June 2008 Archives

Press Release: Cirque du Cycling Criterium Coming to Mississippi Ave.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Bicycle racing in the north Mississippi Avenue neighborhood on June 14th 2008

Hundreds of racers will take to the streets for this inaugural event – Cirque du Cycling Criterium

Portland, Ore. Bicycle racing comes to North Portland for the Cirque du Cycling Criterium presented by Laughing Planet Café, which is just part of a full afternoon of cycling activities that includes a family ride, live music, bike parade, and exhibitors. The event is a benefit for Self
Enhancement, Inc. (SEI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to guiding underserved youth to realize their full potential.

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BTA will pursue vehicular homicide law in 2009

“Tim and I would have been married 50 years this April but I celebrated this anniversary
by myself because a dangerous driver ran him down on his bike.”
— Mary O’Donnell

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) announced yesterday that they will pursue a vehicular homicide law in the 2009 session of the Oregon State Legislature.

They plan to make a public announcement at a press conference on Monday (June 9) in the law offices of the attorneys representing the family of the late Tim O’Donnell — a 66 year-old Aloha resident who was killed while riding his bike on a rural road in Washington County last year.

[NOTE: Read the comments below this article for thoughts and perspectives from readers that attended the hearing.]

The Metro Council faces a packed room for
an important hearing on the CRC project.
(Photos © J. Maus)

A packed crowd has assembled at Metro Headquarters in northeast Portland for a public hearing on the Columbia River Crossing project.

Over 60 people have signed up to speak and extra chairs have been brought out to accommodate everyone. Faces in the crowd include Coalition for Livable Future’s Jill Fugilister, notable critic of the project Ron Buel (he’s the guy that wants to bury the I-5 freeway), veteran transportation activist Jim Howell (he played a role in the defeat of the Mt. Hood Freeway), former City Council candidate Chris Smith, and others.

A women in a car struggles to see
oncoming traffic around performer Kirk Reeves.
(Photos © J. Maus)

A street performer who plays trumpet and works the evening rush-hour commute crowd on the Hawthorne Bridge has drawn attention for something other than his talents.

In a white suit, shoes, and cap, the man performs gags and tricks and bellows tunes on his trumpet while seated on a median island positioned between SW Madison Street and an onramp to the bridge from Naito Parkway (map of location).

(Photo © J. Maus)

The Oregonian is reporting that the family of Brett Jarolimek has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the driver of the garbage truck in the fatal collision back in October.

According to reporter Joseph Rose, the family is, “claiming 40-year-old Bryan Lowes of Oregon City was negligent and should have never been behind the wheel.”

Rose also reports that the suit claims Lowes failed to yield the bike lane to Jarolimek and that his truck had a broken mirror that was attached with only a bungee cord (a fact that came out of the DA’s investigation).

Marion Rice and daughter Gleneden

[This article was written by our Carfree Families columnist Marion Rice. For previous articles in this series, and for links to other articles and photos on family biking, check out the Carfree Families Page.]

Some of you may wonder what this post has to do with family cycling, but I assure you it has everything to do with family cycling and the particular challenges women bikers face.

Looking north on N. Mississippi Ave. at N. Graham.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The City of Portland plans to re-stripe N. Mississippi Avenue to make room for a new bike lane in the northbound (uphill) direction.

According to a source at PDOT, the new lane will be six feet wide and will grow to seven feet at the curves. Scheduled completion is the end of this month.

The dots show cities where visits
came from in May.

Over the years, many people have asked where BikePortland.org readers come from, so I thought it would be interesting to delve into the visitor stats and find out more.

In May, BikePortland.org had a record number of visits — just over of 162,000 (according to Google Analytics). Of those visits:

Bike-on-bike aftermath in
downtown Portland.
(Photo: Kate Gawf)

I came across an interesting account of a collision that happened two weeks ago in downtown Portland.

Kate Gawf was riding her bike south on SW NW Broadway and noticed the aftermath of a bike-on-bike collision at Couch Street. Here’s how Ms. Gawf explains what happened (based on talking with onlookers, emphasis mine):

“One [bike] was zooming along Broadway, as one does, Broadway being a main arterial. The other apparently tried to dart across Broadway at a gap in the cars, but neglected to wait for a gap in the bikes.”

Proclaiming that, “Southwest Portland wants to be Platinum too,” SWTrails has released their latest list of “immediate actions” and recommendations for bikeway improvements in their part of the city.

SWTrails has worked with Southwest Portland residents and the City of Portland Office of Transportation for well over a year (we last heard from them back in November) to identify and map out a comprehensive list of improvements that they say will bring SW Portland up to par with other areas of Portland’s highly touted bike network.

As part of an ongoing effort to renovate and improve the Bryant Street Pedestrian/Bike Bridge, the span will be temporarily closed while City of Portland and ODOT crews complete some repaving work.

According to the Piedmont Neighborhood, the bridge will be closed from June 9-11 and they recommend crossing over I-5 via Portland Blvd/Rosa Parks Way or Lombard Ave.

For more information about the Bryan Bridge Improvement Project, visit the official website.

Press Release: Cirque du Cycling Criterium Coming to Mississippi Ave.

BTA will pursue vehicular homicide law in 2009

Packed crowds at Metro CRC hearing

Hawthorne Bridge performer poses safety quandary

Jarolimek’s family files lawsuit against garbage truck driver

Biking with the flow: The challenges for women during that time of the month

Updated: New bike lane coming to N. Mississippi hill

Where do BikePortland.org readers come from?

‘Velo on the Volcano’ race series kicks off tonight

Realities of bike traffic: The bike-on-bike collision

Southwest Portland residents say they “want to be Platinum too”

Bryant Street Ped Bridge to close for repaving

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike