The Bikes Belong Coalition just announced that the Portland-based Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) will receive a $5,000 grant to assist in their bike boulevard campaign. According to the official announcement, the money will go to:
“…help promote and develop their campaign for Bicycle Boulevards in Portland. These low-traffic roadways will serve as a way to prioritize bicycle traffic by retrofitting existing streets with bike-friendly treatments rather than building separate, off-street facilities.”
Obviously $5,000 is not a ton of money, but there’s more to it than that. This positive PR gives the BTA momentum to go after more donations and grants, not to mention it’s a nice feather in their cap.
Seems like bike boulevards are a hot topic among bike advocates and planners these days. PDOT recently asked the Federal Highway Administration for over $4 million to construct new ones in Northeast Portland.
Still wondering what the heck bike boulevards are? Here are some helpful links:
- Defined by the City of Berkeley’s Office of Transportation
- “Bicycle boulevards” in Wikipedia
- A movie about them from BikeTV
And in other Bikes Belong grant news….last February the City of Gresham (just east of Portland) was awarded a $7,500 grant to help construct part of the Gresham/Fairview Trail. This trail in a north-south route that will eventually connect a major gap between two existing popular trails, Marine Drive and the Springwater Corridor Trail.