As students across Portland return to school, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is urging drivers to slow down and use extra caution as thousands of children begin walking, biking, rolling and taking transit to and from classrooms.
With more than 120 elementary, middle and high schools across Portland, PBOT says drivers can encounter a school or a route commonly used by students roughly every half-mile while traveling through the city. The agency is particularly urging caution during the afternoon, when traffic crashes are most common between 3 and 7 p.m., overlapping with school dismissal and after-school activities.
“PBOT’s commitment to supporting student safety is stronger than ever,” said Transportation Director Millicent Williams. “We look forward to another year of helping Portland’s youngest residents walk, roll, and stroll to school through our Safe Routes to School programs and will continue our decade-long effort to invest in building a safe transportation network that enables them to do so.”
One of PBOT’s primary reminders for drivers is its “20 is Plenty” campaign, which calls for motorists to follow Portland’s 20 mph speed limit on residential streets and neighborhood greenways.
Neighborhood greenways are lower-speed, lower-traffic streets designed to prioritize people walking, bicycling and rolling. Portland has more than 100 miles of greenways connecting neighborhoods with schools, parks and business districts, and many students use them as part of their daily school routes.
PBOT is asking drivers to avoid using those streets as shortcuts for longer trips and to reserve them primarily for local access, including reaching homes, schools and parks.
The agency is also encouraging families to consider alternatives to driving children directly to school. Walking school buses and bike buses allow groups of families to travel established routes together while picking up students along the way.
More than 30 Portland schools already have bike buses, according to PBOT.
For families who need to drive, PBOT suggests a “park-and-walk” approach, in which caregivers park a few blocks from school and walk or roll the rest of the way with students. Transportation officials say the approach can reduce congestion around school entrances while giving students an opportunity for physical activity before the school day begins.
The back-to-school push comes as PBOT continues to expand its Safe Routes to School infrastructure.
During the 2025-26 school year, the bureau completed 27 projects near schools, including six crossing improvements, 10 speed-management projects, two walkway projects and nine traffic-signal upgrades.
The improvements included curb ramps, crosswalks, medians, speed bumps, reduced speed limits, speed-reader boards, new sidewalks and paths, audible pedestrian signals, leading pedestrian intervals and restrictions on right turns at red lights.
Many of those projects are supported through Portland’s 10-cent gas tax, which voters renewed for a third time in 2024 as part of the city’s Fixing Our Streets program.
Since 2016, PBOT says it has completed nearly 400 projects near schools, with another 75 projects in development, design or construction.
Additional projects are underway or expected to begin during the 2026-27 school year. Current and planned work includes traffic-calming improvements, new sidewalks and multiuse paths, enhanced crosswalks, lighting upgrades and intersection improvements in neighborhoods including Parkrose, Lents, Powellhurst-Gilbert, Montavilla, Brentwood-Darlington, Hazelwood and West Portland Park.
Student travel will face an additional challenge this fall because of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s planned five-week closure of southbound Interstate 5 beginning Sept. 11.
PBOT expects the closure to increase traffic near several Portland schools as drivers seek alternate routes. Schools expected to experience some of the greatest increases in surrounding traffic include Boise-Eliot Elementary, SEI Academy, Harriet Tubman Middle School, Jefferson High School, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Benson High School, Grant High School and several others.
PBOT says its Safe Routes to School team will use temporary speed-reader boards and “Local Access Only” barriers along some neighborhood greenways to discourage cut-through traffic. The bureau is coordinating with Portland Public Schools and plans to monitor conditions near other schools as traffic patterns change.
Transportation officials are encouraging residents to prepare for the I-5 closure by allowing additional travel time and considering transit, carpooling, bicycling, teleworking or changing travel times when possible.
For PBOT, the broader back-to-school message is that student safety is not limited to streets immediately surrounding school buildings. Children travel through residential streets, neighborhood greenways and major corridors throughout Portland each morning and afternoon.
The agency is asking drivers to watch for students, obey speed limits and expect increased pedestrian and bicycle activity as the school year gets underway.
PBOT is also encouraging families to build walking and biking habits ahead of two events later this fall: International Walk + Roll to School Day on Oct. 7 and Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day on Nov. 13.
