Crews recently replaced the speed and red-light enforcement cameras on 82nd Avenue after Portland City officials switched vendors this summer. The pole-mounted equipment appears inactive, with the Tuffak polycarbonate lens covers still donning its logoed protective film. However, drivers can anticipate the system’s activation, with a period of warning letters issued before the City switches to issuing citations for excessive speeds or failing to stop for a red traffic signal.
Around the beginning of August 2025, crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) removed the newer intersection safety camera systems the City of Portland installed along 82nd Avenue the previous year. In summer 2024, crews installed new cameras along 82nd Avenue and in other areas of the City to deter speeding and running red lights in crash-prone areas. The camera system installed at 82nd Avenue at E Burnside Street monitored an intersection where a speeding vehicle killed an area resident in October 2023. Cameras at NE 82nd Avenue and Glisan Street monitored multiple directions of traffic where a driver hit and killed a wheelchair user in April 2023. The equipment removal was not an effort to reduce automated enforcement but instead supported a citywide effort to replace camera equipment with newer systems developed by NovoaGlobal, making that company the sole supplier and operator of the City’s speed and intersection safety camera program.
The City had 32 camera positions before the vendor switch, and the Portland Police Bureau operates two mobile Traffic Division speed enforcement vans that the City will also upgrade with NovoaGlobal equipment. For some City leaders, that is too few to reduce risky driving behavior adequately, and they advocate expanding the program. This summer, Portland City Councilor Steve Novick said in a KOIN News interview that he is interested in emulating other jurisdictions with fewer traffic fatalities per capita that have substantially more cameras in use. However, some residents oppose the automated cameras used in issuing citations. Objections voiced include concerns about excessive government surveillance, fining drivers instead of building infrastructure that encourages safety, and the inequitable distribution of cameras across the City that could penalize poorer communities.
The City will add three intersections to the safety camera network as part of the vendor switch-out work, increasing PBOT’s tools to support its goal of eliminating vehicular-related deaths and serious injuries on city streets. Those locations include southbound monitoring on NE 82nd Avenue at Fremont Street and northbound NE 82nd Avenue at Klickitat Street near Glenhaven Park and Leodis V. McDaniel High School. Other nearby network expansions will focus on SE Powell Boulevard.
PBOT notes that incidents involving speeds above posted limits are a top contributing factor to deadly crashes across the Portland region. Additionally, ignoring traffic signals causes a significant number of crashes. Some street safety advocates in favor of citation-based deterrents stress the importance of changing harmful road behavior through a variety of methods, including fines. Camera citations are not the only solution needed for safer streets. However, a majority of surveyed Portland residents support the expanded use of traffic cameras.
Opponents of automated camera-based systems worry about privacy implications that could track drivers across Portland and the danger that city budgets will become dependent on fines, favoring revenue growth over correcting harmful behavior. Rules on camera placement and revenue use can limit the potential for misuse. PBOT’s website indicates that the program will only retain video footage not used in a citation for 30 days. Additionally, State law requires municipalities to spend the money collected from speeding tickets to cover the program’s costs or to pay for safety improvements and programs on the High Crash Network.
Drivers in Portland can expect to see up to 35 cameras operational by the end of 2025 if installation crews keep to schedule. Motorists should anticipate system activation at any time and travel cautiously.
Correction: Updated to indicate Intersection safety cameras issue citations for speeding and red light running and removed yellow light running. PBOT notes that going through a yellow light in Oregon is a violation if you are able to stop prior to entering the intersection.
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