hawthorne at SE 23rd, SE 34th, SE 37th, and SE 45th. Instead of riding comfortably along Hawthorne to find your favorite store, you get to ride to the nearest cross-street and then ride with the Hawthorne traffic. The neighborhood streets are already low-stress, so these new connections won’t make much practical difference unless traffic signals are provided to help get across Hawthorne.

    PBOT identified 11 locations for possible future pedestrian crosswalks of this busy street. Some locations may get median islands, marked crosswalks, and better street lighting -- but these improvements are not promised since they depend upon future funding.

    Source: PBOT

    Looking at the overall map, PBOT has not one but two projects that will have a major impact on SE Hawthorne in 2021. The Central City in Motion plan will convert the existing bike lanes to protected bike lanes from the Hawthorne Bridge to SE 12th and reduce the eastbound traffic lanes from three to two. Put together, the two projects leave a gap along the north side of Ladd’s Addition, from SE 12th to SE 24th that will still have 4 lanes of traffic with no turning lane. That situation can’t last long.