Oregon transportation officials plan to close 181 crosswalks around the Portland metro area, alarming some who say it will make already dangerous roads less safe for pedestrians, cyclists and people with disabilities.
The closures come after Oregon Department of Transportation in 2017 settled a lawsuit with the advocacy group Disability Rights Oregon and agreed to bring some 25,000 sidewalk curb ramps into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
For dozens of crossings from eastern Washington County to Hood River, though, that will mean putting up a “crosswalk closed” sign. ODOT spokesperson Kevin Glenn said some of the locations can’t accommodate a compliant ramp because of something blocking the way, and others are poorly lit or have previously been the site of crashes that injured or killed people crossing the street.
“As we prioritize safe crossings, we are closing unmarked, unsafe and inaccessible crossings on the state-owned system,” Glenn wrote in an email. He also said that for most of the crossings being closed, another safe, accessible one is open within 300 feet. He said safe access for public transit stops will remain the same.
The closure signs will be installed in batches throughout the year. Glenn said a few of the crosswalks may be reopened in the future, if the state rebuilds the crosswalks and adds new signals. But he said some are simply not safe enough to use, even with accessibility improvements.
“For example, if there is a concrete median in the middle of the road and a pedestrian bridge is directly adjacent, it’s unlikely that closed crossing will be a candidate for near-term improvement,” Glenn said.
In Oregon, every intersection is considered a crosswalk, whether marked or not. Glenn said none of the closures are marked crosswalks.
But the closures could have legal ramifications for pedestrians. Personal injury lawyer Charley Gee said a person could be cited for crossing at the “crosswalk closed” signs for failure to obey a traffic control device.
“Basically, they’ve taken a way for them to cross legally and safely and made it a violation,” he said.
And if a person crossing at a newly closed intersection is hit by a car, the driver is unlikely to be held liable for their injuries in court. The case would be “unwinnable,” Gee said.
Disability Rights Oregon, which filed the lawsuit against ODOT, said the agency should have tried to fix the crosswalks instead.
“It’s not clear to me that ODOT has actually tried to make those crosswalks safer or considered the many ways they can make them usable,” said Tom Stenson, Disability Rights Oregon’s lead attorney on the ODOT lawsuit. “Using their own descriptions, it seems like there should be easy ways to reduce these problems, like putting in pedestrian signals where there are none and shifting crosswalks around obstructions.”
Stenson said he was also concerned about ODOT’s lack of public process and transparency in how they decided to close the crosswalks, as well as the sheer number of closures.
The announcement has frustrated pedestrian and bike groups, who say the closures will make roads even more dangerous during a time when pedestrian deaths are increasing.
Zachary Lauritzen, interim director of the group Oregon Walks, said his organization was taken aback by the announcement of the closures.
Lauritzen said some of the crosswalk closures make sense. But others, he said, raise the risk of people getting struck by cars.
“Human nature is not to walk, in some cases, 300 to 400 feet away to a crosswalk,” he said. “It’s to just cross where they can, and that’s where people get hurt.”
The Street Trust, a pedestrian and bike advocacy group, put out a call for concerns about specific sidewalks slated for closure. It received nearly 70 comments in the first weekend, said Executive Director Sarah Iannarone.
“People like access to the amenities in their neighborhood and want to be able to access drug stores, retail and restaurants on every corner,” Iannarone said. “Some folks said that the closure was the only crossing, or the safest crossing.”
Iannarone said the closures could have an outsized impact on students and their families. She worries that parents will not allow their children to walk or bike to school, even if they live close by, because of the increased danger.
That, she said, could leave families to drive their kids to school, spending time or money they might not have. The state highways in Portland where the closures will occur are lined with big housing complexes, some reserved for low-income residents.
“With increasing gas prices, every dollar spent on gas is not spent on food,” she said. “Kids could be walking to school, but can’t because of safety.”
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com
