Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Hotspots in the Portland Metro

Portland logged 39 traffic deaths in 2025, the lowest total since 2018 and a 38 percent drop from the city's four-year average, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation's (PBOT) latest annual crash report.¹ That's real progress after a grim stretch: 2023 set a modern record with 69 deaths, and pedestrians have carried a disproportionate share of the toll ever since. Over half of the people killed on Portland streets in 2025 were walking.¹

The city's crash problem isn't spread evenly. PBOT's High Crash Network, 30 streets and 30 intersections that make up just 8 percent of Portland's roadways, has accounted for an average of 67 percent of traffic deaths since 2020, and 71 percent of the deaths recorded in 2024 alone.^{2 3} Most of that network, 82 percent, belongs to PBOT; 18 percent is state highway under the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), and two bridges belong to Multnomah County.² Between 2017 and 2021, NE Marine Drive was the single deadliest street in the city, with 16 fatalities, while SE Powell Boulevard produced the most serious pedestrian crashes and NE/N Broadway the most bicycle crashes.² Since 2017, the city and its partners have put $193 million into safety fixes on this network, two-thirds of it in neighborhoods with lower incomes and larger populations of people of color.²

82nd Avenue's long repair job

No street shows the pattern better than 82nd Avenue, a 7-mile spine through Montavilla, Mill Park, and the Jade District that ODOT handed over to PBOT on June 1, 2022, after decades as State Highway 213.⁴ Between 2015 and 2019, 82nd Avenue absorbed 142 "Vision Zero" crashes, one out of every 14 in the city, including 74 pedestrians and 30 cyclists struck, roughly one person hit every two weeks. Nine people died in that span, seven of them walking or biking.⁵ Six of Portland's 30 highest-crash intersections still sit on this one corridor.^{2 5}

The investment is showing up in the numbers. PBOT reports zero deadly crashes on 82nd Avenue in 2025, helped by a rebuilt crossing at SE Ash Street with median islands, flashing beacons, and a marked crosswalk.¹ The city has since added a speed camera near NE Klickitat Street, a few blocks from Roseway Heights Middle School, on a 30 mph stretch PBOT still flags as high-risk.⁶

Powell Boulevard's unmarked crossings

Powell Boulevard tells a rougher story. Because it doubles as U.S. Highway 26, ODOT rather than the city controls the five-lane stretch through the South Tabor and Foster-Powell neighborhoods, and long sections go blocks without a marked crosswalk or signal. On March 9, 2025, 86-year-old Roger Lee was struck and killed at SE Powell and 67th Avenue just after stepping off a TriMet bus from a Trail Blazers game; security video showed the driver accelerating in the seconds before impact.⁷ The South Tabor Neighborhood Association said publicly that "state and local agencies know this stretch of Powell is unsafe. They've known for years."⁷ TriMet secured $2 million in 2016 for the Powell-Division Safety and Access to Transit Project, meant to fix exactly this kind of crossing; construction didn't begin until spring 2025, nine years after the money was awarded.⁷

East Portland's 122nd Avenue

East Portland has driven most of the city's recent improvement, with deaths falling 56 percent over four years to just 11 in 2025, the first time the district has stayed under 20 since 2018.¹ But SE 122nd Avenue, another High Crash Network street, still claimed two lives within four months. Willie Talimao Jr., 50, died after being struck crossing SE 122nd at Ash Street on the night of August 3, 2025.⁸ Brian G. Stone, 63, was killed in a hit-and-run near SE 122nd and Madison Street just after midnight on December 20, 2025; the driver, believed to be in a light-colored 1990s Subaru wagon, has not been identified.⁹ PBOT has since lowered speed limits on 22 miles of city streets, including SE 92nd Avenue, NE Fremont Street, N Mississippi Avenue, N Russell Street, and SW Vermont Street.¹

Crashes beyond the city limits

The danger doesn't stop at Portland's border. Tualatin Valley Highway, Oregon Route 8 through Beaverton, Aloha, and Hillsboro, ranks in the top 5 to 10 percent of ODOT's own 2021 Safety Priority Index for crash risk, with posted speeds of 30 to 45 mph.¹⁰ Metro counts 21 deaths on the corridor between 2017 and 2021, 52 percent of them pedestrians; roughly 29 percent of the highway still lacks sidewalks and 32 percent has missing or substandard bike lanes, and nearly half of serious pedestrian injuries happened within 100 feet of a transit stop.¹¹ John McKinney, 41, was killed crossing TV Highway near SW 198th Avenue in Aloha on the night of December 22, 2025.¹² ODOT's response rebuilds the highway between East Lane and NW 334th Avenue with rectangular rapid flashing beacons, median refuge islands, new lighting, and ADA-compliant curb ramps, covering milepost 5.84 to 15.2.¹⁰

In Gresham, a pedestrian walking on the sidewalk along NE 181st Avenue near Pacific Street was struck and killed the night of May 31, 2025; the driver's car also hit a power pole, closing 181st between Glisan and Wasco Streets for hours. The driver was later indicted on charges of second-degree manslaughter and DUII.¹³

What Oregon law expects of drivers

Oregon requires drivers to stop and stay stopped for anyone crossing in a marked or unmarked crosswalk until that person has cleared both the driver's lane and the adjacent one; failing to do so is a Class B traffic violation under ORS 811.028.¹⁴ Careless driving that injures or kills a "vulnerable user," a pedestrian, cyclist, or similar road user, carries its own enhancement under ORS 811.135: a mandatory traffic safety course, 100 to 200 hours of community service, and a suspended $12,500 fine plus a one-year license suspension if the driver doesn't complete those requirements.¹⁵ None of that undoes a crash, but it shapes how fault gets sorted out afterward. Anyone hurt or grieving after one of these collisions can find an Oregon attorney through thatcarhitme.com's legal directory.

The bigger trend

Zoom out and Oregon tells a similar story of a peak now receding but not gone. Statewide pedestrian deaths hit 126 in 2022, well above the five-year average of 80, before easing to 110 in 2023 and 97 in 2024, according to ODOT's own tracking.¹⁶ Serious injuries haven't followed the same path down. They more than doubled from 2,329 in 2021 to well over 5,800 a year since 2022, and ODOT's data shows Black and Indigenous Oregonians are still more likely to be killed walking than white Oregonians.¹⁶ Portland's goal of zero traffic deaths by 2030 remains a long way off. The corridors above are where the next round of crossings, cameras, and lowered speed limits will matter most.

This is general information about traffic safety data, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "News Release: Traffic deaths decline for a second consecutive year, 38 percent below recent years" (March 5, 2026): https://www.portland.gov/transportation/news/2026/3/5/news-release-traffic-deaths-decline-second-consecutive-year-38-percent

2. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "High Crash Network streets and intersections": https://www.portland.gov/transportation/vision-zero/high-crash-network-streets-and-intersections

3. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "News Release: PBOT releases 2024 deadly crash report" (March 6, 2025): https://www.portland.gov/transportation/news/2025/3/6/news-release-pbot-releases-2024-deadly-crash-report-latest-annual

4. KATU, "Pedestrian hit, killed by driver on SE 82nd Avenue in Portland": https://katu.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-killed-by-driver-on-se-82nd-avenue-in-portland-foster-powell-boulevard-neighborhood

5. Portland Bureau of Transportation, "82nd Avenue Corridor Atlas": https://www.portland.gov/transportation/planning/82nd-avenue/corridor-atlas

6. KPTV, "New speed camera installed on NE 82nd Avenue, high crash area" (June 25, 2026): https://www.kptv.com/2026/06/25/new-speed-camera-installed-ne-82nd-avenue-high-crash-area/

7. KGW, "Portland's South Tabor rallies for safety improvements on Southeast Powell Boulevard after deadly crash": https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/portlands-south-tabor-rallies-safety-improvements-southeast-powell-boulevard-deadly-crash/283-f2fe71d6-74a7-452f-8e95-1b007610b1cc

8. Portland Police Bureau, "Update: Pedestrian Killed in Crash Identified" (August 3, 2025): https://www.portland.gov/police/news/2025/8/3/update-pedestrian-killed-crash-identified

9. Portland Police Bureau, "Update: Pedestrian Killed in Hit-and-Run Identified, Video Requested" (December 20, 2025): https://www.portland.gov/police/news/2025/12/20/update-pedestrian-killed-hit-and-run-identified-video-requested

10. Oregon Department of Transportation, "OR 8 (Tualatin Valley Hwy): East Ln - SW 170th Ave," Draft STIP 2027-2030: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/ooh/27-30-stip/pages/24024.aspx

11. Oregon Metro, "Tualatin Valley Highway transit and safety project": https://www.oregonmetro.gov/projects/tualatin-valley-highway-transit-and-safety-project

12. Beaverton Valley Times, "Pedestrian killed Monday night in Aloha crash on Tualatin Valley Highway" (December 23, 2025): https://beavertonvalleytimes.com/2025/12/23/pedestrian-killed-monday-night-in-aloha-crash-on-tualatin-valley-highway/

13. KATU, "Pedestrian hit, killed by driver who crashed onto Gresham sidewalk": https://katu.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-killed-by-driver-who-crashed-onto-gresham-sidewalk-181st-avenue-glisan-wasco-police-investigation-collision-deadly-crash-may-2025

14. Oregon Revised Statutes 811.028, "Failure to stop and remain stopped for pedestrian; penalty": https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_811.028

15. Oregon Revised Statutes 811.135, "Careless driving; penalty": https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_811.135

16. Oregon Department of Transportation, "State of the System - Safety": https://www.oregon.gov/odot/state-of-the-system/pages/safety.aspx