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I’m hoping to unravel a mystery. It seems like almost no one knows what to do at the two sets of traffic lights that get you from East Burnside over to Northeast Sandy at 14th Avenue. Am I allowed to turn on the red arrow? My husband says turning on the inside lane when the light is red is OK. —Rebecca G.
I’m well acquainted with the intersection you’re talking about, Rebecca—I have to go through it to get to one of my favorite watering holes, the Sandy Hut, and it leaves me at least slightly confused every time. (Just think how baffled I’d be if I had to navigate it on my way home.)
For those who aren’t familiar with it, this intersection is where the East Burnside/Northeast Couch couplet begins, with the two westbound lanes of two-way Burnside running head on into two (of the four) eastbound lanes of one-way Burnside. Normally, this would be a really bad idea, but at the last second traffic in both directions gets shunted 90 degrees to the north onto Northeast 14th Avenue, narrowly averting untold carnage.
Drivers approaching this turn are confronted with two turn lanes and no through lanes, which is unusual. Like you, many drivers aren’t sure if they’re permitted to turn right (or left, if you’re coming from the other direction) on red from the outside lane. Right on red from the right lane is a no-brainer, but for many drivers doing it from the left lane seems sketchy. (Left on red seems even sketchier.)
I won’t keep you in suspense: At press time, you may turn right (or left) on red from either lane. The determining factor isn’t whether you’re in the lane nearest to the turn, it’s whether you’re in a designated turn lane. In this case, there are two turn lanes, but the rules are the same for both. In fact, that red arrow that makes you so nervous is actually proof that you are in a turn lane.
I say “at press time” because by the time you read this, Portland’s City Council may already have moved ahead with a plan to curtail right-on-red at up to 200 Portland intersections. Which ones those might be is TBD, but since both East Burnside and Northeast Sandy are part of the so-called High Crash Network, it’s certainly possible this intersection could be affected. Defenders of the 14th and Burnside status quo, however, have one powerful argument: The city doesn’t need to ban turning right on red here—everyone is already too scared to do it.
