Is it legal to ride a bike on the freeways in Oregon?

[letsroll]

Originally Posted by djasonpenney

All this notwithstanding, there's actually a shoulder on the legal stretches of freeway, so I think the risk of being rear ended by a cell-phone yakking latte-sipping slap-the-kid-in-the-back-seat soccer mom on Cedar Hills Boulevard is probably a lot greater than riding US-26 from the zoo to Jefferson.

You can talk to the driver who wrecked on Ceder Hills after having a seizure and nearly taking out two bikers a couple of months back.

[allisons]

it seems to me there are two separate issues here - is it legal to ride on stretches of freeway and is it a good idea to ride on stretches of freeway.

It seems the former is pretty well established as "yes" - at sometimes, in some places, bicycling is allowed on freeways.

As for the latter - honestly, I think every bicyclist needs to answer for him or herself. There are tons of routes that another cyclist is wiling to take that I won't touch with a ten foot pole. There are some parts of town I just don't go to by bike because every time I'm in that area, someone tries to kill me.

They seem super enthusiastic about the right hook in Beaverton. I used to ride my bike through downtown Portland some what cavalierly hopping from lane to lane to make the most of the downhill grade going north from PSU - get on a Max west bound and enter into a terrible nightmare land at the Beaverton TC where everyone was trying to kill me.

That said, when I *drive* on 217, someone tries to kill me every time - a bicycle on it would be very, very scary.

But if you do any out-of-town rides - a brevet or a tour, you're going to need a freeway to get through at all and you'll be dealing with at least the same kind of issues that you would on a bike-legal in-town freeway (on-ramps/off ramps, high speeds, etc). Car collisions on freeways are less common than surface street collisions - although they're usually more destructive because of the speeds involved. Obviously more bike-car collisions happen on surface streets because that's where we are, but yeah, you're not likely to survive a freeway collision without the steel cage around you.

All that said, it seems to me the way to make a bike route safer is to have bikes on it and impress upon the drivers that sometimes there are bikes on this route and they ought to look for them. If K'Tesh is willing to risk his neck to make more cars look for *me* - I appreciate it. In the meantime, I'll stick to surface streets with boulevards and bike/ped paths and rural highways when required.

Also - if ODOT gets annoyed with bike traffic on a freeway, maybe we'll get our own path!

________
Allisons

[jr98664]

I've always wondered exactly where the "Delta Park Interchange, MP 306.70" that the OAR refers to is. Based on the distance from the 307 mile post, it would seem to fall exactly on the Victory Boulevard interchange. According to the OAR, it would appear that it completely legal to ride on I-5 North of there. Unfortunately, signs would say otherwise. In contrast, I-205's closure is simply listed as "Northerly of [OR 43]," meaning to the state line.

On my ride yesterday, I did notice something interesting at that interchange. Currently with the construction on the bridge over the Columbia Slough, the SB on-ramp is on a slight detour. Upon a short inspection, I could not see a "Non-motorized Vehicles Prohibited" sign. Even if it were only hidden behind construction debris, it would mean that we now can legally ride on that portion of I-5, due to the lack of "adequate signing." While this two-lane stretch of I-5 would probably be one of the most dangerous sections for a bicycle, is there anyone out there crazy enough to go out and look? Mind you, I'm not encouraging you to do anything dangerous. I'm just wondering if anyone closer could have a look. If that sign really were missing, it would mean that we could technically ride on almost every single freeway from which we would normally be prohibited in at least one direction. However, it would probably be completely stupid and wholly unsafe.

K'Tesh, I remember that you got ODOT to remove a "No Bikes" sign in a location where it shouldn't of been. How did you go about doing that again?

[K'Tesh]

Originally Posted by jr98664

K'Tesh, I remember that you got ODOT to remove a "No Bikes" sign in a location where it shouldn't of been. How did you go about doing that again?

ODOT's Maintenance line is:

(503) 229-5002

[Alan]

Way back on 10-29-2008...

Originally Posted by K'Tesh

...you can check out the state's website.

That Oregon website has moved. Anyone know of a similar page showing what Oregon freeways are open to bicycles?

Up in Washington, the Bicycle Alliance site points to this WSDOT page for bikes which in turn links to this Google Maps page with both written and graphic displays of which Washington freeways are closed to bikes.

HTH!

[Simple Nature]

Now we see why Oregon has fallen behind Washington as most bike friendly.

http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2013...ing-announced/

Oregon really should pick up the advertising, and infrastructure of the tourist cycling opportunities. These are real economic dollars flowing through our fingers.

[DaveT]

You can ride on any freeway in Oregon except those sections specifically closed to bicycles. The text of the law that describes those sections as well as an English translation is here: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP...reeway_ban.pdf.

Unfortunately copying and pasting from the PDF resulted in an unreadable mishmash so you will have to go to the link.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by DaveT

You can ride on any freeway in Oregon except those sections specifically closed to bicycles. The text of the law that describes those sections as well as an English translation is here: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEP...reeway_ban.pdf.

Thanks, Dave! Good find. Here's the text of the summary:

Summary in Plain English

Bicycles and Pedestrians are banned on the following segments of freeway:

PORTLAND AREA
A) I-84: From I-5 (MP 0.00) to

Eastbound: 122nd Street (MP 10.25)
Westbound: Sandy Blvd (MP 15.14)

B) US 26: East of the Jefferson Street On/Off Ramps (MP 73.35), through the Vista Ridge tunnel, up to I-405.
C) I-5: from the Kruse Way / OR 217 Interchange (MP 292.20) to the Delta Park Interchange (MP 306.70).
D) I-205: North of the OR 43 (West Linn) Interchange (MP 8.82)
E) I-405: Whole Length
F) US 30: From I-405 (MP 0.00) to 23rd Street (MP 1.99).

MEDFORD AREA
A) I-5: From the South Medford (Barnett Road) Interchange (MP 27.5) to the North Medford (OR 238 / OR 62 - Crater Lake Highway) Interchange (M.P. 30.29).

It would be easier to navigate if they used exit numbers, for example Exit 16 for the I-84 westbound "bikes must exit." (East of Hollywood, Sandy doesn't really intersect I-84, at least not that I know of.)