PDX Traffic Alert: Waterfront Blues Festival Starts Moving In On Sunday

The Waterfront Blues Festival, which is expected to draw some 25,000 people a day when it starts next Friday,is starting to get set up on Sunday.

And that means there are going to be traffic inconveniences.

Starting Sunday, organizers will be using the easternmost northbound lane of Naito Parkway starting at SW Clay for loading activities related to the festival.

This lane configuration will exist 24 hours a day starting Sunday morning and lasting through Thursday.

Starting Friday, the lane conversion of the northbound lane of SW Naito Parkway will begin a SW Clay Street and extend to NW Davis Street to accommodate people traveling to or around the Waterfront Blues Festival at the southern end of Waterfront Park.

The conversion is intended to create a safe way for people to get to and around Waterfront Park and will link up with the existing Better Naito configuration that people have become accustomed to.

As part of creating safe access for people to travel to and around the Oregon Blues Festival, motor vehicle traffic heading to the Hawthorne Bridge will be detoured to the Hawthorne Bridge onramp on SW Main Street. The Hawthorne Bridge ramp from Naito will be closed to motor vehicle traffic July 1-4.

Photo: Waterfront Blues Festival