Simmering tensions over the removal of concrete planters on a popular neighborhood greenway in Southeast Portland have reached a low boil. After months of discussions between cycling advocates and transportation bureau staff, the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) is demanding the planters be re-installed or replaced with something that provides the same benefits.
In September of last year, I reported that some Portlanders who bike on Southeast Salmon Street were dismayed when the City of Portland removed barriers placed on the street in 2021 during the Covid-era “Slow Streets” initiative. Officials from the Portland Bureau of Transportation said the yellow-painted planters were a maintenance liability due to being repeatedly hit and moved by car drivers, and that a 2024 directive from the City Traffic Engineer encouraged them to remove temporary infrastructure in favor of more permanent solutions. PBOT said another reason for their removal was a slew of planned safety updates (speed bumps, new crossings, parking restrictions at corners, and so on) on Salmon and other greenways.
But advocates are unsatisfied and say that PBOT’s plans for the greenways don’t come anywhere close to providing the same benefits that the concrete planters once did. Now they’ve upped their concern with a three-page letter endorsed by the BAC.
“The planters improved conditions for bicycling in ways unforeseen by city staff and their removal has resulted in worse conditions,” states the March 13th letter, signed by BAC Chair Jim Middaugh and Vice-chair Joe Perez (and written by BAC member Gianna Bortoli). “The City of Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) is writing to express disappointment and concern regarding the removal of the concrete planters that established the city’s Slow Streets program.”…