(Photo © J. Maus)
The City of Portland is expanding the scope of their annual bike counts and they need volunteers to help them do it.
Denver Igarta, a transportation planner with PDOT, says they want to cover 140 locations this year. That’s an increase over the 98 locations they counted in 2007, which was up from the 60 locations they counted in 2006.
“We’re trying to be aggressive about getting data and we want to gather counts from all segments of the city. Last year we counted 98 locations and now we want to disperse those locations even further out.”
One part of the city that will see more locations counted is Southwest Portland. Igarta said PDOT is working with local advocacy group SWTrails on recommendations for an expansive bicycle boulevard network they hope to include in the upcoming revision of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan.
By getting counts before the bicycle boulevards are built, PDOT will be able to show the impact of new bikeways on ridership numbers.
“We’re trying to be aggressive about getting data.”
–PDOT transportation planner Denver Igarta
In addition to illustrating how bikeways influence ridership, there are other things PDOT hopes to do with the counts.
Primarily, the numbers will be used to get a sense of the existing conditions in terms of ridership across the city. Igarta also hopes they find out where people are riding as well as data on gender and helmet use.
Last year was the first year PDOT implemented an expanded bicycle count effort. Now that they have baseline data, Igarta says this second year of counts will allow them to start showing trends.
The counts will be done during peak bike commute hours during weekdays this July, August and September.
For a full report and results of PDOT’s 2007 bike counts, read PDOT releases latest bike count report published on 9/27/07.
If you’d like to volunteer, email Denver Igarta at denver.igarta [at] pdxtrans [dot] org.
How do I go about becoming a volunteer? The PDOT website isn\’t easy to navigate and I couldn\’t find any contact information about this.
sorry bob. I have added Denver Igarta\’s email address to the article. you should contact him if you are interested.
thanks.
The email address doesn\’t seem to be working for me.
Here\’s some info from the email I got about volunteering. There\’s a training this Thursday:
Step 1: Come to the Volunteer Training/Orientation
Thursday, June 26th, 5:00-6:00 pm
Where: Conference Room B, The Portland Building (1120 SW 5th Avenue, 2nd floor).
Pizza and soda will be provided.
Step 2: Count
Over the course of the summer (July-Sept), conduct at least one, two-hour bicycle count at one of the intersections we\’ll have listed.
Step 3: Mail
Send us your completed count form in a self-addressed, stamped envelope which we will give you at the training.
Step 4: Self-Congratulation
We get great data and you get the satisfaction of knowing you played a crucial role in our efforts.
It\’s that easy!
PLEASE RSVP TO: (so we know how much pizza to buy)
denver.igarta@pdxtrans.org
503.823.1088