Portland's potholes: City chooses to put safety ahead of smoothness

Oregonian (editorial):

In 2005, as a new transportation commissioner, I decided it was more important to keep drivers alive than totally comfortable on side streets. Together with the Portland Bureau of Transportation, we prioritized road safety over smoothness, improving some of the most dangerous streets and intersections. And we made new investments in fixing failing bridges like the Sellwood.

For safer streets, we based our decisions on a cost-benefit analysis that took into account the number of transportation-related deaths and injuries -- bikers, pedestrians and drivers -- and road use. You can see the results of our safety work on 82nd Avenue, Northeast Cully and at Northwest 14th and Burnside.

This strategy is paying off much better than we imagined. Traffic fatalities have fallen dramatically, even as population has risen. You are more likely to stay alive biking, walking and driving around Portland than you were before.

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