Special Coverage of Bike Boxes
Bike boxes are a new roadway engineering treatment being used by the City of Portland Office of Transportation to improve bike safety at intersections. They are intended to improve awareness and visibility of cyclists and to help prevent dangerous "right-hook" collisions.
For more information, read the stories below and check out these links for more information:
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Posted on September 15th, 2010 at 9:25 am.
Scene of a right hook at NE Couch and Grand this morning.(Photos © J. Maus)
The morning after PBOT called it their #1 priority location to receive a bike box, a woman on a bike was hit at NE Couch and Grand. Based on interviews with the victim's friend and the driver of the truck, [...]
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Posted on September 14th, 2010 at 6:40 pm.
PBOT's plans for new bike box planned for SE 7th at Hawthorne(Photos © J. Maus)
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Posted on September 14th, 2010 at 2:51 pm.
A year-long evaluation by researchers at Portland State University's Institute for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation has found that Portland's bike boxes improve the safety of roads users on a number of levels. The research — funded through the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium — complements another study from the University of Texas published [...]
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Posted on April 2nd, 2009 at 12:17 pm.
Mayor Adams credits bike boxesas one reason for record numbers(Photo © J. Maus)
Back in January, we reported that Portland had potentially had a record low number of traffic fatalities in 2008.
PBOT has now made it official -- we have never had fewer traffic fatalities in any year since they began keeping track in 1925.
In [...]
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Posted on November 13th, 2008 at 4:39 pm.
Portland has been at the cutting edge of traffic design for many years. In America, with our stringent, car-centric traffic design guidelines, that means having engineers who are not afraid to push the boundaries of the status quo.
The most recent example of this are Portland's colored bike boxes. We weren't the first city [...]
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Posted on October 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am.
In 1993 an upstart bike advocacy group called the Bicycle Transportation Alliance -- headed by Rex Burkholder (now a Metro councilor) -- filed a lawsuit against the City of Portland because of a lack of bicycle facilities around the Rose Garden Arena.
This morning, 15 years after that legal battle (which ended after the [...]
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Posted on July 28th, 2008 at 3:20 pm.
The old-school bike box at SE 39th and Clinton.
The colored version at SE Hawthorne and 7th.
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Posted on July 3rd, 2008 at 10:16 am.
The new bike box at W. Burnside and 14th.Video below(Photos © J. Maus)
On Monday, the city of Portland installed a bike box in the SE corner of W. Burnside and 14th streets in downtown Portland -- the same intersection where Tracey Sparling was killed nine months ago.
This is the eighth bike box the City has [...]
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Posted on July 1st, 2008 at 3:17 pm.
The short video below premiered at Bike Porn 2. It contains some dirty language but it's definitely worth watching for what I think is one of the best lines ever spoken in the growing bike box film genre...
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Posted on June 27th, 2008 at 8:28 am.
Bike box. Get it?(Photo: Movie still)(Watch video below.)
Clarence Eckerson Jr., that intrepid auteur with New York City-based Streetfilms, just posted another one of the films he made during his recent visit to Portland.
Eckerson is the man behind the Sunday Parkways video I posted Tuesday (that film has already been viewed nearly 4,000 times).
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Posted on May 16th, 2008 at 10:48 am.
Download the letter (490k, PDF)
On Tuesday, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) pledged their full support for PDOT's efforts to improve bike safety by installing bike boxes at intersections.
Their support came in the form of a letter written to Scott Wainwright, a top highway engineer for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), who also sits on [...]
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Posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm.
A bike box in downtown Portland.(Photos © J. Maus)
The Portland Tribune has published an article about concerns raised by citizens and the Oregon Department of Transportation over the usage, safety and efficacy of the newly installed bike boxes.
The story's sub-headline reads, "Some cycling advocates are trying to stick a wrench in the spokes of [...]
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Posted on April 1st, 2008 at 3:07 pm.
New bike box on SW Madison at 3rd.(Photos © J. Maus)
The City of Portland has installed two more green bike boxes and painted bike lanes; including the first one on the west side of the river.
Today, crews finished a bike box and new painted bike lane at SE 11th and Hawthorne, just a few blocks [...]
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Posted on March 26th, 2008 at 7:21 pm.
I got an early look at PDOT's new educational video -- On the Move with Mr. Smooth -- which is slated to debut at tomorrow's bike box press event.
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Posted on March 26th, 2008 at 10:44 am.
Unlike their morning shift, the Traffic Division of the Portland Police Bureau was busy yesterday afternoon at the intersection of SE Hawthorne and 7th.
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Posted on March 25th, 2008 at 8:02 am.
Officer Voepel keeps a watchful eye on the new bike box.(Photos © J. Maus)
This morning, officers from the Portland Police Bureau's Traffic Division began a series of targeted enforcement missions at the new bike box on SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Traffic Division Lieutenant Bryan Parman and three of his officers were on hand to watch the intersection [...]
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Posted on March 20th, 2008 at 1:27 pm.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Billing it as an, "event to celebrate Portland's new 'Green Space'," the City of Portland's Office of Transportation has just announced details of a press event next week that will draw attention to their first installation of a series of bike safety improvements around the city.
The event will be held at Clever [...]
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Posted on March 18th, 2008 at 9:45 am.
The bike box at SE Hawthorne and 7th in action.(Photo by Jay Lawrence/Polara Studios)
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Posted on March 17th, 2008 at 2:09 pm.
Traffic Division Captain Larry O'Dea.(Photo © J. Maus)
The City of Portland's campaign to remake several intersections with colored bike boxes and bike lanes is made up of much more than just markings on the pavement. Along with the new markings comes a significant change to the law; at all intersections slated to receive a [...]
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Posted on March 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pm.
PDOT crews lay down the bike symbol.(Photos © J. Maus)
This morning, in well-timed nod to St. Patrick's Day, City of Portland crews finished the installation of the green bike box and bike lane at SE Hawthorne and 7th. They also installed new permanent signs adjacent to the intersection warning motorists to yield to bikes [...]
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