New Moody Ave is open!

It is a beautiful sight...the new Moody Ave bikeway, walkway, runway, Streetcar, roadway.

Who knew we could get so excited about a road? After months of construction and all kinds of detours around, it is more than a welcome sight. It was a joy to run down the wide open sidewalk, elevated, and feeling slightly more European, in a bike and pedestrian-friendly city kind of way.

I overheard a cyclist yell at another cyclist as they sped down the new bike expressway: "God, this is nice!" I saw another cyclist repeatedly raise both arms up to the sky.

BikePortland provides a first-ride analysis & more great photos: "My overall impression after riding it in both directions yesterdays is that it's pretty exciting — this is the closest thing Portland has to a European-style bikeway."

However, cyclists still need to be very alert; the construction is not completely done. There are some patches of dirt along the roadside awaiting finishing touches, and some friends of mine witnessed a bike crash last night due to this unfinished dirt-sidewalk interface.

Neighbors were raving about their walk down the new street in the evening. The new streetlights light up the entire stretch from SoWa to RiverPlace. Safety first!

The Streetcar is running on the new elevated Moody. Just a note regarding the Streetcar: there will no longer be northbound service at the stop at Moody & Gibbs, only southbound. For northbound, use the OHSU Commons stop.

Other news sources:

KGW video - Local News with Tim Gordon

OregonLive posted an article tonight

Thank you PBOT & www.swmoodyproject.com!

(Also thank you to the friendly and very-helpful PBOT flaggers who have helped us navigate the construction zone over the past months.)