Right Turn in Downtown Portland: Bike Lane, Walk Signal, and 7 Feet of Off-Tracking
15:40 Tuesday, downtown Portland. You are driving a 70-foot combination - 3-axle tractor, 53-foot trailer - delivering to a dock on a one-way street. You need a right turn at an intersection where a protected bike lane runs along the right curb behind a painted buffer. Two cyclists are behind you in that lane, a pedestrian with a stroller is waiting at the corner, and a delivery van is double-parked 60 feet past the corner in the right lane. The light is green for your direction and the pedestrian signal shows WALK across the street you are turning into. Traffic behind you is impatient and one driver has already leaned on the horn. In a turn this tight the trailer's rear wheels will track about 7 feet inside the path of the tractor's front wheels.
1. How do you set up and execute the turn?
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Signal early and check mirrors before you commit. Set up in the lane position that keeps the trailer's rear wheels off the curb without crossing into oncoming traffic - normally your lane, biased left, never over the centerline of a two-way street even if the trailer needs the room.
Do not drive along the bike lane to make space. A turning vehicle may enter a bike lane when it is actually turning, but cyclists already in it have the right of way, and cruising down the buffer is how right hooks happen.
The WALK signal is decisive: pedestrians crossing the street you are turning into have priority. Wait behind the crosswalk until it clears rather than nosing into it and stopping, then complete the turn slowly and continuously - a turn you start and stop three times is a turn where the trailer's tail sweeps somewhere you are not looking.
The double-parked van is part of the setup: do not begin the turn until you can see that your exit path past it is clear.
2. A cyclist arrives on your right just as you begin to move. What do you do, and what do you not do?
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Stop and wait. The cyclist is going straight and you are the turning vehicle, so you yield. There is no version of this where you accelerate to get ahead of a bicycle with a 53-foot trailer.
Do not:
- Swing left late to create room. A late swing throws the trailer's tail into the next lane or over the curb.
- Edge forward into the crosswalk to 'claim' the turn while waiting.
- Roll through on the assumption the cyclist will stop. Cyclists in a protected lane have no reason to expect a truck to cross it.
Check the right mirror and take a direct look at the front right corner. If you cannot see the cyclist there, you cannot know where that person is, and you do not move until you do. Once the lane and crosswalk are clear, go slowly enough to stop again if a second cyclist appears.
3. What are the off-tracking and clearance hazards here, and how do you handle the double-parked van?
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Seven feet of off-tracking means the trailer's right rear tires will cut well inside the curb line. Watch the right mirror for the trailer tires and the curb, not the tractor's front corner - by the time the front looks clear, the trailer is already where the curb is. If the geometry will not clear, you need a wider entry only where it is legal to take one; otherwise find another route to the dock.
Watch the fixed objects as well: signal poles, sign mast arms, awnings, and the corner's clearance. A trailer's tail swing and a mast arm meet at exactly the wrong height.
The van narrows your exit lane. Do not commit to the turn until you can see that your whole path past it is clear, and assume the van's driver may pull out without looking. Sit still before the crosswalk until the picture is settled, then move slowly enough to stop.