announcement last October.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
The Willamette Week’s “Wheels of Fortune” story in this week’s paper outlines City Commissioner (and mayoral front-runner) Sam Adams’ intention to significantly increase PDOT’s bike spending in the coming years.
Adams told the paper he thinks 4.5 percent of PDOT’s capital budget should go to bicycle-related infrastructure and programs. That’s nearly three times the current bike spending rate of 1.6 percent; a number that has remained flat in recent years even as the number of bike trips has skyrocketed.
The 4.5 percent number comes from the latest U.S. Census estimates for the current number of regular bike commuters in Portland (which leads the nation in bike commute mode split).
In the article, Adams says, “Spending should match current utilization.”
The story also points out how critics are already chiming in about the idea.
Former city council candidate Dave Lister told Willamette Week reporter Henry Stern that, “I appreciate folks who commute by bicycle, but I’m having a hard time believing that 4 percent of the city’s commuters use bicycles year around.”
And someone from the Cascase Policy Institute (remember them from the Bike/Car debate?) adds that “The vast majority of people use cars to get around…and there needs are also important.”
PDOT’s paltry spending on bicycle infrastructure is nothing new. In an interview I did with Adams back in October, he hinted at his dissatisfaction with the City’s current investment in bikes. He said:
“My view…is that investments in bikes are a great transportation deal. We get a huge return for a modest amount of money. We have 1.5% of the total Capital spending for the next five years and we get citywide a 5.4% utilization. That’s a great deal. I don’t get that kind of ROI [return on investment] on any other mode.
What we need is a lot more investment. I think the results we’re seeing are worthy of much more investment in bikes and expansion of bike infrastructure.”
I welcome the city-wide dialogue on this topic that is sure to come as Adams’ mayoral campaign gears up. We have made solid increases in bike usage in Portland with very little investment. Imagine what would be possible if we had some real funding…
Read more from my interview with Sam here.
Read the Willamette Week article here.