Join us for a Get Together in Southwest Portland

Rolling to Barbur Blvd.
(Photo © J. Maus)

We’re excited to announced our first Get Together of 2011.

Next Wednesday (January 26th) from 5:30 to 7ish we’ll meet up with readers and other bike-interested folks at Macadam’s Bar and Grill (5833 SW Macadam Avenue). If you live, ride, or work in or around Southwest Portland, you’re welcome to join us!

There’s a lot to talk about in Southwest. Top on the list will be an update on efforts to tame SW Barbur Blvd, which was the sight of a tragic fatality late last year. We’ll also talk about other current and future bikeway projects in the area, share local knowledge about routes, hear from transportation experts and grassroots activists, and much more.

Everyone that shows up will be entered into a drawing to win some great frame pumps, fenders, multi-tools and other goodies from our Get Together sponsor SKS. Get Togethers are free, informal gatherings where everyone is welcome. Please help us spread the word and we look forward to seeing you there!

Note: This is the first of our 12 monthly Get Togethers planned for 2011. We’re coming to a neighborhood near you soon. Stay tuned for a full list of dates (last Wednesdays of the month) and locations…

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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John Russell (jr98664)
13 years ago

Correction: That picture is actually SW Naito Parkway heading towards Barbur Boulevard, not Barbur itself.

cyclists
cyclists
13 years ago

IMO that’s the scariest part of the route between downtown PDX and Hillsdale. There are cars trying to get onto the Ross Island Bridge and cars trying to get onto Naito all in about 200 feet or so.

John
John
13 years ago

To the organizers — This is a really dangerous stretch and a very poor choice to promote group rides in this area. Use some common sense.

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  John

John,

Thanks for your concern. We are not promoting group rides. The photo is just a photo and there are people on bikes in it. That’s all. It was taken from a ride back in June. And besides, it’s not nearly as dangerous with 15-20 people biking on it! Thanks. And again, this isn’t about a group ride, it’s about an event at a bar/grill near this area.

Jonathan "J.R" Reed
13 years ago
Reply to  John

It’s also worth mentioning that get-togethers will happen the last wednesday of the month in different parts of the city so as to focus on different areas undergoing changes or in need of changes. They will not all have red carpets and platinum bike corrals.
If you are uncomfortable riding on Macadam and you are coming from downstream, you might try the multi use path which follows the river on the west side from Bancroft to Pendleton. See you there.

Andrew
Andrew
13 years ago

Another option could be the 35 or 43 bus from downtown.

Looking forward to this, Jonathan. I work around the corner from the now-infamous Barbur/Hamilton intersection, and I appreciate you holding a SW Get Together.

Next up, let’s hit my neighborhood so everyone can see the new installation at SE 42nd/Gladstone!

wally
wally
13 years ago

Great idea! Another route from downtown is 1st Ave. south, which passes under Naito and turns into Corbett Ave. This is a lower traffic/lower speed alternate route to John’s Landing.

RWL1776
RWL1776
13 years ago
Reply to  wally

Wally, as Corbett goes downhill as it goes over I-5, there is a steady stream of cars doing 40+ in that 30 mph zone, AND with cars parked on both sides of Corbett just south of the I-5 exit ramp, it creates a pinch point for cyclists. I live right there, and witness cars and bikes flying down Corbett constantly. There is also construction there, at that Corbett St exit from I-5. Beware.

This stretch of Corbett is RED on the Bicycling SW Portland map for a reason: people in cars, and on bikes, flying down this steep section of Corbett. There’s simply no room for a bike lane.

wally
wally
13 years ago
Reply to  RWL1776

Understood. It is, nonetheless, designated as a bike route, unlike Naito.

davemess
davemess
13 years ago
Reply to  wally

So where do they think people riding onto Barbur are coming from? The only way to get to bike line in the Barbur tunnel is from Naito, so it is odd it wouldn’t be a “bike route”

It’s like those old bike lanes in the city I grew up in. They started and stopped completely randomly and did nothing to actually help you get from point A to point B.

Tom
Tom
13 years ago

Put SW Moody on the list. With the number of projects in and around OSHU and S Waterfront, we are in for change and challenges.

