PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The City of Portland made a change to a 5-way intersection in Northeast Portland as part of its Rose Lane Project to respond to increasing traffic and prioritize transit.
Drivers who frequent the Northeast Sandy Boulevard and Northeast Alameda Street intersection will notice they can no longer travel eastbound on Alameda for a stretch or turn left on the street. That stretch of road is now only open to one way traffic moving westbound.
PBOT says removing two way driver access on that stretch of Alameda will reduce congestion and improving traffic flow. Drivers may also see some noticeable changes which are specified lanes that are for bike and bus use.
With over 2,000 drivers a day using the busy northeast intersection, Dylan Rivera, the spokesperson for PBOT, says banning eastbound traffic for the one block stretch eases things greatly. Even with some neighbors online have expressed concern for the change saying it will just push drivers to the side streets, Rivera says he doesn’t see that happening.
“This is a really narrow, specific change,” said Rivera. “And oftentimes, it takes months to see what happens as people adjust their travel patterns. So, we should not pre-suppose that people are gonna go from that one street to the nearest street in the same direction. There are a lot of different alternative routes people can take and the people will use to adjust their travel when we make an adjustment like this.”
For bus riders who make long trips, officials are saying the Rose Lane Project saves them a lot of time.
PBOT says removing two way driver access on this stretch of Alameda is a small change that makes a big difference in reducing congestion and improving traffic flow.
PBOT continued saying the improvements encourage public transit, thereby reducing carbon emissions. They say the most noticeable changes are specified lanes — red painted roads just for bike and bus use.