(Photo: ODOT)
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has successfully added her first member to Oregon Transportation Commission and it appears like he’s got at least some some cycling experience.
Sean O’Hollaren, a former senior VP at Nike, fills a spot on the five-member committee that was left vacant when former Governor Kitzhaber fired Catherine Mater.
The OTC is the most powerful transportation body in the state. They approve funding, set ODOT policy, and “guide the planning development, and management” of our transportation network. There are five members, each representing a different region of the state.
The committee’s agenda items currently include the statewide transportation funding plan, a major update to the ODOT Bicycle and Pedestrian plan, federal TIGER grant funding, and more.
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In an announcement released today, the Oregon Department of Transportation describes O’Hollaren as someone with extensive knowledge of government relations and legislative affairs with experience in Washington D.C., Union Pacific railroad, and the aforementioned global sneaker juggernaut.
With his resume and experience, perhaps O’Hollaren could play a role in helping Oregon cities work with railroad companies on projects like the NP Greenway. Railroad firms are not usually flexible and responsive to public/bike access issues but they hold the key to many great bicycle paths.
ODOT also added that, “In his free time, he’s an avid cyclist.” We’ll look forward to asking O’Hollaren more about that as we get to know him a bit better. For now, we’ll look for him riding around the streets of Portland.
The OTC meets once a month. Learn more about them and read meeting agendas and minutes at Oregon.gov.
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I hate that word “avid”. Let’s hope O’Halloran is just a person who uses his bike a lot.
It’s a short step from “avid” to “rabid”. 😉
“Let’s hope O’Halloran is just a person who uses his bike a lot.”
But wouldn’t that make him an avid bicyclist?
“In his free time, he’s an avid cyclist.”
Translation: not a commuter or utility cyclist, at best a recreational cyclist (or a ‘Fred’, As BSNYC would say).
Huh. I always considered myself an avid cyclist, but since I work from home now and walk to the grocery store, I guess I’ve been downgraded to “Fred.”
I suspect that if you are a Portland politician or deal with this region of Oregon that Politically you are required to say that you are bike-y.
I’m sure that all of them own a bicycle.
Far fewer get out often enough that they don’t have to check their tires for dry rot.
Of those regulars it is likey there are few that actually choose to ride on roads with significant traffic that are regular high bike traffic routes.
A car is just far more convenient; so is junk food.
There is a drawback to assuming an “avid” cyclist cares at all about bicycle infrastructure. As I learned this weekend talking to my neighbor who is an “avid” mountain biker he noted his disdain for “cyclists” in Portland that don’t stop at stop signs or “obey” traffic laws and so on… I held my tongue to say the least.
I’ve had more than one interaction with “avid” cyclists like this that it didn’t surprise me. It’s amazing how many people have a “share the road” license plate on their car and still drive with little conscience or respect for other “cyclists”
It just goes to show that we need to always be conscious of other road users and how they perceive our actions, you never know… that one person that sees you roll a stop sign/light could be one of the people making decisions for our future on capitol hill!
Oh, like the person today who passed me on Clinton going 40 MPH?
yup thems the ones…
Adam,
Hyperbole again? Even professionals have difficulty estimating vehicle speeds by sight. A 40 mph speeder on Clinton would be the top 0.1% or 0.2% of speeders.
Hey Paikiala – Adam wasn’t necessarily using hyperbole. Using some reasonable assumptions*, a regular commuter on Clinton will see a 40mph car about once every four months.
*3000 cars per day on Clinton, 4 (0.13%) of which drive 40mph. Ten cars per day observed by commuter, 21.7 commute days per month.
I am actually a bit disappointed that Mater wasn’t reappointed by Brown, she never should have been removed.
Some “rabid” mountain bikers even drive all the way to Ashland to finish destroying whats left of the blown out trail network. Mountain biking is a recreational hobby designed to enrich the petroleum/bicycle industrial complex.
A mountain biker.
LOL….seriously, thanks for the laugh.
