“If I had $1000 dollars for every community that’s contacted me about their bike trails plan, I could fund an entire system.”
— Sheila Lyons of ODOT
Sheila Lyons, the bicycle and pedestrian program manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has responded to the League of American Bicyclist’s Bicycle Friendly State rankings that put Oregon in fourth-place.
Lyons, who has held that position since January of 2007 when she took over for Michael Ronkin, was the official contact person with the League and was responsible for filling out the 57-part questionnaire that the League used as a basis for their rankings.
In a comment left on this site yesterday, Sheila defended Oregon’s bike-friendliness and pointed out that the “specifics” of the questionnaire “did not necessarily reflect how much enthusiasm and support there is for bicycling statewide”.
Eastbank Esplanade, is ODOT’s bike and
pedestrian program manager.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Grey areas about Oregon’s mandatory sidepath law, an outpouring of interest in biking from around the state, and broad support for biking from state tourism and parks agencies, are all components of a bike-friendly state that she says could not be captured in the League’s questionnaire.
One League spokesperson cited Oregon’s “mandatory sidepath” law (that says if a bike lane or path is present, it must be ridden on) as one reason we fared so poorly in the legislation category (one of six categories used in the rankings). On that topic, Lyons wrote:
“We don’t know how many miles of separated path the DOT maintains and the “sidepath” law may be misinterpreted by some law enforcement officers.”
She points to a growing interest in biking in every corner of the state and says,
“If I had $1000 dollars for every community that’s contacted me about their bike trails plan, I could fund an entire system.”
In her comment, Lyons also shared that she feels Oregon has, “a very high degree of motor vehicle driver awareness and courtesy,” and pointed to a recent discussion she had about accommodating bike traffic through an intersection in the city of Roseburg, a discussion she says would, “not even (be) conceived of in many other states.”
Oregon also enjoys interest and support of bicycle tourism, she says, with agencies like Travel Oregon, Oregon State Parks, ODOT, and Cycle Oregon all working together in a major bike tourism partnership.
Fortunately, Lyons will have the opportunity to share more about these and other reasons why Oregon is indeed the “Land Bicycles Dream About” (a slogan created by the aforementioned partnership). The second phase of the League’s program will be a written application that will allow states to go more in-depth in making their case.
For her part, Lyons is optimistic and doesn’t seem to be letting the fourth place ranking get her down. She wrote that,
“I’m very encouraged about where we are at, where we are going and confident that we’ll get there… and with our collective interest in making it better, it will get better and better.”