In a sign that promoters of new homes in subdivisions miles away from downtown Portland understand the community-building power of bicycling, organizers of the NW Natural Street of Dreams event want attendees to tour the homes by bike.
The long-running event is a showcase of new homes that’s meant to give people ideas and inspiration for their next home project or purchase. This year will be the third year in a row that organizers put on a “Cycle the Street” event.
Cycle the Street is organized by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland in conjunction with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA). “This unique event,” reads a statement,
“is focused on connecting visitors to the show with the surrounding neighborhood, while encouraging participation in an active and healthy lifestyle. Visitors will be encouraged to bike or walk, rather than drive, to the Street.”
In addition to a $2 discount (off the $12 admission) if you show up on a bike or flash your BTA membership card, there will be booths set up by local tour company Lifecycle Adventures, e-bike retailer Kalkhoff, and Sunset Cycles bike shop.
Cycle the Street is on August 20th from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and takes place at the 2011 Street of Dreams site located at 155th Terrace and Bull Mountain Road in Tigard (about 12 miles southwest of downtown Portland). Check out StreetofDreamsPDX.com for more info.
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This is a nice thought, but in reality the location is not at all bike friendly. Walkscore.com rates it as “car dependent”. Coming from the west it is quiet, residential streets, but you have to get to the top of a pretty good hill relative to the closest commerce which is a mile away. Coming from the east in addition to contending with traffic moving around 50mph, you’ve got to slog over Bull Mountain, dodging trash cans, untrimmed trees/blackberries and partially missing bike lane for the two miles between there and 99W. There is no sidewalk along most of Bull Mtn. Rd. and _walking_ in the bike lane I’ve had a car brush my arm on the traffic side. Someday perhaps Tigard and Washington County will improve Bull Mtn. Rd., but until then you’ll only see pretty serious, fit cyclists riding here. Kids are bussed to school from extremely close by, because there is no safe crossing of Bull Mtn. Rd. As the population and traffic increases it is only a matter of time before a cyclist or pedestrian is killed on this road.
Coming from the West, you come up from Roy Rogers Rd, or Roshak from Barrows Rd (shared roadway with moderate traffic, no bike lanes)– Bull Mtn Rd has no bike lanes either direction for its length, are they expecting people to try to figure out how to cut through the tangle of cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods?
Yeah, it’s definitely not too bike or pedestrian friendly– besides the terrain, the car traffic is at times heavy and unfriendly.
It will be interesting to see how many folks show up on bikes. Getting there from the NW side of Bull Mountain involves a nice, low traffic street but a serious climb for anyone not used to hills – the last 1/4 mile is 9%. Getting there from the east involves riding on Bull Mountain Rd which has shoulders varying from OK to skinny, and the last 4 blocks or so down to the SoD has no shoulder or bike lane on the eastbound (up hill) side and significant amounts of traffic. Any other route up Bull Mountain is steeper. Definitely not for the timid cyclists.
It seems strange to me that the houses on the homepage of their website have two-car garages and yet they’re trying to appeal to the cycling crowd. Hopefully, some of the models shown address green building and smaller footprints???
No way, a two car garage is perfect for people with bikes– a car parks on one side, all your bike stuff goes on the other side. 🙂 Perfect!
More signs this “tradition” is gasping for air. The housing market is fried.
Well, the market for this type of house is fried. The market for housing in actual neighborhoods that are walk- and bike-friendly is good, because the supply is limited. It’s limited because builders don’t know how to build small and make money, and because even if a builder wants to build right, much infrastructure has to already exist, and the zoning laws have to allow for smart housing.
We’re so screwed.
That’s rich, what genius came up with “reclaim the dream”. Of course, this slogan is slapped about pictures of giant suburban homes. Gotta love the anti-urban design.
This doesn’t surprise me. I have been looking to buy that past few months and so many of the listings make mention about how close it is to bike streets or other facilities. Of course, I am looking in areas that are much more bike friendly as that was a requirement, but some of the places talked about how close they were to springwater, etc and were really not even that close to it.
In this town, “bike friendly” has just become another marketing word.
A year or two ago the bike lane going uphill Bull Mtn from 99W was removed– don’t ask me why, all us cyclists and drivers in the area thought it was a dumb idea.
If the developers are serious about encouraging bike traffic, they would have found a way to re-install that bike lane.
It IS close to bike streets– what they mean by that phrase is “streets with bike lanes on them like Highway 99W, Gaarde/McDonald, and Durham, and neighborhood streets that don’t really go anywhere”. I’m a confident cyclist so don’t have a problem with any of the main roads like Gaarde/McDonald and 99W, but a less-confident bike rider would be intimidated, for sure.
Even though this year’s SoD is practically in my back yard, I won’t be biking to it (and really have no reason to go to it anyway, but if I did–) simply because it’s not safe to ride there. Add in loads of people not familiar with the roads in the area, and you’ve got a recipe for serious problems.
Hey, JM, Street of Dreams website says it’s at 144th and Bull Mtn (at least, that’s where the parking is)… are the houses there or are they down at 155th (which on google maps appears to be where Roshak intersects Bull Mtn)? Some clarification would be great, thanks! 🙂
Homes are on 155th. Right at Roshak Rd. If you want to drive you “could” put your bike on your car & ride from the parking lot.
The show has been well attended so far and parking has filled up quickly. The opening night party put parking in small lots along Bull Mt Rd down to Hwy 99W. That was about 1100 folks.