55 or Nothing
What with school is back in session you’d think drivers would be slowing down. That’s simply not the case. In fact, it seems that the average rate of speed on certain Bend arterials and collectors dramatically increases come the start of the school year.
So by way of a public service, how about we collectively “out” all the popular speeding zones around town, compile a list of same, and sent it off to the Bend PD. Bend’s finest are probably well aware of the problem speeding zones but a reminder isn’t bad idea.
In response, please limit your choices to three.
Here are my top three.
Number 1-The Parkway: O.k., the Parkway isn’t a city street but its 45-mph speed limit is a total joke. Just try to drive 45 or even 50 in the left Parkway lane without having an impatient pickup truck or minivan driver on your bumper trying to coax you forcefully to get into the right lane.
For the record, I was on the City Council (then City Commission) when the parkway was approved. At that time the commissioners tried to have the Parkway speed limit set at 55-mph. ODOT turned the commission down flat.
ODOT set the speed limit at 45-MPH. But let’s face it, anyone driving even 55 on the parkway these days is considered a snail. Make it 60 to 70-mph and it would be in line with the current speed of traffic.
Number 2- Greenwood Avenue between Pilot Butte and Third Street (AKA the Early A.M. test track)- Between 50 and 60 mph in either direction is the norm for many drivers on Greenwood during the early morning hours. I have no idea of where they have to get to but they’re getting there fast.
Number 3-The Portland Avenue Speedway- The speed limit is 25-MPH on Portland but after midnight and early in the morning it turns into a training ground for local budding Daryl Earnharts and Jimmie Johnsons. Crank her up to 55 and let ‘er go.
The Portland Avenue Speedway’s other prime speeding time is around two o’clock when there’s a mass exodus from COCC. One suspects the drivers hitting double the posted speed limit at that time are simply anxious to get home to do their homework.
But credit to COCC for expanding the student body size so as to make traffic between the periods cited often a bumper-to-bumper crawl, particularly between five and six p.m. Monday through Friday. And by bumper-to bumper, I mean all the way from College Way to Wall Street and vice-versa.
Not all local speedways are so lucky to get such relief.
So please, send in your picks for those Bend roadways where the need for speed seems to overrule the posted speed limit.
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2009.
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I’ve got a strong local bias here as I’ve got two kids in preschool. But I’d like to see more enforcement in front of all the schools. I can’t believe how people blast by the magnet school down the street from the Source. And I want to put my fist through a wall, or the driver’s nose, when I see some monster truck barrel past my kid’s preschool while a parent, child in hand, waits to cross the street. (It’s also interesting to note how many of these drivers are actually distracted — yakking away on their cell phones.)
People exceed the speed limit on the parkway because the parkway was designed to be driven at 55, but ODOT reduced the posted limit to 45 in response to local pressure.
Posted speed limits are not effective at controlling speeds. Road design is. Design a wide, straight road and people will drive fast on it. Design a narrow, curvy road and people will drive it slowly.
Believe it or not, originally ODOT wanted to build a four-lane bridge where the Bill Healy Bridge is and a straight four-lane road running along the river from the bridge into and through the Old Mill District. Bill Smith said, in effect, there was no friggin’ way he would let them run the Indianapolis Motor Speedway through his project. He also proposed to the city that if a two-lane bridge was built across the river at Columbia Avenue to handle some of the east-west traffic the one upstream could be two lanes also. So we ended up, fortunately, with a two-lane bridge and a curvy two-lane road with roundabouts to slow down traffic. Those who lament that any road or bridge was built there at all should bear in mind that things could have been (and almost were) a lot worse.
see here is the problem, the city planers from the past were to short sighted about the roads, if the roads built east and west, north and south would have been built like they should have been built, there would be speeding on the side streets, blame the planers not the people driving, it a no brainer, people!!!!!!!
NW Quincy Ave, a long straight non stopper!! Locals and COCC students get a run from the top (or bottom to top) of West Hills Ave to Newport Ave stop sign free! After a 30-40 mph run down Quincy watch out for the carnage at the Portland Ave and 11th Street two way stop (Portland stops not 11th). COCC students and cyclist often roll this stop sign making it a hazard for cars and cyclist coming off the hill!
