SW Alder Street has three lanes as it approaches Third Avenue on its way to the Morrison Bridge. Until a few days ago, the left lane allowed no turns, the center lane was marked and signed to allow drivers to go straight or turn right, and the right lane was marked and signed to allow right turns only. The reason was that on the far side of Third Avenue, the right lane disappeared and its space was taken by parking spaces, reducing Alder Street to two lanes.
Last week the City removed the parking spaces on the right-hand side of Alder Street east of Third Avenue to make a full-block lane between Third and Second. It removed the sign that indicated the right lane as right-turn-only and the center lane as straight-or-right, but it left in place the pavement marking in the center lane that permits going straight or turning right. (The right arrow is less solid than the straight arrow and it may be that someone made a half-hearted attempt to remove the right arrow before giving up.)
The result is that drivers in the right-hand lane think they can legally go straight, and drivers in the center lane think they can legally turn right. Because the lane is marked to allow right turns, legally they probably can turn right, passing in front of, or maybe through, cars in the right lane that are going straight. I've seen a few near-collisions already this week.
Whatever faults the City of Portland may have with the tram project, here is one spot where it should be able to get its signals straight.