Now at OMSI.
(Photos: Scott Ewing)

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) has installed a solar canopy charging station for electric vehicles. The station includes infrastructure for charging e-bikes, and according to OMSI, it's the first such facility in North America to provide "a solution for the increasing use of alternative transportation."

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(Photo © J. Maus)

Dan Christensen, the TriMet bus operator who wrote an essay titled, "Portland: Kill this bicyclist!" on his personal blog is back behind the wheel.

After learning of the post on July 22nd, TriMet placed Christensen on administrative leave and notified the District Attorney and the Portland Police. According to TriMet spokesperson Mary Fetsch, Christensen was back on the job as of last night. In addition to some time off, Fetsch says Christensen will get a "refresher training class" behind the wheel with a TriMet trainer. Fetsch also said Christensen will receive "appropriate discipline" but said specifics of that disciplinary action "is privileged and not releasable."

Reached via phone this morning, Christensen said he doesn't necessarily regret what he wrote, but admits he could have, "Done a better job making it clearer what I was going for."

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Detail map of easements Metro has purchased.

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(Photos by Jim "K'Tesh" Parsons)

Yesterday, with notable transportation officials from around the region in attendance, TriMet officially cut the ribbon on their new 'Bike & Ride' facility at the Sunset Transit Center in Beaverton. With secure parking for 74 bikes, TriMet hopes the new service will make it easier for people to make the bike-transit connection.

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At the Bunny on a Bike Ride
in March 2005.

Five years ago today I started an exciting new project. I had published about 150 posts in about four months on The Oregonian's website, but I was itching to do more. I had all sorts of crazy notions about what a blog that focused on Portland's bike scene could become and I wanted to do it on my own -- without any editors or outdated blog software holding me back.

So, I grabbed a free Wordpress theme, bought the BikePortland.org domain name, added the "To inform and inspire" motto, and off I went. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I knew I loved it.

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"Calming soon" -- get it? Detail of new postcard PBOT will be mailing out soon.

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To say there's momentum in our region for electric vehicles would be a major understatement. Last week, the Portland City Council voted to accept the recommendations in Electric Vehicles: The Portland Way, a report (PDF) on EVs that lays out a strategy for integrating more battery-powered cars into our city.

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After pedaling over 3,700 miles in the past two months, a group of 30 young volunteers will trade their bikes for hammers in Portland today. The group is part of Bike & Build, a non-profit group that organizes cross-country bike rides to support affordable housing projects across America.

The group in Portland rode the Central U.S. route, a journey that has taken them from Virgina Beach, Virginia and will end in Cannon Beach in early August. This morning, they'll be working at Lents Landing (SE 97th and Woodstock) and there's a reception for the riders tonight in southeast Portland.

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Chris King's Gourmet Century.

Our Weekend Event Guide is back, just in time to help plan your weekend of bike fun. Take a gander at all the fantastic events listed below.

Saturday, July 31st

Gourmet Century
This is Portland-based Chris King Precision Components' signature event. With McMinnville as a base, riders enjoy a metric century and and an absolutely excellent feast all along the way. "The route is a worthy road course interrupted with just enough fun and epicurean interest to keep you moving ahead..." Read more at the event website.

Tour de Tillamook (All weekend)
Two days of mountain biking and camping in the Tillamook State Forest. What's not to love? Hosted by the Northwest Trail Alliance, this family-oriented weekend event features guided mountain bike rides, kids skills clinics, food, trail rides, demo bikes, and more. Check out the website for more info.

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Ali and Evan in 2007.
(Photo © J. Maus)

[Via Eater.com]

The owners of a beloved north Portland eatery, Little Red Bike Cafe, might have shut their doors, but they've opened up a book deal. According to a post on their blog on Monday, owners of the cafe Ali and Evan Jepson-Dohrmann are working with a literary agent on a food memoir. The book will be about food and about the adventures of owning a small cafe in Portland.

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PBOT wants the legal authority
to reduce speed limits on
neighborhood streets.
(Photo © J. Maus)

With funding-related legislation a non-starter in Salem this coming session, the City of Porltand Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) instead sees an opportunity to work toward major, statewide policy changes that would support its transportation goals.

