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West Burnside Safety Improvements
Submitting Company: Harper Houf Peterson Righellis
Location: Portland
Cost: $2.4 million (total project cost; HHPR cost $197,490)
Owner/Developer: City of Portland – Portland Bureau of Transportation
Engineer: Harper Houf Peterson Righellis
HHPR Consultants: Global Transportation Engineering (drafting, geometric design), RhinoOne Geotechnical (geotechnical engineer)
PBOT Consultants: Kittelson & Associates (traffic engineer), Lancaster Mobley (traffic signals), Reyes Engineering (street lighting engineer)

The West Burnside Safety Improvements project between NW 18th and 19th avenues presents a new approach to addressing multimodal safety in complex urban intersections. It involved concepts such as a protected intersection, cycle track, and phased pedestrian and bike priority signaling.

The protected intersection is a relatively new design concept in the United States that has been gaining popularity across the country during the past few years. This project is the first in Portland to include a protected intersection. The use of raised islands at the approach to the intersection channelizes bicycles and protects them while making both crossing and turning movements.

Within the two intersections, there are five major one-way traffic movements that impact pedestrian and bike crossings. To establish a safe design, the Portland Bureau of Transportation and the consultant team applied high-visual indicators for all users to understand how to navigate the intersections. These visuals include signage, striping and bright green paint.

A uniquely phased signal was implemented for this high-crash corridor to mitigate traffic that would often gridlock the surrounding streets and delay traffic on West Burnside during peak hours. Bikes, pedestrians and vehicles all have their own priority phases, providing safe and optimized traffic flow.