TriMet plans bike party for I-205 detour
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on April 14th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
TriMet, and its partners on the I-205 light rail construction project, are planning “I-bike-205, a party on pedals”. The event will take place on July 13th when they will unveil a new 6.5 mile alternate bike route around the planned construction.
On the event flyer, TriMet says,
“Because riders of all kinds will be using the new route, we see this as a double opportunity: 1) Show riders theroute; 2) Celebrate local biking culture…so join us for a new ride, a chance to see the full diversity of local cycling, and a cool summer party.”
TriMet plans to invite advocacy groups, related agencies and every kind of riding group in the city to set up booths.
They hope to draw hundreds of riders and at the end of the ride there will be, “free food, bike entertainment, prizes, and more.”
For more information on this event contact Patricia Williams at (503) 962-2156.
Has there been any analysis about the additional distance/ length of time to travel this detour for bicyclists (and pedestrians)?
Let us work towards a Platinum quality bike friendly workzone.
I assume as a mitigation for this disruption (time, distance, and lower safety thru higher exposure to car traffic) that PDOT is working with Trimet to sign/stencil in bike lanes and improve the bikeability of intersection crossings (bike signals/ loops/ push buttons with priority) since this route is being moved from a high quality facility (access controlled bike highway) to a lower quality on-street facility. Much as ODOT (w/PDOT) would do for cars if 205 were closed and traffic moved to local arterials. These streets now should prioritize bike crossings due to their function as Interstate routes [bikes and pedestrians/ ADA] vs. local traffic.
We should not just accept the option of them throwing up a few orange and black bike detour signs and calling that good enough. PBAC members – any comments on the review of their mitigation plans yet?
The Dutch national bike facility manual (‘Make Way for the Bike’ – 1996 English ed.) has a great chapter on workzone planning for bicyclist safety. Better than anything I have seen in the US so far.
Perhaps this project will be a good dry run for the disruption that will be the Interstate 5 Bridge project – as for bike and pedestrian access.
RecommendedAnyone have any usage stats for that section of the path? I used to train for mountain bike races on my roadie by putting in miles (downtown to clackamas town center, then turn around and to the path to Boring, then back to downtown, etc).
It always seemed like that section between going towards Clackamas was always pretty dead (comparatively speaking).
Don’t take this the wrong way, I am not saying they should get rid of it or anything, I am simply curious how many people use it per day.
My other random thought is that if trimet is going to continue to expand the max system they need to come up with a better naming system than simply assigning colors. Sure it is ok now, but what about in 50 years? Will people be riding the ‘fuchsia line’ or the ‘beige line’. Hmm.
RecommendedJuly 13 is a “Friday the 13th”. Wait a minute–didn’t we just have one of those?
RecommendedSo far, I’m not impressed with Tri-Met’s attention to cyclists regarding this project, especially in Clackamas County. Their idea of a “detour” in Clackamas is to route all bike traffic to 92nd Ave and up the shoulder of Mt. Scott (fairly long and steep, and with inadequate protection against cars – narrow shoulders and no bike lane).
Also, Tri-Met has already closed / destroyed parts of the current I-205 path in the last 2 weeks – I find it amusing that the “detour” party will happen after they’ve been detouring people for at least 2-3 months.
IMO, Tri-Met has done an excreble job at planning to accomodate bikes and peds for this project. Unfortunately, as Disco D mentioned, this path isn’t heavily traveled, so it’s not likely they’ll take serious steps to mitigate the impact on us. I’ve already found my own alternate routes that do not involve steep climbs and serious exposure to 35-45 mph traffic.
RecommendedOf course, I’m not going to let that stop me from showing up for a bike ride and free food.
RecommendedDid you say free food?!
Recommended