This Intersection In Portland Is A Lot More Dangerous Than It Should Be
As Portland continues to grow, so too does the hustle and bustle in the downtown area. We could spent a month dissection every nook and cranny of Portland's infrastructure, finding flaws and improvements the city should consider. But lately, there's been one particular intersection near Monument Square that has been a real eye-opener, and it's for a completely avoidable reason.
There's a stoplight at the intersection of Preble Street and Congress Street that tends to be busy during business hours. Many commuters use it as their artery to get into the downtown area. If you use Preble to jump onto Congress, you've probably encountered someone running a red light through this intersection at least a half dozen times. It's incredibly dangerous. So what is happening? (Ironically, the photo we used from Google Maps shows someone RUNNING A RED LIGHT!)
Our theory is two fold. If you're traveling down Congress from the High Street intersection, there's a stretch of Congress where there's only blinking yellow lights. That stretch ends with the intersection at Preble. if people aren't paying close enough attention, they buzz right through the light. Another issue is the stop sign at the intersection of Congress and Center Street. People take that right and seemingly don't realize there's a stoplight right away on Congress.
As more people visit Portland from out of town, and more pedestrians take to the street around Monument Square, the danger of this particular intersection has grown in recent years. But is there a way to fix it? Outside of adding ANOTHER stop light to the Center Street intersection, there doesn't seem to be a clear remedy.
So be careful, whether walking or driving. The case of the running red light won't be solved anytime soon.