Anyone who needs to get around in Southeast Portland knows of the Curse of 11th Avenue.

Sometimes, the trip from Division Street to Powell Boulevard is a dream. But sometimes, you end up in an endless back up as your takeout dinner turns cold and your children turn into gremlins, while a train blocks your passage down 11th.

Bicyclists at this juncture have even been known to hoist their bikes up and climb through the train -- something that’s neither safe or legal.

#pdxcyclists jump a train near SE 12th and Clinton St. The train began moving 1-2 min. later. pic.twitter.com/Vu5DqF4u5h — Mark Graves (@markwgraves) November 10, 2017

Now, there is a website that will help you avoid this terrible fate.

The site isatrainblocking11th.com is the product of digital agency DevelopmentNow.

“At Southeast 11th and Division,” reads the website’s “About” page, “it regularly sounds like rush-hour gridlock in Manhattan when trains block traffic.”

“The people behind this application work in an office with a birds-eye view of all this,” the “About” section continues, “and we figured we could use our vantage point to everyone’s advantage.”

DevelopmentNow used “AI/machine learning, vision processing, predictive heuristics, and off-the-shelf hardware to build a cloud-based prototype of this application,” according to the site.

The website has two very basic and yet useful functions: it tells you if a train is blocking the intersection and how long it has been there.

So, next time, before you decide which way you are going home, check the site and maybe, just maybe, you can avoid the Curse.

Screenshot via isatrainblocking11th.com

-- Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052 lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker

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