Portland Passes Emergency Measure On Division Speed Limit

After a year that saw five people killed in crashes on outer Southeast Division, the Portland City Council passed an emergency measure on Thursday to lower the speed limit to 30 miles per hour.

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The measure covers Southeast Division from 82nd Avenue to the city's border with Gresham, 174th Avenue.

In 2016, five people - more than 10 percent of the 44 people who were killed in crashes in Portland - died on that stretch. On December 7, two people died within hours of each in separate crashes.

"The correlation between speed and serious injury or death is clear," said Transportation Commissioner Dan Saltzman. "We must ensure that all streets in our city are safe for people walking, biking, rolling or driving. I am grateful to my colleagues on City Council for understanding and supporting this urgent situation."

The Portland Bureau of Transportation will begin switching the signage on Friday. The new, lower limit will go into effect once all of the signs are in place.

Over 10 years, SE Division has had more crashes that caused fatalities or serious injuries to people driving than any other corridor in the city with a total of 13 deaths and 117 serious injuries. It had the fourth highest total for people walking, and the second highest total for people riding bicycles.

Outer SE Division is on the designated High Crash Network due to the high rate of crashes on the street.

PBOT says that the city has also accelerated the installation of speed safety cameras on SE Division at SE 151st and on SE 122nd at SE Steele and SE Reedway.

Officials say that safety cameras are proven safety tools that can reduce dangerous speeding and save lives.

The cameras are mounted along High Crash Corridors and when people driving past them exceed the posted speed limit, they capture photos and video for review by Portland Police.

The speed safety cameras on SE Division and SE 122nd will be activated on Monday, March 6, 2017. The cameras will issue warnings for the first 30 days. Thereafter, people can avoid citations by traveling the posted speed limit. Any money received from the tickets pays for the program and safety improvements on the corridor.

Speed limits are normally set by the Oregon Department of Transportation. There is a provision that allows cities to declare a safety emergency and set a lower limit for 120 days.

Photo PBOT