Google Street View image of the approximate incident location. The bus stop is visible beneath the tree at right.

TriMet is investigating an incident in which a man claims that a TriMet operator blew him off after a bus pulled in front of him while he was riding his bike, prompting a collision.

The encounter took place June 6 at 4:30 pm, leaving the man, Erik Holm, with what he described as “minor pain in my left shoulder, injury sustained when I used my left arm to brace against impact with the bus at oblique angle.”

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It’s always jarring, and sometimes educational, to see a bike-related collision from a third party’s vantage point.

In a video captured last week by a Halloween-themed “graveyard” security camera and published last night on Bike Milwaukie’s Facebook page, it’s easy to see how fast a nasty crash can happen.

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Concept of Monroe/Linwood intersection.
(Graphic: BTA)

Yesterday, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced the winners of their 2013 Transportation and Growth Management grants. Among them is a $103,000 award that will fund the planning and design of the Monroe Street Bike Boulevard/Neighborhood Greenway project.

While the dollar amount is relatively small, this grant represents a major milestone for Milwaukie, a city on the Willamette River just six miles south of downtown Portland. (more…)

Photo by Bike Milwaukie.

Bike Milwaukie, a community group in Portland’s inner southern suburb, has been holding 12 to 13 rides a year since it formed in 2011 and is ready for a minor milestone: Milwaukie Mayor Jeremy Ferguson plans to join the ride this Sunday.

Ferguson, whose day job is supervising operations at Portland Streetcar, has served since 2009 and was reelected to a full four-year term in 2010. He’s been a successful proponent of extending TriMet’s Orange Line to central Milwaukie, which he aims to enrich with more human traffic.

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A Milwaukie Police Department photo
from the first giveaway, in 2011.

A three-year-old experiment that distributes unclaimed bikes to low-income kids in Milwaukie has taken root, with the help of Milwaukie’s police and Sellwood shop The Bike Commuter.

Last week, the program gave 50 bikes to students at four Milwaukie elementary schools and one middle school. Most were unclaimed bikes collected by TriMet police and the Milwaukie police department, but unclaimed by owners (many of whom haven’t recorded their bikes’ serial numbers, as recommended).

The Bike Commuter, a shop in nearby Sellwood that opened in 2010 with the help of a loan from Mercy Corps Northwest, donated their mechanics’ time to make the necessary repairs, as they have for the last two years.

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Lewelling Elementry student Nikolas McKinney (green shirt) stands with Milwaukie PD Cadet John Pyle and Captain Steve Bartol. His friend Kayden Miller is in the background.
(Photos: North Clackamas School District)

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Concept drawing of Trolley Trail, which is all set to break ground.
(Graphic: Trolley Trail Master Plan)

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Google Map of location

Just before 9:30 pm on Monday night, a man riding a bike died while crossing the train tracks near SE Oak and Campbell Streets in Milwaukie (about seven miles south of Portland).

According to the Milwaukie Police Department, it was a southbound Amtrak train. On KGW‘s newscast tonight, they reported that there were several cars waiting at the train crossing arms (which were down) when “all of the sudden, a man on a bike rode past the cars and onto the tracks.” A Milwaukie police detective interviewed by KGW said the train was honking. There is no explanation at this time why the man on the bike continued onto the tracks.
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This substandard bridge in SE Portland’s
Brooklyn neighborhood would be improved
with TIGER II grant funds.

A partnership between TriMet, Metro, and the cities of Portland and Milwaukie could lead to a series of significant biking and walking improvements along the yet-to-be built Portland to Milwaukie light-rail line. TriMet is the lead applicant in a $13.2 million TIGER II grant request that would include a new multi-use path, a new biking and walking-only bridge in Milwaukie, and several other components along the rail corridor. (more…)

New on the streets of Milwaukie!
(Photo: Matt Menely)

The City of Milwaukie (which borders Portland to the southeast) has installed its first of 212 bikeway network signs. Milwaukie resident Matt Menely spotted the first one, which is located near SE 28th and Monroe.

The Bikeway Signage Plan project began with a series of public meetings in February 2009 and the signs are a part of Milwaukie’s Bike Plan which was adopted by City Council in December 2007.

The installation will be done in three phases and the first phase includes 48 signs. According to City of Milwaukie planner Brett Kelver, they have $10,000 allocated for the first 40 signs. The signs cost $250 (fabrication and installation) each and money for the project comes from a fund for biking and walking projects set aside with 1% of Milwaukie’s state gas tax revenues. The signs are similar in style to signs the City of Portland began installing back in late 2005.

What’s the purpose of the signs? Here is a list of benefits as laid out in the Milwaukie Bicycle Wayfinding Signage Plan (which was developed by Alta Planning): (more…)