Portland leaders and state lawmakers pushed crosswalk and roadway safety Thursday morning as the city grapples with the deaths of 13 pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcycle riders and motorists in traffic crashes.

Eight of the crashes happened in East Portland neighborhoods, said Leah Treat, director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, during a news conference at the intersection of Southeast Stark Street and 151st Avenue. The year-to-date death toll is nearly twice the seven fatalities recorded during the same period last years.

"They're feeling the brunt of traffic violence. Vision Zero is important because we're not going to accept this violence happening on our roadways," Treat said about the city's 2015 initiative aimed to "eliminate serious injuries and deaths on our streets by 2025."

The bureau recently installed 16 rapid-flash beacons, devices that light up for drivers to see pedestrians, who in turn hear "yellow lights are flashing" in English and Spanish. Funded by state lawmakers in 2014, the 16 beacons cost the city $1.9 million, or about $119,000 each.

"Some cost more, some cost less, depending on the hardware, the (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements, whether we're installing/altering curb extensions and median islands, etc.," said Dylan Rivera, bureau spokesman.

Without grant dollars from Metro, the regional government, or the state Legislature, the bureau can only afford to install two beacons per year, said Margi Bradway, the bureau's active transportation division manager.

"Since 2012, we've installed 34 rapid-flash beacons in East Portland," Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick said. "Sixteen of those we installed because of the support of the legislature in funding them."

Just before Novick began speaking at the news conference, a car stopped at a flashing beacon before screeching its tires and speeding away with the occupants hollering from inside the car. Seconds later, a Portland police officer on a motorcycle gave chase.

The bureau and police plan to conduct about eight enforcement stations that send pedestrian decoys to cross a street while officers pay attention to a driver's reaction or lack there of, to the person, Rivera said.

Traffic deaths peaked at 37 in 2015 and bottomed out at 20 in 2008 over a 10-year period ending in 2015, according to the Portland Traffic Safety Report that year.

State Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, said that residents deserve to have safe ways to cross the street, whether they're children, the elderly or in between.

"This is a good start," she said of the beacons, "but we have a lot more to do to ensure safety for everyone in our community."

-- Tony Hernandez

thernandez@oregonian.com

503-294-5928

@tonyhreports