By Naomi Granek Brown
Portland is one of the most biked cities in America, with an estimated four percent of residents regularly biking to work. Although Portland has substantial biking infrastructure in place, bike commuters still face many barriers. For SE residents and commuters, one of the main challenges is navigating the train tracks.
One of Portland’s solutions to this has been installing bridges that go over the tracks, and commuter elevators to access them. There are two sets of commuter elevators crossing the tracks in SE Portland: two on SE Rhine St. and SE 17th Ave., which are funded by TriMet, and the Bob Stacey elevators on SE Gideon St., which are funded by Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT). These elevators are designed to provide a way for pedestrians and cyclists to cross train tracks without having to wait for trains to pass, making their commute shorter. However, since their installation, the Bob Stacey elevators have regularly been closed due to vandalism, damage or mechanical failures.
Jocelyn Muller, a resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood who bikes to work, says that the train tracks “present a major barrier to commuting,” and the Bob Stacey elevators are “vital to [the Brooklyn] neighborhood’s access to schools, grocery stores and almost all city services.”
Darin Lund, a bike bus co-leader at Winterhaven School and Richmond neighborhood resident, says that he can “confidently say that one of the two elevators connecting the north-south bridge is usually closed,” adding that in his five years of biking to Winterhaven with his kids, it is “exceedingly rare for both elevators to be functional at the same time.”
Lund and his children, students at Winterhaven, use the elevators frequently during the school year. He bikes to school most school days and says that he uses the elevators when there is a Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) train blocking the tracks at SE 12th Ave. near SE Clinton St., which typically ends up being between two and five times per week. Another Winterhaven parent says that one of the elevators was closed due to mechanical issues for the whole last month of the school year.
While there are stairs accompanying the elevators—which were installed to help bikers and people with mobility issues—Lund says that the stairs are “not a functional option for us or many of the kids and families riding bikes to school,” because bikes are “often too heavy, too long or won’t fit in the wheel rails provided to get up the stairs.”
When the elevators are closed, the trip to school is “significantly more challenging” for Lund, his children and the other elementary and middle school students on their bike bus. They have to take a “long detour across busy and unsafe SE Powell Blvd.…, wait for the train blocking the tracks…or try to lift our bikes up and down the many flights of stairs on each side of the bridge.” This is especially dangerous for children commuting to school, and can directly decrease the number of students biking—the number one reason people do not bike is a lack of safe infrastructure.
The elevators have been a stain on PBOT’s goals of accessibility and alternative vehicle-centric infrastructure since their installation. Named after late city councilor Bob Stacey, who said in 2022 that they are “a mark against us as a community,” they have likely been closed more than they have been open. Lund echoes this statement, saying that “The elevators and north-south crossing should be hailed as a huge win in terms of access and mobility but often present a huge obstacle instead.”
In an attempt to combat this problem, PBOT is planning to install shatterproof glass with the hope of preventing further vandalism, though it had been unable to locate the necessary $150,000 in funding. On May 21, three SE Portland city councilors pledged funding from their council office budgets to fix the elevators. Led by Steve Novick, who pledged $110,000, and Tiffany Koyama Lane and Angelita Morillo, who each pledged $20,000, the necessary $150,000 has now been located.
However, it is unclear if simply installing bulletproof glass will be sufficient, as vandalism has not been the only problem plaguing the elevators. Another has been drug use, with many commuters reporting seeing open drug use in the elevators. A Winterhaven parent and bike bus participant says she has frequently seen “feces and drug paraphernalia” in the elevators.
Lund believes that while the elevators “could benefit from funding,” said funding “must provide for ongoing and regular maintenance and safety patrols, especially at peak hours in the morning and in the afternoon when students and families are more apt to be using them.” To ensure the elevators can remain open, the most important thing to fund is maintenance, “at least twice daily at peak hours and regular security patrols,” as well as an alert button or phone number to inform the city or maintenance staff of any issues necessitating immediate attention. He believes these solutions could prevent issues from “snowballing into something far more challenging such as elevator disrepair.”
“City staff, especially those with decision-making influence, are welcome to join our bike bus on a trip to school to better understand the issues and challenges present near the elevators,” adds Lund.
PBOT estimates the new glass will be installed by this fall.
The South Bob Stacey elevator and overpass, with a board on one of the elevator windows. Photo by Naomi Granek Brown.
