“The road to Portland’s future will include many, many bicycles. They will help Portland build a stronger economy. They will help Portland become a healthier place to live, work, and play. Bicycles will make the roads safer and give more Portlanders the freedom of personal mobility. They will do all this and cost the people of Portland less than the cost of one latte apiece each month.”
— From draft of Part One of the City of Portland’s Bicycle Master Plan for 2030
It’s been two and-a-half years since we first reported about the City of Portland’s efforts to update their existing Bicycle Master Plan. Since then, the effort has had many ups and downs, but now the new master plan is in the home stretch.
Tomorrow, the bike master plan is set for a briefing in front of the Portland Planning Commission and it will get a full hearing on August 25th.
Committee has been meeting regularly
since December 2008.
(Photo © J. Maus)
The master plan is a wide-reaching document that will set bike-related city policies, help guide the continued build-out of Portland’s bikeway network and much, much more. In short, the goal of the plan is to make the case for a more bicycle-centric city, and then provide a road map on how to get there.
The full plan is expected to be available to the public next week, but I’ve been reading through the internal rough draft and it’s very impressive. I’m learning a lot and I’m also grateful for all the work being done to make this the best, most comprehensive, and thoughtful bike master plan in America.
Starting tomorrow, and continuing until the full plan is released to the public, I’ll offer teasers of each part the draft plan.
To learn more, check out the Portland Bicycle Master Plan for 2030 page on the Bureau of Transportation’s website. Or, for background on what’s been going on with the plan over the past two and-a-half years, browse through the 34 articles we’ve published about it so far.