High atop their list of priorities for the 2011 legislative agenda is a much-anticipated strategy to wrest authority of setting speed limits away from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and give it to local jurisdictions. Currently, ODOT sets speed limits, even on streets owned and managed by cities and/or counties.

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Riding the upper deck of the Steel Bridge.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Just got word from the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation that effective immediately, the gates on the lower deck of the Steel Bridge are closed, making the lower deck of the bridge inaccessible to both biking and walking traffic on both the east and west ends of the bridge.

This is a big deal because the Steel Bridge is the detour route for the Broadway Bridge, which is closed to all vehicles due to streetcar construction.

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Make 'em count!
(Photo © J. Maus)

Metro is coordinating a regional effort to count the number of people using local trails and they need volunteers to help make it happen. The effort is part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project and the counts will take place in mid-September.

Here's a excerpt from the documentation project site about why these counts are so important:

One of the greatest challenges facing the bicycle and pedestrian field is the lack of documentation on usage and demand. Without accurate and consistent demand and usage figures, it is difficult to measure the positive benefits of investments in these modes, especially when compared to the other transportation modes such as the private automobile. An answer to this need for data is the National Bicycle & Pedestrian Documentation Project, co-sponsored by and Alta Planning and Design and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Pedestrian and Bicycle Council. This nationwide effort provides consistent model of data collection and ongoing data for use by planners, governments, and bicycle and pedestrian professionals.

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Equal Footing campaign logo

A partnership of national advocacy organizations, led by North Portland resident and former executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, is attempting something that has never been done in America: galvanize a powerful grassroots walking movement.

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Coming soon to
Oregon high schools!
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Oregon Bicycle Racing Racing Association (OBRA) has announced details of the first-ever High School Cyclocross race series. The new series will consist of five races and will be run under the existing Junior Cyclocross Series, which is in its second year.

OBRA has named seven regional coordinators who are available to answer questions and to help organize High School teams. Prizes will be awarded to the top team, "Best Girl," and "Best Boy" from throughout the state. The series begins in Eugene on September 25th and makes stops in Dayton, Hillsboro, Salem, and possibly Portland (exact venue is TBD).

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Bike lanes on SE Holgate.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Following a public meeting last week, Rick Bradford, the man behind a grassroots effort to get PBOT to remove the new buffered bike lanes on SE Holgate Blvd., remains unswayed in his opposition.

Bradford has posted an update on RestoreHolgate.com where he accuses PBOT of spinning the issues and facts at the Thursday night meeting that drew a standing room only crowd at Holgate Baptist Church. Saying the lanes are an "Adams sponsored blunder" (a reference to Portland Mayor Sam Adams) that have been "forced upon" their neighborhood, Bradford also calls into question the baseline data PBOT brought to the meeting.

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This substandard bridge in SE Portland's
Brooklyn neighborhood would be improved
with TIGER II grant funds.

A partnership between TriMet, Metro, and the cities of Portland and Milwaukie could lead to a series of significant biking and walking improvements along the yet-to-be built Portland to Milwaukie light-rail line. TriMet is the lead applicant in a $13.2 million TIGER II grant request that would include a new multi-use path, a new biking and walking-only bridge in Milwaukie, and several other components along the rail corridor.

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A new Streetfilm (watch it below) taken during the recent Velo-City Global conference in Copenhagen is like a refuge in a storm.

Here in Portland (and across the country), we still struggle with resentment over bike lanes, a local media that's happy to stir it up, people wanting to ban bikes completely because they're simply in the way, people on bikes who can't be bothered to slow down for other bike traffic, and public transit employees whose actions and words make our streets less safe for people on bikes.

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Looking east on SE Hawthorne Blvd, just before Grand Avenue. Not exactly a place you'd want your kids or your mom to ride through is it?
(Photo © J. Maus)

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London is the latest big city to get
a public bike-share system, and it
comes with these cool illustrations.

Here's the news that caught our eye this week:

- The outcome of this year's particularly dramatic Tour de France was decided by a mere 39 seconds. Meanwhile, Bend Oregon's very own Chris Horner had a stellar ride, finishing in the top 10 as the highest placing American. Read his final Tour diary entry here.

- In other news, RAGBRAI, the "oldest, longest, and largest bicycle tour in the world" is now underway. In Iowa.

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