13 Trial Lawyer • Fall 2022 details about the man who died at SE 125th other than he was also an older person and was trying to cross the road where a crosswalk was desperately needed. Sadly, he would not be the last to die on Powell between SE 122nd Ave. and SE 134th Ave. before it would undergo significant improvements. Slow change Old design theory emphasizes vehicle flows and de-emphasizes anything that hinders flow. Complete streets emphasize all modes of transportation. For Powell, the lanes would go from two to three with the new one for turning reducing backups or worse passing on the right, which is extremely dangerous. What lighting Powell had was only on one side, was spaced far apart and only illuminated the road surface, not where pedestrians might be. The stretch between 122nd and 136th is just under a half mile. It had no sidewalks and no crosswalks. To more safely cross the road one had to walk through mud and puddles, in the dark, to an intersection with a traffic signal. The new design has eight-foot-wide sidewalks with a green strip or trees between the sidewalk and the street. Streetlights line both sides of the road and illuminate both the street and the sidewalk. Three high visibility signalized crosswalks exist now where there had been none, two of which are located where the people mentioned above died. More could have been done. Advocates wanted protected or elevated bike lanes. Instead, the bike lanes are colored green to delineate them, and they are wider. The speed limit has been reduced but not enough, and there are no radar cameras to deter speeding. These would truly have made this segment of Powell a complete street. Change is happening slowly, but we are moving in the right direction. Much more must be done to make our streets safe for all of our users. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that access to walking and biking infrastructure is critical to people's health and well-being. This is especially true in lowincome and BIPOC communities, where the conditions are still causing a majority of fatalities and injuries. We must be intentional about how we invest in underserved communities moving forward. We must also be intentional about the legal requirements for operating a motor vehicle to ensure safety is prioritized to keep all users of the public right of way safe. Ashton Simpson is the Executive Director at Oregon Walks, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting walking and making the conditions for walking safe, convenient and attractive throughout the Portland metropolitan region. The address for Oregon Walks is PO Box 2252 Portland, OR 97208. Simpson can be reached at ashton@ oregonwalks.org or 503-729-1221. Kem Marks gestures to the improvements made in the area along Powell near where70-year-old pedestrian Valentine Khubeyeva was killed while trying to cross the street. The redesigned sidewalk, including a dedicated bike lane help make the area safer.
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