For the first time in 61 years, people can once again follow the old Columbia River Highway right through the basalt heart of Oneonta Bluff.
That quote comes from a story in today’s Portland Tribune about an exciting bit of progress on the project to re-establish the Historic Columbia River Highway as a bike and pedestrian route through the Gorge.
Back on March 8th, the tennis courts at Northeast Portland’s Alberta Park hosted the nation’s best bike polo players at the first annual Oregon Bike Polo Championships.
For the uninitiated, bike polo is like traditional polo on horseback, except it’s played on a bike. The bikes are usually modified to have only one brake (usually on the left side so your strong hand can swing the mallet) and one, easy gear (so you can speed up quickly). Many players add covers to their wheels to keep mallets from flying through them, to deflect a competitor’s shot, or to bank their own shots.
Tomorrow I’ll make my first trip down to Salem this session — and what a full day it’s shaping up to be.
My day will start with a meeting of the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC). The OTC is the five-person, governor-appointed cabinet that sets transportation policy for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). (I introduced you to them a few weeks ago).
At their meeting tomorrow, the OTC will dole out $102 million for transportation projects — their second installment of stimulus funds. Their first phase of stimulus funding decisions (made earlier this month) included only one bike project and did not include any transit funding.
Here’s a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. From Bike Gallery:
St Patrick’s Day “Green Ride” sponsored by Madsen Cycles
Tuesday, March 17Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by bike and get a chance to green up your life by entering to win a Madsen Utility bike? The ride meets at the Downtown Bike Gallery at 5:00pm, departs about 5:15pm. The ride will be a fun, casual pace city tour, lasting about 1 hour, and returning to the DT store for snacks, beverages, and a Madsen bike drawing for all participants. Wear a green costume, or decorate your bike and get two extra drawing entries! Kids and families are encouraged to join us. Lights and helmets required.
Mayor Adams’ office has released the results of a survey they conducted to learn more about the experiences of people who rode their bikes through our spate of severe winter snow storms.
The bike survey was conducted separately from a general storm response survey because the Mayor’s office completely forgot about bikes in the first one.
This Saturday, trails throughout Forest Park will be full of mountain bikers. Is it a rogue protest for equal access? No. The off-road riding enthusiasts will have their hands on shovels and pick-axes, not on their handlebars. They’ll be putting in sweat equity to maintain trails as part of Forest Park’s second annual Day of Stewardship. The event is hosted by the Forest Park Conservancy.
With excitement building around the idea of increased access for bicycles in the park, advocates hope for a big turnout.
Police say Child ignored their requests to stop after they saw her riding in the street without lights. They say when she ran to a house, they chased her down and took her into custody on her porch using reasonable force.
— From The Oregonian
The Oregonian reported Monday night that a 57 year-old St. Johns woman is suing two Portland police officers in U.S. District Court for an incident six years ago that began because she was riding her bike without lights.
Here’s more from The Oregonian:
…saying they violated her civil rights. Freedom Child, a St. Johns resident, said she is making it a federal case because the city failed to investigate when she filed a complaint about her treatment in 2003.
Travel Oregon wants to make biking a larger part of Oregon’s $1 billion annual tourism market. At the front of that effort is a new website they hope will become an invaluable resource for Oregon biking information.
Back in December I shared their plans to invest in a major new website to promote their “Bike Oregon” campaign.
That effort is moving along quickly, with a beta launch of the site on schedule to happen at the Oregon Bike Summit on April 21st in Salem. I’ve been sitting in as an advisor on this project and I have to say I’m impressed with what I’ve seen so far.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has followed up his encouraging keynote speech at the National Bike Summit — where he said bike advocates “have a full partner at the US DOT” — with a post on his “Welcome to the Fast Lane” blog titled, “Cyclists are important users of transportation systems”.
The post is a reflection on his speech at the Summit. Here’s an excerpt (emphasis mine):