This weekend, Portland will create a bus-and-bike-only lane on Southwest Madison Street on a five-block stretch approaching the Hawthorne Bridge.

The lane is the first of 18 projects in the so-called Central City in Motion plan, which officials say will speed up buses through downtown and inner eastside neighborhoods. The $36 million plan, which was approved by the City Council in November, will create transit-dedicated lanes, install protected bike lanes on key streets, and create safer pedestrian crossings on both sides of the Willamette River.

“We were serious when we promised a quick implementation of Central City in Motion,” Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees the transportation department, said in a statement. “This first project on SW Madison will reverberate in the Central City and beyond. When buses move more efficiently, we all benefit.”

The projects are expected to be built during the next five years, but as of November the city had a $9 million funding gap. The lane won’t extend onto the Hawthorne Bridge itself.

Other bus lanes on the approach to downtown bridges are expected to be created later this summer or early fall. A Northwest Everett Street bus and right turn lane may be created in the fall, as the city is coordinating the project with Oregon Department of Transportation and Multnomah County due to the Steel Bridge’s light rail line and other uses. That project, which converts one of the two travel lanes to buses and right-turning vehicles only, also includes shuttering the ramp from southbound Naito Parkway to the bridge. City officials estimate travel speeds grind to less than 5 miles per hour on Everett during rush hour.

An eastbound bus lane on the Burnside Bridge will move forward later this year after the county finishes a maintenance project there.

Jillian Detweiler, executive director at the nonprofit advocacy group The Street Trust, said the first of nine planned new bus or transit lanes in the downtown and inner eastside was a “small piece” but an important one.

“We talk to lots of people who have given up on transit because it takes too long and is not reliable,” she said in a statement. “We can reverse the trend by getting buses out of traffic now.”

Sam Desue, Jr., TriMet’s chief operating officer, said one bus took more than 60 cars off Portland’s streets: “The more our service is fast and reliable, the more likely you’ll hop on board instead of sitting in your car.”

Portland isn’t removing either of the existing two travel lanes on Madison to accommodate the bus lane. Instead, on-street parking dedicated to law enforcement or parking enforcement officers will be removed. The city will install plastic bollards, like those seen on Naito Parkway and other streets, to physically separate the bus and transit lane from other traffic. Cars will no longer be allowed to make right turns onto Southwest Third Avenue from Madison starting this weekend.

A rendering of what the new Madison Street will look like for commuters come Monday morning.Courtesy of PBOT

Hannah Schafer, Portland Bureau of Transportation spokeswoman, said the Madison lane would benefit thousands of transit users who relied on five different bus lines that crossed the Hawthorne Bridge.

“Their trips are going to be quicker through the Central City,” she predicted, saying the Lines 2, 10, 14, 6 and 30 routes provide an estimated 23,000 trips every day.

The city says the protected lane, “provides more space for buses and bikes and reduces potential conflict between buses, cars and bikes. It includes a passing zone to help people on bikes bypass buses stopped at bus stops.”

Portland hopes to paint the new lanes red to make it clearer to travelers in the future, but that transit use is considered “experimental” and the city is awaiting approval from the Federal Highway Administration to paint its pavement.

The city on Friday also announced it had created an 18-member working group to offer design advice on the other 17 projects still in the pipeline. Portland is starting design for the future of Naito Parkway’s permanent protected bike lane, the north-south protected bike lane on Southwest Fourth Avenue between Lincoln and Burnside Street. Those projects, plus a plan to convert Southeast Salmon Street into a neighborhood greenway are expected to go be built in 2020 or 2021.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen

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