Month: February 2009

Portland will host Oregon bike polo championships

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
Bike polo in Alberta Park

Bike polo at Alberta Park will decide the
state championships in March.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Get your mallets ready bike polo fans, Portland is set host the first-ever Oregon Bike Polo Championships.

On the weekend of March 7th – 9th, the best bike polo players from all over the Northwest will vie for the championship crown. Organizer Drew Kinney says qualifying matches will be determined at Pier Park in North Portland on Saturday and then the finals will be held at Alberta Park on Sunday. Kinney expects polo players from Corvallis, Eugene, Seattle, and Canada to compete at the event.

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Metro urges state to re-think its federal stimulus project list

Oregon Bike Summit-20.jpg

Chair of the Oregon Transportation
Commission, Gail Achterman, is in
the driver’s seat on how our state
spends its federal stimulus money.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) is meeting this morning in Salem to discuss which infrastructure projects will get built with money from America’s recently passed economic stimulus plan.

The OTC is a five member panel that is housed within the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and appointed by the Governor. They meet once a month and their job is to establish statewide transportation policies and manage the transportation network.

As the OTC solidifies their final, $350 million project list, some agencies are encouraging them to take a deep breath and re-think their priorities.

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One year after Austin died: What has the BTA done?

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

The ghost bike for Austin Miller.
(Photos: Jim “K’Tesh” Parsons)

On February 11, 2008, 15-year old Beaverton high school student Austin Miller was collided with a TriMet bus when he merged from a sidepath on Murray Road into a bus stop on SW Farmington Road.

The tragedy sent shockwaves through the region. It raised questions about the legality of sidepaths, riding conditions in Beaverton, and more.

The crash (and perhaps the resulting lawsuit filed by Miller’s family in June) also spurred TriMet to take a serious look at they train bus operators and at where other other potential bus/bike conflict areas might exist.

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Bike, streetcar plans will hold joint open houses

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

“Both projects are focused on a livable future for Portland. And this joint presentation opportunity gives us an excellent opportunity to specifically address the issue of how well bicycling and streetcar can play together as we build our livable streets.”
— Ellen Vanderslice, project manager for the Bicycle Master Plan Update

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has announced that the upcoming public open houses for the Bicycle Master Plan Update project will be combined with open houses for the Portland Streetcar System Plan.

Ellen Vanderslice, Bike Master Plan Update project manager, says she believes this new scheme has several benefits. When I asked her why PBOT decided to combine these important events, she gave several reasons.

PBOT has been asked to shave millions of dollars from their budget and, according to Vanderslice, putting these two open houses together is an “opportunity to save the taxpayers money.” It’s also, she says, a result of, “a motivation for staff to look for efficiencies.”

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Bike fix-it session for kids in Lents area needs volunteers

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Here’s a way to give back to the community and get more kids on bikes.

The Village Free School in Southeast Portland is having a “bike fix-it” session for 20 kids this Thursday (2/19) from 10am-12pm.

Ashley Mitchell is trying to find a few more people to help out. Here’s what she wrote on the Shift email list:

I’m in a scramble to find some folks to help…They have 2 parent volunteers and want to set up 3-4 stations, fix a flat, seat/handlebar adjustments, tune up staff, safety area, etc…

Are you interested in helping out? Do you have tools you can bring? Email or call Ashley as soon as possible if you can get involved (her contact information can be found here).

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From the Archives

Truck driver does ‘rolling coal’ on riders, and one of them is a bike cop