engineer Rob Burchfield on the left (in blue).
(Photo: Mikael Colville-Andersen)
A delegation of Portlanders from Metro’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Trails recently completed a week-long exploration of bike policies, culture and infrastructure in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
Findings and recommendations from the trip will be presented at the final meeting of the Committee (which was launched back in May) on November 10th at Metro headquarters (600 NE Grand Ave.).
Below is a sneak peek at what BTA Executive Director Scott Bricker and noted local architect (and a founding member of the Cross Crusade) Rick Potestio learned on the trip.
Scott Bricker (below are excerpts from his answers to 20 questions asked by Metro about the trip).
On the history behind how Amsterdam became so bike-oriented (emphasis mine):
“In Amsterdam we learned that voters approved a measure that offered a variety of scenarios that ranged from auto free to auto “full” cities and the voters picked a scenario that highly prioritized non-motorized modes of travel. The City and nation have since truly prioritized bicycle and non-motorized travel. However outside of city centers, auto travel continues to grow.”
And Copenhagen:
“…in the 1970s citizens held a mass demonstration to protest the was automobile and consumption culture… Up to this point, bicycling had drastically dropped in the previous 15 to 20 years… Since the 1970