More on a Walk through the Fairview Project: On Stoops, Paths, and a Woonerf

Even though there was nobody on them, the stoops on New Strong Road were cheery. So many front porches and stoops directly greeted the sidewalks all throughout the Fairview redevelopment, and it's great to see.

Stoops on New Strong Road path

Just one block west, the final segment of New Strong Road looked to be complete, and soon would be opened.

New Strong Road is complete and nearly open!

It will be terrific to be able to walk or roll from Pringle Road into the interior without having to be in the street on Reed Road with its 45mph speed limit.

Close to the same view in July 2023

But the multiuse path already looks obsolete. If ebikes and e-mopeds are cruising along at 20mph or more, connections to the front entries to homes are conflict points. Imagine taking the final step from a stoop and — wham! — a collision with a person on a motorized kind of bike.

You might say, "well, if a person is using an ebike or e-moped they'll have sense enough to be in the street with other motorized traffic."

via Reddit

"Sure they will."

By encouraging bicycling on paths with people on foot, now those on ebike and e-moped and small electric motorcycles have a permission structure and expectation to zoom around and scorch on the paths. "Bikes" of every kind should be on the path, not the street, it goes.

We should instead reserve the sidewalks for people on foot, and build better bike lanes and low-impact multi-use lanes in the street itself for old-fashioned pedal-bikes and the new pedal-assist and throttle variations on ebike and e-moped. The current trend for sidewalkification is going to have unwanted, unintended consequences.

(A couple of recent stories at BikePortland have addressed the collapse of ebike and e-moped into one category, one on a tragic death and another on golf course damage. Somewhat in disagreement with BP, from here the colloquial usage with collapse into one category, as distinct from any legal classification, already seems established and unlikely to change. Based on the patterning of "motorcycle" and "motorbike," it is reasonable to think "ebike" would cover both pedal-assist bikes at slower max speed and pedalless throttle bikes, e-mopeds for lack of a better term, at higher speeds. Untangling them will be an uphill task.)

A little north in the Pringle Creek Community portion of the Fairview project, a new building featured a "woonerf." At least that's what the plans called it.

A "woonerf"

It's just a sidewalk!

It's nothing of the sort. It's just a regular sidewalk and patio with a flare. In order to be a real woonerf, the street itself needs narrowing and less delineation with the tree wells and bike racks. People will walk in the street, not any separate sidewalk. (See here for more on a woonerf.)

Still it was nice to see the old Carpenter Shop transformed into a coffee roaster, new this summer I think. They did not seem to be open, though.

Prismatic Coffee (formerly Carpenter Shop)

A little up the hill, back in the Fairview Addition area, the Laundry building appears to be the only one preserved for reuse.

The Laundry Building and part of tower

It remains a great disappointment that Le Breton couldn't have been saved to be at the center of Fairview Park and its historical interpretation.

Oregonian, January 8th, 1911 (Le Breton, top left)

In the jargon of historic preservation, the laundry building doesn't "convey" much "significance," not like the older Le Breton, which could convey so much more and provide a more direct link to the history.

Also in Fairview Addition the new section of New Strong Road meant it was possible to walk by and get a closer view of the Observatory and forthcoming amphitheater area.

Terracing below the Observatory

Did they have any viewing parties for the Aurora? The Observatory is a private amenity, but it is surprising photos of celestial things don't seem to filter out on social media. Hopefully it's being used, enjoyed, and discussed in more private ways.

All in all, it's very pleasant to walk the interior of the Fairview project, all parts of it. It's just that with hardly any neighborhood retail or food, you're limited to walking recreationally in an out-and-back loop, and not realistically able to walk as any substitute for an errand or commute by car. It still a car-dependent island.

• Previously, "Walk Around Fairview Shows Problem with Walk to a Park Day."