Portland settled a lawsuit filed by a cyclist who collided with a TriMet bus in 2015 at an intersection city officials acknowledged Wednesday is one of the “most complex” in the city.
The City Council approved the $145,000 settlement agreement with Edward Gorman to avoid further legal battles related to the 2015 crash at Southeast Tilikum Way and Milwaukie Avenue. An investigation found the city “may be found liable,” documents show, and officials determined it was “prudent” to avoid a trial.
The intersection is a confusing confluence of many transportation modes. It lies just south of the light and freight rail tracks where a dedicated bus lane, multi-use bike and pedestrian path converge at a traffic signal.
Gorman was wearing his customary helmet and bright orange reflective safety vest and facing eastbound on the sidewalk where he intended to take a slight right onto Milwaukie. The bike traffic signal on the west side of Milwaukie turned green, and Gorman proceeded into the intersection.
But the bus had a green light at the same time, and Gorman collided with a Line 9 bus and fractured his right hip. He needed multiple surgeries. According to Gorman’s lawsuit, the bus “overtook him on his right after he had entered the intersection and collided with him.”
City officials said in a statement Wednesday that Gorman crashed into the bus. There’s a green bike box on Tilikum that allows cyclists to be in front of buses if they are at the signal at the same time. Gorman was not in that bike box, transportation officials said, and they allege he wasn’t using the intersection “as it was designed.”
Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who oversees the Transportation Bureau, said Wednesday the intersection is “complicated.”
“I’m pleased to report there’s been no other accidents that we’re aware of,” Eudaly said.
She added the incident “just highlights the need I think for everyone on the road to obey traffic laws.”
The collision happened Dec. 1, 2015, just months after the Orange Line and Tilikum Crossing opened after years of construction. Dylan Rivera, a city transportation spokesman, said the intersection opened in May 2014, but the city had just installed a bike traffic signal by the end of October.
Gorman’s lawsuit, which he filed in 2017, alleged TriMet was negligent in failing to train drivers on how to handle the intersection and that the city created an “unreasonably dangerous” intersection for bicyclists by pitting riders against buses without a separate signal.
TriMet settled with Gorman in April for $47,500. TriMet’s Line 9 and 17 buses use the street, and both turn south onto Milwaukie at the intersection.
Scott Kocher, Gorman’s attorney, said the city failed to install the bike signal in an appropriate manner. The signal was improperly installed on the near side of the intersection, not the eastern edge.
“We need safe routes for people to ride bicycles throughout our city,” Kocher said. “This was a new intersection that should have been designed for people walking and biking and driving from the beginning. Unfortunately, the bicycle signal was an afterthought and it wasn’t done right.”
Kocher said the city should give bicyclists a separate traffic signal altogether from the buses. Portland doesn’t have plans to do so.
As part of the settlement, Kocher said the city agreed to install a new bike traffic signal on the eastern side of the intersection. The city will also add dotted lines and striping and signage to clearly indicate how bicyclists can travel through the intersection and head south onto Milwaukie and install new signs on both sides of the intersection to alert bus operators and bikes of the traffic flow there.
Gorman, meanwhile, is back on his bike and riding again. He’s still wearing his orange vest.
-- Andrew Theen
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen
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