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The Portland City Council passed an emergency ordinance from Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty directing the Portland Bureau of Transportation to create a school zone on Southeast 26th Avenue adjacent to Grover Cleveland High School.
That’s where local chef Sarah Pliner, 50, was killed by a truck while cycling on Oct. 4.
Hardesty’s ordinance also requested that the Oregon Department of Transportation establish a school zone on Southeast Powell Boulevard. PBOT manages city streets, including 26th Avenue, while ODOT manages Powell and other arterial roads.
“I want to hold ODOT to their word and am optimistic we can work together as partners to make the streets around all Portland schools safer and start transforming Southeast Powell Boulevard,” Hardesty said in a statement before the vote.
Powell is considered a high-crash corridor by PBOT, and 17 people have died there since 2017, Hardesty said. “High-crash network streets” make up 8% of Portland roads but account for more than half of traffic deaths, according to PBOT.
Making Powell Boulevard a school zone near Cleveland High would lower the speed limit there to 20 miles per hour when signs are flashing or during school hours, according to PBOT. Powell is among the city’s busiest streets. Beyond the city limits, it becomes Highway 26, running westward to the Oregon Coast and eastward toward Mount Hood.
Almost 34,000 cars and trucks pass 26th Avenue on Powell each day, according to ODOT.
“Staff from both PBOT and ODOT have been working together over the past two weeks to develop ways we can make Southeast Powell Boulevard safer, particularly in the area around Cleveland High School,” PBOT spokesman Don Hamilton said in a statement. “We support the efforts of Portland City Council to drive immediate action on this issue.”
PBOT plans to install the school zone signage on 26th Avenue tomorrow, Hardesty said.
On Thursday, state Sen. Kathleen Taylor (D-Portland) and state Reps. Rob Nosse (D-Portland) and Karin Power (D-Milwaukie) will hold a community forum on improving safety on Powell, specifically the intersection at Cleveland High School. It is scheduled for 6 pm in the Cleveland High auditorium.
In addition to the traffic deaths, the intersection of 26th and Powell has been the scene of tragic maimings. On May 10, 2015, a cyclist named Alistair Corkett, then 22, was struck by the driver of a pickup truck at the same intersection and lost one of his legs, according to The Oregonian. Weeks later, Peter Anderson was bicycling through the intersection and was struck by a Jeep, breaking his leg.
