🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
[Update, 6:30: Council has voted unanimously to support a replacement bridge crossing (with light rail) as the Locally Preferred Alternative. Read the full lowdown at the Mercury blog and read my report from City Hall below.]
Last night, the City of Portland’s Bicycle Advisory Committee took a closer look at the bikeways of East Portland.
Led by city bike coordinator Roger Geller, the group met at the Gateway Transit Center (just southeast of I-205 and I-84) and rode a loop that took them east to 162nd Ave. and south to Powell Blvd.
Rapha, the UK-based high-end cycling apparel maker who recently established their U.S. headquarters in Portland, is wasting no time sharing the bike culture that brought them here.
According to the company’s U.S. general manager Slate Olson, Rapha is staging a weekend of events at Lance Armstrong’s new retail store in Austin, Texas. Beginning this Friday at Mellow Johnny’s bike shop, Rapha will host an exhibition of photographs from their Roleur magazine, followed by a roller racing competition on Saturday and a “Gentleman’s Ride” on Sunday.
“We need a replacement. But it must be the right kind of new bridge… Approval today will only move the bridge project proposal from one phase of evaluation to the next.”
–Commissioner Sam Adams in today’s Oregonian
Today is an important day for supporters and critics of the Columbia River Crossing project.
Portland City Council, the group whom many think pose the best chance at throwing a major wrench in the estimated $4.2 billion project, will vote on their “locally preferred alternative” (LPA). So far, no official agency or government body has voted against it.
But in recent weeks, opposition to the project has grown considerably and City Council has heard loud and clear that many Portlanders are concerned about moving forward.