Simmering tensions over the removal of concrete planters on a popular neighborhood greenway in Southeast Portland have reached a low boil. After months of discussions between cycling advocates and transportation bureau staff, the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) is demanding the planters be re-installed or replaced with something that provides the same benefits.
In September of last year, I reported that some Portlanders who bike on Southeast Salmon Street were dismayed when the City of Portland removed barriers placed on the street in 2021 during the Covid-era “Slow Streets” initiative. Officials from the Portland Bureau of Transportation said the yellow-painted planters were a maintenance liability due to being repeatedly hit and moved by car drivers, and that a 2024 directive from the City Traffic Engineer encouraged them to remove temporary infrastructure in favor of more permanent solutions. PBOT said another reason for their removal was a slew of planned safety updates (speed bumps, new crossings, parking restrictions at corners, and so on) on Salmon and other greenways.
But advocates are unsatisfied and say that PBOT’s plans for the greenways don’t come anywhere close to providing the same benefits that the concrete planters once did. Now they’ve upped their concern with a three-page letter endorsed by the BAC.
“The planters improved conditions for bicycling in ways unforeseen by city staff and their removal has resulted in worse conditions,” states the March 13th letter, signed by BAC Chair Jim Middaugh and Vice-chair Joe Perez (and written by BAC member Gianna Bortoli). “The City of Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) is writing to express disappointment and concern regarding the removal of the concrete planters that established the city’s Slow Streets program.”
The letter lists five specific benefits that have “disappeared” along with the planters:
- Improved intersection visibility and comfort
- Increased left turn calming and reduced dangerous passing
- Indication that “these streets are for biking” and priority is given to people biking and walking
- Improving wayfinding by creating a visible gateway to the greenways
- Signaling to people on bikes that PBOT cares about bicycling and safety
Perez, the BAC vice chair, feels PBOT erred in calling for the removal of the concrete barrels. He believes the engineering directive requires project managers to keep temporary materials in place until updated designs are installed. Perez and others worry that PBOT removed dozens of concrete planters and left nothing of substance in their place.
PBOT says they’ve tried to have removals followed immediately by other planned upgrades, but timing hasn’t always aligned. PBOT also claims that their analysis shows the concrete planters have not lowered driver speeds or the volume of car traffic on greenways. But some advocates claim even if that is true, the planters’ myriad other benefits are lost.
During a discussion about the removals at the February BAC meeting, Perez said (via meeting minutes), “I hope you know, removing planters discourages people from riding bikes. Removal of these planters has discouraged me from biking on Salmon.”
Claire Vlach, a widely-respected advocate affiliated with several transportation nonprofits and who’s also volunteered on several PBOT committees over the years, says the agency’s decision to remove the planters is a red flag. “PBOT’s failure to recognize that people liked the planters and that they provided important safety benefits — both real and perceived — is problematic,” Vlach wrote in an email to BikePortland today. “And shows a lack of understanding of the impacts of their infrastructure on street users.”
Vlach says an easy solution would be to simply bolt the planters to the street, which would make them no longer trigger removal as per the 2024 engineering directive on temporary materials. In fact, Vlach claims she got that idea directly from PBOT Operations and Maintenance Group Director Jody Yates. “The planters would need to be emptied, bolted down, and then refilled, but would no longer be able to be moved out of place by people driving their vehicles into them,” Vlach explained.
Dozens of these planters have been removed citywide (not just on SE Salmon), leaving many folks to wonder why PBOT would downgrade these important bike streets and not replace them with something just as robust and popular. Advocates like Vlach and Perez plan to keep the pressure on PBOT.
“We advise PBOT to do everything within its authority to provide inexpensive, effective treatments that make people feel safer and more comfortable when riding on these bikeways,” the committee’s letter reads. “The yellow planters accomplished that and any replacements need to offer those same feelings.”
(I’ve reached out to PBOT for comment but have not yet heard back.)