With budget cuts to bike lane
cleaning, you might want to
carry a broom.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has unveiled a list of proposed cuts intended to slash their discretionary budget by $15-16 million. The unprecedented cuts — which amount to about 20% of $70 million in discretionary revenue — comes as PBOT grapples with how continue providing services while revenue sources have failed to keep pace with demands and commitments made in previous years are now coming due.
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PBOT Director Tom Miller says
"tough decisions" lie ahead
for his agency.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has projected $16 million in cuts to balance their 2012-2013 fiscal year budget.

As we reported earlier this month, the cuts are necessary due to a variety of local, regional, and national issues and Portland Mayor Sam Adams is asking all bureaus to do their parts to weather the storm.

In a statement issued today, PBOT said they've gotten even lower than expected gas tax receipt projections from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). State gas tax revenues are PBOT's single largest source of funding and they've been dwindling as people decide to drive less and drive more fuel-efficient cars.
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Tom Miller is the new Director of the Bureau of Transportation.
(Photos © J. Maus)

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Traffic through the Rose Quarter.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation released results of their 2010 bike counts today (PDF here). The counts — taken at 153 locations throughout the city — show that bike use climbed in Portland this year after a small dip in 2009. According to the report, the number of bike trips taken in 2010 is up about 8 percent over 2009. Since PBOT began these annual counts in 2000, bicycling has tripled, growing by 190 percent. (more...)

The new bike-only signal at NE
Alameda and Sandy was
one of several highlights
of the ride.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Instead of their usual monthly meeting at City Hall, the City of Portland's Bicycle Advisory Committee took to the streets for their annual bike ride last night.

The idea of the ride was to share some of PBOT's recently completed and upcoming bikeway projects with committee members and other interested citizens and advocates. Notable faces on the ride included author and reporter for The Oregonian Jeff Mapes, Portland Police Officer (and BAC Vice-Chair) Robert Pickett, Mayor Adams' Chief of Staff Tom Miller (riding his daughter in a bakfiets). Also joining us were several of bike planning professionals from around the region and the state including the biking and walking program coordinator from the City of Wilsonville Jeff Owen and City of Eugene planner David Roth.

Below is a detail of the ride map followed by a few highlights. (more...)

Portland City Council officially adopted the Bureau of Transportation's Division Streetscape and Street Reconstruction Project yesterday.

The plan was over a year in the making and it will impact the stretch of SE Division between SE 10th and 39th Avenues. The $7 million project will repave the street, add a full complement of "green streetscape elements" (like bioswales and curb extensions), improve transit stops, and more. Construction is slated to begin in 2011. (more...)

A family rides by new sharrow markings recently installed in N. Concord Avenue.
(Photos © J Maus)

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[Publisher's note: In a story last week I hoped out loud that City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) would seize the opportunity to re-stripe Williams Avenue north of Broadway with a wider bike lane. The road is currently torn up for a repave, so what better time to try and eke out an extra foot or two for bikes? PBOT got in touch with me after reading that story and requested to write a guest article about the situation. I agreed and I've published the piece in its entirety below. I've put some of the most important bits in bold.]

Williams is currently torn up.
When it gets re-striped, the bike lane
will likely be one foot wider.
(Photo © J. Maus)

A BikePortland headline from May 27 asked, “Williams Ave getting repaved: Can we get a wider bike lane?” We are writing today with an answer: Yes. And not only can Portlanders get a wider bike lane on North Williams, but they probably will get one in the next month and may get something better in the next year. (more...)

A better bikeway on Vancouver leading
into the Rose Quarter area is one
of the projects PBOT wants help on.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has put out Request for Proposals to hire a consultant that will help them further develop five new bikeway projects and to assess the feasibility of three others. The projects were identified in the 2030 Bike Plan and PBOT says this is a first step toward implementing them.

The $185,000 RFP specifically names five projects that would set a new standard for bikeways that PBOT describes are, "envisioned to make riders feel safer and more comfortable than they would feel in standard bike lanes."

In addition to the five projects, PBOT wants help to assess the technical feasibility of three others.

The five projects listed in the RFP for futher development are: (more...)

NE Holman is already a relatively
pleasant place to ride, but improvements
are needed.
(Photo © J. Maus)

We've already mentioned how important it is to speak up at PBOT's bike boulevard open houses (a.k.a. neighborhood greenways), so today I'll just offer a gentle reminder of two that are coming up this week.

Tomorrow (5/4) and Thursday (5/6), PBOT will hold their second round of open houses for projects on NE Holman and NE Klickitat respectively. (more...)

Rolling on NE Tillamook.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The City of Portland recently unveiled "neighborhood greenways" as a term to replace bike boulevards. At the monthly meeting of the City's Bicycle Advisory Committee last night PBOT traffic safety staffer Greg Raisman showed up to explain more about their thinking behind the new name. (more...)

