Believe it or not, those are bike racks!
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Yesterday I finally got a chance to visit The Fields, Portland's newest neighborhood park. Situated on NW Overton between 10th and 11th at the northern end of the Pearl District, The Fields is a beautiful addition to our city. It's got fantastic views of old industrial areas, a panorama of the Fremont Bridge, and lots of green grass to lay and play on. Whenever Portland opens a new public space, I'm always interested to see how they deal with bicycle access. In the case of The Fields, they've created a nice area for bicycle parking; but it took me a while to 1) realize it was there and 2) figure out how to use it.
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A large crowd gathered to celebrate the opening
of a bike shelter at Daimler Trucks HQ
this morning.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Daimler Trucks North America, a commercial truck manufacturer based on Swan Island, celebrated a decidedly non-motorized achievement this morning: They opened a bike parking shelter near the main entrance of their corporate headquarters.

The new shelter can fit up to 53 bicycles in a space previously used to park just five cars. Daimler project manager Rich Wipf said demand for bike parking from Daimler's 3,000 Swan Island employees (1,500 at corporate HQ) has increased significantly in recent years. "Some of our employees remember when just one rack was enough. Now we've got racks near all the entrances and they're all filling up."

Erik Weeman, a mechanical engineer, said there were only "a handful" of riders when he started working at Daimler two years ago. Now the existing bike racks quickly fill up in the morning. "Unless you get here early, your bike would be left out in the rain if you could even find a spot."
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The phalanx of bike racks at
the New Seasons on Williams Ave at Fremont.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

A long row of bike racks has been installed on the east side of the New Seasons Market currently under construction on North Williams Avenue. While they take up only a small footprint of the overall site, the 30 staple racks have space for 60 bicycles — that's three more spaces than they've allocated for auto parking.

The new New Seasons, set to open on August 28th of this year, is located on the block bound by Williams, Vancouver, Fremont and Cook. Both Williams and Vancouver (which run north/south) are among the busiest bike corridors in the entire city, so New Seasons is smart to make sure bike access is easy and pleasant. This morning I spoke to the store's Director of Development Don Forrest to learn more about what we can expect in terms of bike access.
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The Central Eastside Lofts have raised
the bar for bike-owning tenants.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Continuing our investigation into bike parking and the bike-centric amenities offered by Portland developers, I paid a visit to the Central Eastside Lofts last week. The 70-unit building is situated on the corner of NE 6th and Couch, just a few blocks from the Burnside Bridge and downtown Portland. It features ground-floor retail and has parking for 78 bicycles and 22 cars (12 on a surface parking lot and 10 garages).

I met up with the developer of the building, Brad Fowler of Fowler Andrews LLC. Brad and his partner owned the old residential building on this corner and opened the new Eastside Lofts in its place back in October. He said the impetus to provide high quality bike facilities in their new building didn't come simply from wanting to be bike-friendly or to follow a Portland trend, it was a pragmatic decision. (more...)

(From The Encore's website)

When the Encore condominiums in the Pearl District opened in 2008, bike-friendliness was a main selling point. "Ride. Relax. Repeat" was the marketing slogan. The building also caught my eye and ended up on the Front Page for offering a free bicycle to new owners. The building's developer, Hoyt Street Properties, purchased a long-term advertising campaign here on BikePortland.

But that was then.

Now, several Encore residents claim that the board of the Encore Condominium Owners Association (they took ownership of the building from Hoyt last summer) is vehemently anti-bike and has established new bike parking rules and policies that one long-time owner calls "draconian."

At issue is how to deal with the growing number of bicycles at the 177 unit building. Residents I've spoken with say there aren't nearly enough spaces (even though only about 150 units are currently sold). However, instead of increasing the number of racks, the board has come up with new rules and a convoluted, fee-based lottery and permit system that comes nowhere near meeting demand.
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This bike rack at the Plaid Pantry on SE Grand
and Burnside is one of 12 that have been recently installed.

I've got some great news for Portlanders who frequent Plaid Pantry convenience stores by bike.

For years, I've heard grumblings from readers (and have experienced it myself) about the hassle of having no bike parking at Plaid Pantry stores. It's always been frustrating that the stores have places for people to park cars just a few feet from the entrance while customers who arrive by bike have nowhere to lock up. In Portland (which is America's bike capital last time I checked), Plaid Pantry stores are an institution. For them to have no bike parking seemed like such a shame.

Now I'm happy to report, that because of people that cared enough to contact them and request bike parking, Plaid Pantry has just completed installing bike racks at 12 locations throughout Portland. (more...)

When real estate developers foresee on-street bike parking in the future, you know we've hit a tipping point.

The other day while riding in northwest Portland, I came across a commercial building that was for sale and under construction. There were signs on the building from the real estate broker trying to entice potential buyers. What grabbed my eye was a mock-up of what the new building could look like when it's done.

The image included an on-street bike parking corral.

Portland's bike corral program has been a big success. At last count they have well over 80 corrals installed in all corners of the city — from dense downtown streets to quieter commercial areas in the inner suburbs.

It seems to me that when the dreams of real estate developers include on-street bike parking; we've come a heck of a long way.

Cover of Portland Public School's
Bike Shelter Project Development Guide.

In an effort to make bicycling even more appealing to students, staff, and parents, Portland Public Schools (PPS) now offers a Bike Shelter Project Development Guide (PDF).

The new guide was developed in conjuction with the City of Portland's Safe Routes to School program. PBOT's Safe Routes team has been building momentum for more bike shelters since (at least) March 2010, when they installed shelters at four local schools. According to Safe Routes staffer Clay Veka, the PPS guide emerged from talks between local school leaders and PBOT back in February. (more...)

In a sign of the growing business opportunities that come with the renaissance of urban biking in America — and Portland's reputation for being in the center of it — Woodinville, Washington-based Sportworks will launch its new "No Scratch" bike rack line at Bridgeport Brewpub in the Pearl District next month.

Sportworks is already the nation's leading supplier of bus and transit racks (used in over 500 U.S. cities), and now they're looking to bolster their brand and garner business in the bike parking market. This is a great example of the data we often see in the bike advocacy world being translated into pure bottom line economics. Here's an excerpt from a press statement published yesterday by Sportworks: (more...)

Detail from rendering of
dedicated entrance to bike
parking facilities.

Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) — a school that has grabbed our attention several times in the past for their encouragement of bicycling among faculty and staff — has a new building in the works and they say it, "will set a new standard for the quality of bicycle facilities."

Those are lofty words, so we got a closer look at the plans from Campus Planning and Development Director Brian Newman. (more...)