Try driving on 27th street! It’s the exact opposite of what you describe. The speed limit is 45MPH from Butler market to Brosterhaus (sp?). I’m lucky to break 32MPH on most days. Quite often, people drive side-by-side under 35MPH, in turn, backing up traffic. Here’s the funny part. My wife got pulled over on 27th for doing 45 in a 45! The officer thought the speed on 27th was 35. My wife kindly straightened him out.
I ALWAYS make sure I do 20MPH through the Mountain View school zone! However…It’s free game after 5pm!
how ’bout the mt bachelor grand prix, woodman?
“Try driving on 27th street! It’s the exact opposite of what you describe. The speed limit is 45MPH from Butler market to Brosterhaus (sp?).”
I don’t think that’s accurate — I drive that stretch of road a lot and part of it is 35 mph.
Speaking of dumb road design, how about American Lane — a two-lane country road, basically — intersecting with Reed Market, one of our major east-west arterials, with only a stop sign to control traffic? And then to top it off you have morons trying to make left turns off American onto Reed Market during rush hour, backing traffic up half a mile on American. Why the hell the city doesn’t either put in a right-turn lane on American or at least put up a “NO LEFT TURN” sign is something I just can’t figure out.
“the city planers from the past were to short sighted about the roads”
Bend’s street layout is the most confusing and idiotic I’ve ever seen, at least in this country. Streets change their names for no reason, they end somewhere and reappear somewhere else a mile away — it’s completely meshuggah.
one thing that really gets me, i’ve been living here for 19 years and the city still hasn’t figured out how to keep 3rd street, Franklin, and greenwood from flooding, give me a brake. the planers aren’t very smart if you ask me!!!!!! i love it in the mornings when traffic is backed up at the stupid circles at 8 am when school starts, for a 1/2 mile in all directions, ever who thought of circles should be tar and feathered and run out of town, really stupid,
You all have made some pretty valid points. However, the speed posted on these streets is the law. You break it you pay. We need law enforcement or an automated system to snap a picture of you speeding and send you a ticket. This might work for stop lights too. But my biggest beef is with the school buses that travel as fast as the cars on these roads. I was passed by a school bus on Hwy 26 just before Eagle Crest heading east. I was doing 60 mph and a bus load of kids passed me like I was doing 30. I would expect driver’s with our kids on board would have more respect for these traffic laws.
written by H. Bruce Miller , October 04, 2009
“I don’t think that’s accurate — I drive that stretch of road a lot and part of it is 35 mph.”
H. Bruce…Go for a drive. Aside of cars doing 35, you won’t find a “35 MPH” sign on 27th. I do admit, there are a lack of speed signs on 27th st. The ones that do exist are 45 and 20 (MVHS).
I agree on the layout. What happened to the basic grid system?
thats a good one..
What happened to the basic grid system?
I’ll tell you, The planers opted for the stupid round-da-bouts. that messed up the whole GRID system, if you can call it that!!!!
“i love it in the mornings when traffic is backed up at the stupid circles at 8 am when school starts, for a 1/2 mile in all directions, ever who thought of circles should be tar and feathered and run out of town, really stupid,”
The circles (roundabouts) are just about the only smart move, transportation-wise, that this city has made in the last 20 years. If you had a four-way stop there instead of a circle the traffic would be backed up a mile instead of half a mile. Check out the 8th St / Wilson intersection at rush hour.
What screws things up at the roundabouts is people who don’t understand how to use them. You don’t have to stop when entering a roundabout unless there’s a vehicle approaching; the sign at the entrance says YIELD, not STOP. I’ve even seen people stop IN THE MIDDLE of a roundabout to let another car in.
Just because some people are too dumb to figure out how to navigate the roundabouts doesn’t mean they’re a bad idea.
Re 27th St speed limit — I drove it yesterday south from Greenwood to Reed Market and yes, you’re right, the posted speed limit is 45. But there was only ONE speed limit sign on that whole stretch of road — and it was on the opposite (northbound) side! (I had to look over my shoulder to see what it said.)