Seven recently built flashing crosswalks in east Portland, like this one at Northeast 122nd Avenue and Russell Street, await activation

Seven recently built flashing crosswalks in east Portland, like this one at Northeast 122nd Avenue and Russell Street, await activation.
STAFF/2016

The following east Portland on-demand beacon crosswalks are disabled and await either a PGE power drop or a Portland Bureau of Transportation drive-by and pick-up of the orange-striped barricade fencing, barrels and pylons currently blocking access by all to the relatively few marked crosswalks on the east side of 82nd Avenue:

• Northeast 122nd Avenue at Russell Street
• Northeast 117th Avenue at Glisan Street
• Northeast 106th Avenue at Weidler Street
• Southeast 122nd Avenue at Boise Street
• Northeast 102nd Avenue at Wygant Street
• Northeast 137th Avenue at Halsey Street
• the 13000 block of Northeast Glisan Street

Some have been in this disabled condition for more than a month. The crosswalk at Southeast 122nd Avenue and Boise Street appears to have a power drop but remains closed, perhaps awaiting a PBOT crew to drive by and pick up the barricades that now take it out of play.

The crosswalk at the corner of Northeast 117th Avenue and Glisan Street has a storied past. This notorious crosswalk in which pedestrian Vijay Dalton-Gibson’s life was taken more than two years ago had already been slated for a makeover to include a demand switch and a flashing beacon strobe light. (“Incorrectly oriented markers dangerous to the blind” MCM November 2015).

Asked about these disabled crosswalks dotted all over east Portland, PBOT’s John Brady explained via email that many nearly completed demand beacon crosswalks await only a power drop and “activation” or mere activation and that “PBOT endeavors to complete these installations soon.”

The closure of this highly visible and nearly completed crosswalk by the city is an edifice and silent epitaph. Moreover, it leaves a one-mile-long stretch of Northeast Glisan between 102nd and 122nd avenues without a single working marked crosswalk.

For further information, contact PBOT Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera at dylan.rivera@portlandoregon.gov or call him at 503-823-3723.