This month, TriMet will host an open house focused on bus priority concepts for the 82nd Avenue Transit Project. The April 23rd in-person event follows a previous TriMet gathering on January 22nd that centered on general project goals and bus stop consolidation. As part of the open house, organizers have also posted an online survey seeking input on outer lane usage along 82nd Avenue for bus travel and right-turning motorists. Beyond those questions regarding where project designers should implement Business Access and Transit (BAT) lanes, the survey looks at high-level cost tradeoffs associated with those additions to speed up transit times for riders. TriMet also asks respondents about intersection widening at high traffic junctions, which could significantly expand project costs with land acquisition expenses but provide higher capacity for motorists and the planned FX Bus Rapid Transit system.

Since TriMet began work to extend its FX (Frequent Express) transit option along 82nd Avenue, Portlanders have wanted to know more about the potential conversion of outer travel lanes on 82nd Avenue into bus lanes. This reconfiguration would leave one travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane in some areas. Motorists would still have access to the outer bus lanes to turn right into parking lots or onto cross streets. People exiting a business’s parking lot could also turn right onto the BAT lane so they could merge with traffic at a matched speed. TriMet has two proposed deployments for BAT lanes on Portland’s seven-mile segment of 82nd Avenue. One option is to create those dedicated lanes in both directions at the northern and southern sections. They generally extend between NE Lombard and NE Tillamook Streets at the north end and SE Foster Road to SE Clatsop Street in the south. Another proposal would build BAT lanes on both sides of the street from NE Lombard to SE Clatsop Streets.

Traffic flow specialists working with TriMet have looked at the proposals and estimated how each option would improve bus travel times and slow car travel time. In both scenarios, the numbers for each metric only change by up to five minutes. However, that assumes a percentage of 82nd Avenue traffic diverts to other parallel routes like Interstate 205. Adding BAT lanes is not the only tool TriMet plans to implement for fast service on this transit line. TriMet leaders expect the 82nd Avenue Transit Project to speed up bus trips on the former 72 bus line by up to 20% through features already seen on the FX 2 line along SE Division Street. These include consolidating existing stops, bus platforms with near-level boarding at all three doors of longer busses, and eliminating delays caused by cyclists loading bikes onto the front of the bus due to internal bike space within the new vehicle. Transit-signal priority, allowing buses and signals to communicate for better intersection efficiency, offers another highly impactful design, reducing delays during congested travel times.

The survey contains specific details for anyone interested in this part of the 82nd Avenue Transit Project. TriMet staff will present more information at the April 23rd in-person Open House hosted by Portland Community College’s Southeast campus. The event will occur in the Great Hall of the Mount Tabor Building at 2305 SE 82nd Avenue from 4 to 6:30 p.m. The online survey will remain open through 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 27th.

Disclosure: The author of this article serves on the 82nd Avenue Transit Project Community Advisory Committee (CAC).

Map graphics courtesy TriMet