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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The old-school bike box at SE 39th and Clinton.

The colored version at SE Hawthorne and 7th.

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 [...]

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…

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).

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

Unlike their morning shift, the Traffic Division of the Portland Police Bureau was busy yesterday afternoon at the intersection of SE Hawthorne and 7th.

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 [...]

(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 [...]

The bike box at SE Hawthorne and 7th in action.(Photo by Jay Lawrence/Polara Studios)

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 [...]

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 [...]

My five year-old daughter tests out Portland’s new bike box. By Monday it will be painted green just like the colored bike lane next to it.Slideshow below(Photos © J. Maus)

PDOT says installation of “Portland’s new green space” could start as early as this Thursday.

New bike box billboard on N. InterstateAve., just south of Greeley.

The Portland Office of Transportation’s bike box education campaign is in full swing. Their “Get Behind It” slogan can be seen on 14 billboards throughout the central city and on [...]

Photo of bike lane near Broadway Bridge (green color added).(Photo © J. Maus)

Remember back in December, when I shared how PDOT was contemplating what color the new bike boxes and colored bike lanes should be?
Well now it’s official: They’ve decided to go green.
I asked PDOT’s bicycle coordinator Roger Geller why. He said their [...]

This morning I had a nice chat with KINK-FM Morning Show anchors Les Sarnoff and Rebecca Webb.
Les and Rebecca called me into the studio to talk about Portland’s effort to improve bike safety by installing blue bike lanes, bike boxes, and new signage at 14 dangerous intersections.

This photo of the bike box at SE Clinton and 39th, shows why more education is needed.(Photo © Jonathan Maus)

As part of their campaign to roll out bike boxes at 14 major Portland intersections, PDOT is soliciting bids from the community for a new video that would explain the why, what, and how about bike [...]

Freshly installed bike lanes and bike boxes in New York City.(Photo by Clarence Eckerson)

For years, several U.S. cities have dabbled in an intersection treatment that is ubiquitous in many European cities: the bike box. Unfortunately, most of these boxes, including the one in Southeast Portland, have been more of a forgotten experiment than a [...]

[*Updated 12/19, 9:42 am]
Wednesday night at 6:00pm, (*NOTE: This Council session has been rescheduled) City Commissioner Sam Adams will present a resolution and report about bike safety to City Council that outlines “initial City policy improvements and engineering enhancements undertaken to increase bicycle safety in response to recent bicyclist fatalities.”

Goodbye blue…hello green?

Even though funding has now been approved and the political will exists to move forward, the Portland Office of Transportation (PDOT) still has a few wrinkles to iron out before installation begins on colored bike boxes and bike lanes that are slated for 14 dangerous intersections around the city.
PDOT is currently researching two [...]

Draft engineering drawing of the intersection where Tracey Sparling was killed.

Last night, as part of a nearly $6 million surplus budget allocation process, Portland’s City Council approved $200,000 to fund bike safety improvements at 14 intersections.
These improvements include new, colored bike boxes and bike lanes at intersections found to be dangerous and in need of [...]

Matthew Machado of PDOT traffic operations.(Photos © Jonathan Maus)

At last night’s meeting of the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee, PDOT unveiled their initial concepts for adding new bike boxes and blue bike lanes to fourteen Portland intersections.
Commissioner Adams dropped in on the meeting and said he wants to move “quickly but prudently” and hopes to have [...]

Roger Geller(Photo: Jonathan Maus)

[We've heard from the local media, we've heard from the Police Bureau, we've heard from the BTA, and we've heard from the community (through hundreds of comments on various websites and blogs). Now, in this guest article, PDOT bike coordinator Roger Geller shares an in-depth analysis of how the City of [...]

CITY OF PORTLAND OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 26, 2007 [...]

A large crowd in City Hall.Slideshow below(Photos © Jonathan Maus)

Just four days after the second fatal bicycle crash in as many weeks, City Commissioner Sam Adams called together an “emergency meeting” to discuss the issues and brainstorm solutions to improve bike safety in our city. Following the meeting was a press conference that [...]