One of the many bike sightings I came across on NE Alberta Street on Saturday.
– Slideshow below/Photos © J. Maus)
– Slideshow below/Photos © J. Maus)
In Portland, bikes are woven into the fabric of the city and there may be no other street that illustrates this better than NE Alberta. Bikes are everywhere — in the shops, in the work of the many talented local artisans, and of course alongside the many interesting and colorful people that help make this street such a vibrant and exciting place to be.
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I’ve enjoyed photographing bikes on this street for years, ever since the (now gone) Alberta Street Clownhouse captured my attention with its tall bike jousting and other inimitable antics. The annual Alberta Art Hop last Saturday was the perfect opportunity to once again witness this thriving bike ecosystem in full bloom.
Watch the slideshow below to see what I’m talking about…
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Fantastic set of photos, Jonathan.
I hope Alberta street can maintain this same level of bike and pedestrian friendly environment as the street starts to fill in with more businesses which seems to be picking up pace as the economy rebounds. As the street gets more popular, people ARE going to drive to it.
The city might look at Carytown in Richmond, VA. It has a similar scale to Alberta Street (storefronts within a residential neighborhood) and for that matter Mississippi street in Portland. Smartly, I think, they strategically placed a few efficient pods of off street public parking just behind the storefronts. I wish everyone would just bike, walk, public trans it there but I think the pedestrian quality of the street depends on dealing with people who chose to drive there unfortunately.
Are there still plans to put a street car along Alberta? That might kill some of the car traffic as parking spots would be removed, but it also may kill some of the bike traffic as well as people don’t like to mix bikes with street cars.
Rock on, Shoehorn!