More photos below.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Yesterday was the first day of summer and arguably the nicest weather Portland has had all year. With that in mind, I spent some time on the Hawthorne Bridge and on N. Williams Avenue — two of Portland’s busiest bikeways — to see how traffic was shaping up during the evening rush hour.
On Hawthorne, what struck me was how stressful the environment is. Leading up to the bridge deck, people on bikes need to weave in front of a line of cars looking to merge onto the bridge. Once on the 10-foot wide bridge deck, bike traffic has to be wary of two directions of people running and walking, and loud noise levels due to car tires rumbling on the steel grating of the bridge. See the photos below…
On Williams, I was struck by the sheer number of people bicycling and how they all squeezed into a narrow bike lane. I plan to do more photos of Williams as part of ongoing Williams Project coverage, but below are a few from yesterday to get you thinking…
If you’ve got a suggestion of a place I should photograph, please drop me a line.