A bicycle rider has died in a collision with a box truck driver in North Portland

The truck is on North Farragut Ave. Interstate is in the foreground.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

A man has died after being involved in a collision with a truck operator while bicycling on North Interstate Avenue this morning.

It happened around 9:00 am at the intersection of Interstate and Farragut (map). The initial police statement said the man “may have been on a bicycle.” I was able to confirm that by going to the scene this morning.

From what I saw it appears the collision was a classic right-hook. The operator of a large, white (unmarked) box van was driving northbound on Interstate and then turned right onto Farragut. As of 10:20 am the bicycle was still lodged completely underneath the truck — toward the rear and just in front of the rear axle. From east of the collision I could still see the bicycle’s white front light blinking.

Interstate in this location is relatively narrow due to the presence of a center-running MAX light rail line. In the northbound direction there is one standard vehicle lane directly adjacent to an unprotected bicycle-only lane. The bike lane is five-feet wide.

Here’s the Streetview image of the intersection where the collision occurred:

I’ve ridden in this bike lane many times over the years. It’s the main route from my home in the Piedmont neighborhood to Portland International Raceway. I can share from experience that, like nearly all of Interstate Avenue, this stretch of the road feels quite narrow and stressful when on a bike.

This is the first fatality of a bicycle user in Portland in 2017 (there were five last year) and the second traffic fatality overall.

The identity of the rider has yet to be released. We’ll share more details as they come in.

If anyone has more information about this collision, please contact us.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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