Hopefully he will be a Rabid cyclist. Maybe he might have PBOT put photo radar on St johns bridge and several other problem streets in the greater Portland area. I rode from Washington square across the Sellwood bridge north on 17th and 26th. I then went up Williams caught Willammette boulevard and crossed the St. Johns bridge. While crossing the bridge the speed limit is 35 I saw no one that was doing less than 55 there were 2 that were going well over 80 with one that topped 100 MPH. That car missed me by less than 3 inches. My riding partner was brushed by that one. Portland could get enough revenue just from the speeders here to pay for all of the road work that needs to be done.
Just fuming. I was also cut off 4 times by left turning cars today and 1 tried to stop cross ways to the lane (through lane) I was in. I missed him but almost took out a truck in the left turn lane behind him.
Yes I was dressed brightly enough that if I had hit and the driver said “I didn’t see him” The driver would have been beyond legally blind.
Hopefully I can catch a ride with O’Hallorin.
Accurate recording of speed…and you had a radar gun?
How is anybody “brushed” by a heavy, jagged projectile moving at an 80+mph speed differential? If they’re lucky, it only catches a bit of clothing, pulls them off their bicycle, and rips the clothing to shreds. If “brushed” actually contacted flesh, then it’d be one hell of a bruise.
I’m impressed anybody can do 100 on the St John’s bridge, let alone in traffic. The straight is about 0.75mi, and getting a car from a 90-degree corner up to 100mph in that stretch is certainly possible, but it takes a sports car (probably within the top 100 among unmodified stock vehicle models… we’re talking Ferraris and McLarens here) and someone driving it pedal-to-the-metal from the moment they make the corner, then braking very hard at the opposite end.
In any case, glad you both survived without becoming another front-page accident headline.
Tom,
As with Adam H, hyperbole = crying wolf.
pure speculation on your part: like everything else, judging speed is a skill you either develop or you don’t, but that doesn’t mean you should be dissing his claim; frankly, I’m not surprised by anyone’s estimation of the stupidity of motorists…
🙂
PS – all these motorists left-hooking cyclists are apparently on the low end of speed estimation skill….
:-O
The car was a blur but I identified it as a late model AMG with the turbo V8 and blacked out windows. He was racing a Porsche Carrera. It grazed his spandex like a graze from a baseball without solid impact.. Yes he was doing pedal to the metal, both were. Speed by eye is pretty close being a sports car driver and cyclist for the last 62 years.
Does that make all the others on the Commission avid automobilists?
Reminds me of the filter the City Council said it was going to apply to vetting people for their study of the bicycle in Portland. Which produced, among others, Robert McCullough.
I am on the St. Johns Bridge 4 to 5 times per week and in NO WAY is anyone doing 80 or 100 mph crossing the bridge. You could reach 80 if there was no other traffic, like maybe at 3a. But, even with a completely empty bridge, by the time you hit 80 or 100mph, you’d have to slam on your brakes to make either the left or right onto NW Bridge, or risk watching your car blow up as it slams into the mountain.
Also, NO ONE is getting brushed at that speed and staying on their bike. Ride the smaller stretch of Interstate going to the RQ and you’ll come close to trucks going 25-30 that will test your balance. 80-100mph, no way!
Also, if PBOT is installing photo radar anywhere in NoPo, it should be at N Denver and N Lombard, N Lombard and N Interstate, N Greeley and N Interstate, or at N Interstate and N Tillamook, not on the St. John’s Bridge.
PBOT does not install photo radar. Photo red light running is fixed. Photo speed enforcement is required to be a movable van that can only be in one spot for 2 hours a day, and must be manned.
The proposed legislation has a specific formula for which roads could have fixed photo speed enforcement. It amounts to the top 5% or 10% of our busiest roads – those that most often qualify for High Crash Corridor status.
“The committee’s agenda items currently include the statewide transportation funding plan, a major update to the ODOT Bicycle and Pedestrian plan, federal TIGER grant funding, and more.”
Do you happen to know the timeline for any of these? Thanks.