What Portland needs is a road that connects a close-in neighborhood to downtown that’s designed in such a way that people who choose to ride a bicycle on it can enjoy the same level of comfort, efficiency, and safety that people who choose to drive or take transit currently experience.
Contrary to the vision of bike utopia many have formed in their head about Portland, the reality is that we lack this type of road. Yes, we have some innovative and exciting bike-specific infrastructure; but none of it provides the Dutch-style, door-to-door connectivity that we all know is absolutely crucial to handling our current traffic demands and to entice the “interested but concerned” to give biking a try.
Creating this type of roadway is the challenge I proposed when I was invited by GOOD to be a part of their GOOD Ideas for Cities event that’s coming to Portland on February 16th.
The event teams “urban leaders” with creative pros and designers to come up with solutions to challenges many cities face. I’m honored to be a part of one of six teams that will tackle everything from access to local food, re-thinking public space to combat obesity, how to attract more businesses downtown, funding the arts, and more.
I’ve been paired with three very smart and engaged urban thinkers from the non-profit Think.Urban; Jason King, Allison Duncan, and Katrina Johnston. We’re meeting weekly in preparation for the big event on February 16th where we’ll share a six-minute presentation about our solution to this challenge. At the event we’ll be joined by other teams with members from Wieden + Kennedy, Ziba, the Office of Mayor Sam Adams, the Portland Development Commission, and others.
The event is free but the folks from GOOD tell me that tickets are going very quickly! You can RSVP online if you’d like to join us. I can guarantee the presentations will be inspiring. Our team has already met once and many sparks of ideas were flying!
For more information, check out this GOOD Cities blog post.
UPDATED: Tickets are sold out, but you can still try to attend. Here’s what Alissa from GOOD says:
Tickets are sold out for this event. If you’d still like to attend, there will be a line forming outside the venue starting at at 6:00 p.m. and we’ll be releasing all unclaimed tickets at 6:45 p.m. Thanks for your support!