A woonerf in...Portland?

Yesterday we toured five different bike/ped facilities that have been implemented here in Delft, Netherlands. They included a woonerf, protected intersection, single lane roundabout, bicycle boulevard and a two way cycle track. We observed the locations and discussed them with our small groups. Our task was to document those observations and propose a place in our own cities where one of the facilities could be implemented. I chose the woonerf and to implement in my own neighborhood, Kenton.

A woonerf is a shared space for pedestrians, bicyclists and autos that is designed to limit speed and force users to interact and communicate their intended movements. There are usually no markings and only a single sign demarcating the woonerf area. Woonerf is a Dutch word meaning woon = live and erf = homestead. It a livable and usable space for everyone and is not dominated by auto traffic. The area that we observed today was possibly the first woonerf in the world and was implemented in a poor neighborhood that was experiencing a lot of cut through traffic.

This area containing woonerven is shown in red below:

We walked around this area and observed the elements that make up a woonerf. We walked up the main area and had no interactions with autos. I only saw one van drive through and a handful of bicyclists. There was a woman sitting on a park bench outside talking with a man. It was a pretty quiet area. A lot of people had their names printed on their door which is something I haven’t seen elsewhere or maybe just haven’t noticed. Also, there was parking on one side of the street and sometimes it would switch sides on each sides of the intersection.

Below are pictures of the area.

Even though the cars were very small they didn’t always fit into the parking spots.

A woonerf sign

Michael and Astrid live here :)

The sidewalks are very narrow and sometimes impossible to walk on. Some are covered in vegetation. There were small concrete bollards in front of doors.

The woonerf uses many textures to define the spaces. The picture below shows part of an intersection where the “sidewalk” texture covers the whole intersection and each leg has a transition of the “auto” texture with a slight ramp up to the “sidewalk” texture. There are no crosswalk markings and the curb radiuses of the buildings are very small which makes the intersection feel smaller. It also requires vehicles to slow down more when turning. 

Intersection within a woonerf

As a resident of the Kenton neighborhood and a resident of a house on Denver Ave, I experience a lot of noise from vehicular traffic especially trucks and busses but not to mention loud cars or motorcycles. Drivers speed on Denver Ave, sometimes running stop signs in the “main street” section Denver Ave. Thru traffic on Denver Ave is usually headed to I-5 Northbound because there is no northbound ramp at the nearest interchange on Lombard. You can take Interstate Ave north to get on I-5 NB but going up Denver is easier as there are no signals. Also, the Lombard at Interstate Ave is over capacity and sometimes you have to wait multiple cycles to get through the intersection. That same intersection is also a Top 5% SPIS site so it’s one to avoid if you can. 

A location map and street view picture are shown below:

The historic Kenton main street area is very unique and has many amenities. There are restaurants, bars, residential above the commercial stores, pet store, antique and consignment shops, screen printing store, meat store, library, liquor store, a dance shop, a boxing gym, a coffee shop, a fly fishing store, a hari salon, two barbershops, a bike shop, a post office, a large park, a wellness center and the list goes on. Not to mention the Dancing Bare (strip club) and the Kenton MAX station. Bus Route #4 runs on Denver Ave and there is a large Paul Bunyan statue that greets visitors on the north end.

The Kenton neighborhood closes down a side street for the farmer’s market every Friday in the summertime but it’s not on Denver Ave. They do close Denver off to vehicles during their annual street festival which brings a lot of visitors. As previously mentioned, there are so many destinations that are desirable to reach on foot or bike.

It would be interesting to implement the woonerf concept on Denver Ave to reduce the cut thru traffic and slow down vehicles. If you kept the parking (which is definitely used) then even the cut thru traffic that wants to stop to get coffee or grab a bottle of liquor will still stop. Even if there was a slight delay to their trip they would probably enjoy being able to grab coffee then walk across the street safely to get some beignets from Po Shines for breakfast. They wouldn’t need to walk up to an intersection and they would feel more invited to run their errands in the area.

In my mind there would be bigger sidewalks with curvature that slows drivers down and more bicycle parking. It would be ideal to keep the same amount of parking to ease business owner’s minds and maybe allow some spaces for food carts. Outdoor seating for the restaurants would be ideal with umbrellas and heaters. Denver Ave in this area has a 60 foot cross-section so there is a lot of room to work with. I also wonder if you could restrict large trucks in the area.

Some things to keep in mind would be to keep the same or more parking, accommodate busses and emergency vehicles and to study the business impacts. If this were implemented then the Lombard at Interstate Ave intersection should be improved to mitigate for the additional volume using that intersection if they divert there. A Better Blocks exhibit could be done there to see how it might function.