make NE Going a great bike boulevard.
(Photo: Google Streetview)
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) has announced that NE Going Street will become the first street to receive funding for improvements as part of their Bicycle Boulevard Campaign.
The announcement today of the new “Get Going!” campaign comes just over two years since the launch of the campaign. Since then, they’ve been working to build awareness for the bicycle boulevard concept and to gauge community feedback as to which route should be chosen.
bicycle boulevard.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Emily Gardner is the BTA’s policy advocate and the organization’s point person for the campaign. She said NE Going received the most support in a survey conducted last summer by a group of urban studies students at Portland State University. That survey asked respondents which low-traffic streets they preferred to ride on.
According to Emily, several factors played into their selection of NE Going Street (besides the fact that it’s name makes for a catchy slogan and Gardner owns a home on it):
“The length of the corridor [four miles], the relative ease of implementation [from an engineering standpoint], and the fact that it would help alleviate the car/bike conflicts on the two closest arterials, Prescott and Alberta.”
Also playing into NE Going’s favor is that it would provide a safe bike route that’s within a 1/2-mile of nine neighborhoods, nine parks, 11 schools and four business districts.
Currently, the only bike boulevard in Northeast Portland is NE Tillamook. Bicycle boulevards are low-traffic streets where bicycles are encouraged and engineering methods make them less appealing to cars.
Gardner says the BTA is excited to get to work on making NE Going a premier bike street. Why? “Because we believe that bike boulevards are the key to encouraging the 60% of Portlanders who are interested in using a bike but have concerns about riding with auto traffic.”
The BTA is planning presentations about the project at the Humboldt, Cully, Sabin, King and Beaumont-Wilshire Neighborhood Associations starting in September.
The City of Portland is currently working on their own bicycle boulevard campaign. Their Clinton Street Bike Boulevard Enhancement Project is well underway and I’m due for an update on that soon.
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— Read more about The BTA’s Bicycle Boulevard Campaign.
— Read more bike boulevard coverage in the archives.