As thousands of Portland students return to school next week, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is preparing for increased traffic and pedestrian activity while anticipating disruptions from an upcoming interstate closure. The Oregon Department of Transportation will close I-5 Southbound for five weeks starting September 11, likely redirecting traffic through residential neighborhoods near schools.
Traffic crashes in Portland are most common between 3 and 7 p.m., the time when students are leaving school and after-school programs, according to PBOT. The bureau identified 12 schools as likely to experience the highest traffic increase from the I-5 closure: Boise-Eliot Elementary, SEI Academy, Harriet Tubman Middle School, Beverly Clearly-Fernwood, Grant High School, Jefferson High School, Kairos PDX, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Sabin Elementary, Benson High School, Alliance High School, and Lincoln High School.
PBOT's Safe Routes to School team plans to deploy temporary speed-reader boards and barrels marked "Local Access Only" on neighborhood greenways near these schools. Neighborhood greenways are low-traffic streets designed to give priority to pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-vehicle traffic. Portland has more than 100 miles of neighborhood greenways throughout the city.
PBOT is also continuing its broader school safety initiatives. In the 2025-26 school year, the bureau completed 27 improvement projects near schools—including six crossing improvements, ten speed projects, and nine signal upgrades. Since 2016, PBOT has completed nearly 400 projects near schools, with another 75 currently in development, design, or construction.
The bureau encourages drivers to follow its "20 is Plenty" campaign, maintaining 20 miles per hour on residential streets and neighborhood greenways. These investments have been supported by Portland voters, who renewed a 10-cent gas tax in 2024 for a third time to fund traffic safety projects under the "Fixing Our Streets" initiative.
PBOT also encourages families to use alternative transportation. The bureau promotes walking school buses and bike buses, in which groups of families walk or bike a route together. Over 30 Portland schools already have established bike buses. Families who drive can use a "park-and-walk" strategy, parking a couple of blocks from school and walking the rest of the way.