The Monday Roundup

David Byrne discusses NYC’s
upcoming bike share program
in the Sunday New York Times.

We hope everyone takes time today, on Memorial Day, to remember those who have served our country.

Once you’ve done that, have a read of the top news and other cool stuff that caught our eyes this past week…

– If you’re out riding today you might want to be extra-vigilant; it turns out more people run red lights while driving a car on Memorial Day than on other comparable days.

– Three new routes in the US Bicycle Route (USBR) system were approved and received their official designations: USBR 35 in Michigan, USBR 45 in Minnesota, and a realignment for USBR 1 in North Carolina.

– A study from the Brookings Institue has found real estate values are higher in neighborhoods which are more accesible to walking, biking, and taking transit and the study has already received attention from The New York Times.

– There’s continued pressure to eliminate funding for bicycle and pedestrian programs in the transportation bill from some tea party-backed members of congress.

– Have you heard people say the Keystone XL pipeline, which some want to cram into the transportation bill reauthorization, will make gas cheaper? It turns out a report says the pipeline mega-project could easily raise the price of oil in the United States.

– Also in transportation bill news, the Freight Stakeholders Coalition is asking the federal government to spend $2 billion on “improving freight mobility.”

– One job training program in Eugene is putting veterans back to work in local bike shops.

– The economy is recovering slowly but some businesses in Oregon, including bike shops, are seeing consistent, steady growth.

– Saving on gas can really add up: new statistics show people who ride bikes in the United States collectively save at least $4.6 billion a year.

– Neighbors in Wisconsin have successfully delayed a freeway expansion project that would have severed land on local farms.

– A safe-passing bill under consideration in California doesn’t go far enough to fully protect people on bicycles according to an opinion in the Los Angeles Times, despite receiving sponsorship from Democrats and support from the city of L.A.

– A woman was reunited with her missing childhood bicycle and some of the recent reporting on her story is gaining attention in its own right.

– PinkBike sat down with renown local manufacturer Chris King to talk about how Chris King Components got started and takes a look at the life of a Chris King hub from raw material to finished product.

– Portland’s own April Streeter has a new book out titled “Women on Wheels: A Handbook and How-To for City Cyclists.”

– A charter school in Gilbert, Arizona (named a bicycle-friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists) provides no transportation options for students yet has barred students from riding a bike to school and requires a signed waiver if they want to walk to school alone.

– Musician and bicycle advocate David Byrne shares his perspective on New York City’s upcoming bike share program.

– In another take on NYC’s impending installation of bike share, The Atlantic Cities asks if the program will mean fewer helmets and more crashes.

– For another look at bike sharing, have a look at Tel Aviv’s “Tel O Fun” bike share system.

– A woman has died after being struck by a person driving a car only a few miles from the scene of a collision that killed her husband in 2008.

– A French-language bicycle blog takes a look at Portland, tracing the history of bicycling in our city and comparing us to bicycle-friendly Copenhagen.

– The “psychology of sharing the road” is deep and complex according to GOOD‘s Lifestyle Editor.

– A new bikeway proposed for Los Angeles is under attack because opponents say it violates environmental laws and because some of the trail’s alleged side-effects like “traffic congestion and other environmental impacts” haven’t been fully studied.

– The Cascade Bicycle Club has announced they will be training 15 people to “effectively create an advocacy campaign that gets results” this summer through the Advocacy Leadership Institute.

– Parents of a young man who died when an open car door forced him into traffic say a stronger deterrent is needed to prevent similar accidents.

– Some say there’s a “war between bikes and cars” but one reporter in Toronto says if there is any “war” it’s more like “a skirmish between a weak civilian milita and a military giant.”

– Some accident reports describe cars as if they drive themselves but that may become reality now that autonomous-car legislation, supported by Google, has passed in California’s senate with unanimous support.

– Blind spots in cars are getting more attention, this time from USA Today, which takes a look at the “most dangerous blind spots in cars.”

– Despite Portland’s recent gains in national bike-friendliness ratings, the League of American Bicyclists named Washington the bike-friendliest state in the nation.

– Alan Oakley, the designer of the iconic Raleigh Chopper, passed away recently and The Sun took a look at his iconic bicycle “that defined a generation.”

– Last week huge crowds turned out for Atlanta Streets Alive, the semi-annual car-free event put on by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.

– A study from UCLA finds men who ride regularly are more likely to produce higher levels of estrogen.

– And finally, did you forget your bike lock? That’s not a problem if you’re a police officer.

— Did you find something interesting that should be in next week’s Monday Roundup? Drop us a line. For more great links from around the web, follow us on Twitter @BikePortland.