Funds approved to fix "crosswalk from hell"

There’s good news tonight, but first a little terrifying background.

I often pray for pedestrians trying to cross Capitol Highway at Bertha Court where Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway splits off for the Raleigh Hills hinterland.

These innocents are literally a step away from becoming road kill.

If they are crossing north from the Bertha/Capitol corner, the crosswalk gets them to a small island in the middle of the busy thoroughfare. From there, they are on their own as unimpeded accelerating traffic zips onto Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. They call it a “slip lane,” but it is really more like a freeway on-ramp.

Even though the police recently conducted a well publicized enforcement at the striped but unsignaled crossing, drivers in full acceleration rarely cede the right-of-way to pedestrians.

Led by Don Baack, pedestrian advocate extraordinaire, the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association has lobbied the city for years to fix the blatant problem.

“Do it for kids!” Don has implored the council. Children often must cross the busy street on their way to school. Recently he and others have exclaimed, “Do it for the seniors!” noting that the new Watershed Senior Housing Project will bring elderly pedestrians to the treacherous crossing.

And now the good news: This afternoon, Don and others could declare victory when the city council put $85,000 in the budget to tame the traffic and upgrade the crossing.

Don sent out a celebratory note on his e-mail list (which has a mere 1000 names!) to thank all who wrote, called, testified and jumped up and down to rivet the commissioners' attention on the Capitol/Bertha/B-H Highway danger.

But of course, a lion’s share of thanks should go to Don, and not just now, but (City Hall gods willing) each time a pedestrian makes it safely from one side of Capitol Highway to the other.

Thoughts about walking on a snowy day

Daniel Ronan, a senior at Wilson High School and a Hillsdale Neighborhood Association board member, wrote this as last week's snow was melting:

The snowfall that came to the Portland Metropolitan area on Tuesday crippled the city as many commuters were unable to make their daily trips and buses ran on limited service.

One thing I realized while drinking a mocha at Baker and Spice in Hillsdale, was the number of walkers in the streets.

As we rethink what it means to live in a city, how the issues of land use and transportation affect our planning decisions and how we want to start creating walkable neighborhoods for all to enjoy, let us remember the snow days.

Remember the days where people get out of their cars and take to the streets and buses to get to work, coffee and the bank. Remember that what we envision in Portland are days like the snow days when people and places interact.

The more we work towards neighborhoods that are safe to walk in and enjoy, the more sustainable Portland becomes, and the more Portland becomes a prominent model for rethinking of America's cities.