After a year of construction, pedestrians can now use the rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) signal hardware at Ash Street to cross SE 82nd Avenue. Crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) completely rebuilt this intersection, creating an extended median island to prevent left turns and provide pedestrians with safer crossing infrastructure that features five street trees and other plantings.
This center median is one of several under construction along 82nd Avenue. It replaced a substantially smaller pedestrian refuge island that once protected the southern crosswalk at the intersection. The addition of the RRFB infrastructure at this juncture creates another safe crossing point between the fully signalized intersections on SE 82nd Avenue at Burnside and SE Stark Streets, halving the 1,200-foot distance between the two lights for pedestrians. This street segment is a growing section of Montavilla with retail activity on both sides of the high-traffic corridor. In the coming years, The Episcopal Church in Western Oregon (ECWO) owned property at 247 SE 82nd Avenue will host affordable housing, and the owner of a vacant property on the southeast corner has the parcel ready for redevelopment.
PBOT’s approach to the mid-street medians on 82nd Avenue reflects a substantial aesthetic design change. In addition to using less concrete in its construction through the creation of large planting beds, cement masons finished large portions of the raised surface with a redbrick pattern. The visually appealing process maintains the durability of standard street element design while softening the typically utilitarian road feature. Although disrupting the traffic flow and removing a center turn lane, these raised median segments do not extend far beyond the intersection, allowing for continued business access by drivers in both directions with only minimal adjustments.
This intersection is fully functional with high-visibility crosswalks and push-button-operated RRFB signals. Within a few years, the City maintained trees should mature into temperature-cooling features that visually separate a wide roadway. People crossing here will have a more predictable traffic pattern as drivers can only travel straight through on SE 82nd Avenue or turn right. Motorists should expect to see more pedestrians in the area and look for the amber flashing lights to indicate they must yield to people crossing.
Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Storied Vintage, a furniture restoration and sales shop at 7850 SE Stark Street. We thank them for their support.