RWL1776
RWL1776
13 years ago
Reply to  Tom

Tom,

just wait until that TIGER grant project kicks in: they will be raising Moody and the Streetcar tracks UP 17 FEET. What happens at either end of this raised roadway?

kerry
kerry
13 years ago
Reply to  RWL1776

They’ve already started construction, with some of the worst detouring I’ve seen. If I don’t eat it in a gravel patch or crash into a randomly placed non reflective obstacle I will be amazed.

davemess
davemess
13 years ago

Is this the best location for this event? You’ve kind of cut off a good chunk of the SW, who now have to get around I-5, and make their trip pretty long. It’s pretty easy to get to if you live downtown, but if you live on the West side of 1-5 this is kind of an inconvenient location.

I guess this just goes to show the very poor bike accessibility in the SW.

I think it’s a great idea, and thanks for doing it, just maybe next time, look to do it hillsdale or even somewhere more downtown.

Bob_M
Bob_M
13 years ago

Actually this location has excellent bike connectivity. There is the greenway trail along the west bank of the river that is direct, safe and scenic. At that little beach (now under water) where the trail dips, there are connecting paths that link to Pendleton St. This is the cross street where the Bar and Grill is located.

I know this crowd would rather save 3 minutes by riding on dangerous highways (or complaining about the dangerous highway), but I will have a nicer experience rolling along the river.

Rob
Rob
13 years ago

Comments so far in this thread seem to be totally indicative of what it’s like to ride to pretty much anywhere in SW Portland.

Many seem to be automatically willing to write it off as too disconnected, too dangerous, too much traffic, too many hills, too scary. And they’d be more-or-less right in that assessment, which is really unfortunate.

See y’all there.

Adams Carroll (News Intern)

Just want to mention that we’ve have tentative plans to return to Multnomah Village later in the year. We had a great Get Together there back in 2009.

As for riding conditions near the event next week… you’re right… thinking about the horrible conditions and lack of good bicycling environment is precisely why I like to go to places like that. In 2009 we also met at a roadhouse on outer SE Division… it took us about 5 minutes just to cross the street.

Bring your issues and insights on what’s wrong and how we can fix it to the event! Please spread the word and I look forward to meeting some of you at the event. thanks.

matt picio
13 years ago

Excellent, because I’d love to make this event but probably won’t because of the 50s Bike Boulevard Open House.

Dan O
Dan O
13 years ago

I’m not in PDX, but not too far from, either. I understand how bike advocates are interested in connections and stuff, but really – Ride Bike! If there are bad spots that repeatedly stress you out trying to ride through, find another route. There’s always another route. My approach is to not limit myself to the prescribed options, look around and don’t be afraid to use sidewalks, parking lots, off-road, or whatever for “connections”. That’s the beauty of riding bike – there’s a million ways to go, you know that there are. Life is not a Parcheesi board. Of course, this might not fly in PDX where bikes are a *big* issue and get so much attention (e.g. from cops). Out here where I ride a large percentage of cagers don’t think I belong anywhere on the road anyway, so couldn’t care less if I leave the road to forge my own “connection”, and bikes are so few that cops mostly ignore them.

Still, it is very cool to see a sort of new Amsterdam developing so close to home.

matt picio
13 years ago
Reply to  Dan O

Dan – except in SW Portland. The terrain makes it difficult and in some cases impossible to take another route. SW Portland is the most challenging area to ride, and PBOT, Multnomah County’s Transporation Department, the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee and the Multnomah County Bike/Ped Advisory Committee all spend a lot of time trying to figure out good solutions for the area.

Roger Averbeck
Roger Averbeck
13 years ago

Jonathan, thanks for organizing this! I’ll plan to attend.

RE routes to get to the event from SW Portland, just turn off SW Barbur at SW Miles, past the Fulton Community Center, cross over I-5 and drop down Corbett to Pendleton.

Coming from downtown, turn off Barbur at Hamilton, then south on Corbett to Pendleton.

It’s easy to avoid the Naito “freeway” and tunnel.

See you there!

Cate
Cate
13 years ago

“Just want to mention that we’ve have tentative plans to return to Multnomah Village later in the year.” Love that idea, Jonathan!