SmartTrips decal outside
a cafe in St. Johns.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Transportation Options Division within PBOT has released a report on their 2009 SmartTrips Business program that focused on North and Northwest Portland. In a survey about the program's effectiveness filled out by 72 (out of the 192) businesses involved in the program, 68% of them said that promoting biking and walking helped them market their business.

SmartTrips is an individualized marketing program that encourages options to single-occupancy vehicle trips by distributing free maps and "commuter kits" and empowering participants to promote biking, walking, and transit. (more...)

ODOT grant will boost City's efforts
to tame dangerous roads.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has received a $98,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation that will go toward development of plans and processes to tame dangerous traffic corridors citywide.

According to PBOT traffic safety specialist Sharon White, the money is part of a new, three-year initiative that will focus on "high-crash corridors." City Council formally accepted the grant at their meeting on Wednesday.
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New funds will install crosswalks and other improvements.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has just announced that their Safe Routes to School program has received a $495,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to build engineering improvements at seven local elementary and K-8 schools.

In a press release, PBOT Safe Routes program coordinator Gabe Graff said:

“We are excited and proud to have been selected for this funding... By bringing in this funding, Portland’s Safe Routes to School program will help make walking and biking a more realistic, safer option."

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Commissioner Saltzman and his chief of staff
Brendan Finn at tonight's BAC meeting.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman made a rare appearance at the City's Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting tonight in order to present his idea to raise up to $1 million per year to help pay for projects in the 2030 bicycle plan.

When the plan comes up for adoption by City Council this Thursday, Saltzman said he'll propose an amendment to use revenue from the City's Utility License Fee to pay for bike projects. The Utility License Fee is paid to the City by companies and agencies (like PGE, Comcast, Northwest Natural, and so on) that use the City's public right of way to perform a variety of services -- from telecommunications to natural gas and sewer line maintenance.
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A fund to help pay for more
bike boulevards will be
doubled in the coming year.
(Photo © J. Maus)

With budget season heating up it's time to delve into what the Bureau of Transportation has in mind for bikes in the coming fiscal year.

Last year the budget was created in what Mayor Adams referred to as a "very difficult environment." One proposal (that thankfully did not come to pass) was to trim the city's spending on Safe Routes to School by 40%.

Things are much different this year. (more...)

Bike traffic on the Hawthorne Bridge.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has released a full report and analysis on their 2009 bike counts. Last month, an unauthorized and incomplete version of the report leaked to the Willamette Week revealed that bike ridership in Portland had taken its first dip since 1995.

Many theories cropped up to account for this dip and PBOT's just-released report (which was also partially leaked to the Willamette Week yesterday) explains what they feel are three key factors leading to the decline. (more...)

Families join a PBOT traffic engineer
for a walkabout outside Trillium
Charter School on N. Interstate Ave.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation does a lot more than than just build bike infrastructure. They also have one of the best Safe Routes to Schools programs in the country and they do a bunch of free, bike-related outreach all year. Below are four events that you should take advantage of this month:

Safe Routes Discussions and Trainings

Wednesday January 13th from 10:00-11:30am
Panel Discussion: Promoting Active Transportation at School
East Portland Community Police Center (737 SE 106th Ave)
Come engage in lively conversation and hear from three experienced school champions about successes and lessons learned in promoting walking and biking at their schools.

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The Springwater Corridor Trail is
a major commute thoroughfare
and recreational facility.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Springwater Corridor Trail is the closest thing Portland has to a bicycle superhighway.

When the trail is complete, you will be able to walk, run, skate, or ride your bike from the Steel Bridge all the way out beyond Gresham without ever sharing the road with a motorized vehicle. For now, only two major gaps remain, both in inner Portland, where you must exit the trail and wind through city streets.

The southern gap routes you through quiet, residential streets in Sellwood from SE Umatilla close to the river to SE 19th. The northern gap, from the current trailhead at SE Ivon to the beginning of the Eastbank Esplanade at OMSI, is by far the worst of the two, crossing through a major construction zone and the entrance to a gravel depot, creating a safety hazard and a signage and enforcement conundrum.

So what is the current status of these gaps? (more...)

When Willamette Week reporter Beth Slovic broke the story about PBOT's 2009 bike count numbers yesterday, we were shocked. Our surprise was two-fold: First, although we'd heard speculation that the counts would be down compared to 2008, it was still surprising to learn it had actually happened; and second, we had asked PBOT repeatedly for for the results of the counts (which have historically been released in November) but were told that no numbers would be released until January.

Slovic was called out by Joseph Rose of The Oregonian yesterday because a PBOT staffer told him the report didn't exist. Today, Slovic produced a PDF of that preliminary report in order to prove she was not making it up. Much of that report includes information from 2008 (PBOT was using it as a template), but we've confirmed that the 2009 numbers presented are accurate.
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