ODOT picks advisory committee for state Bike/Ped Mode Plan update

Four of the the committee’s 16 members are familiar faces to many BikePortland readers.
Left to Right: Jerry Norquist, Jenna Stanke, Chris DiStefano, Stephanie Routh.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has just announced who will sit on the Policy Advisory Committee that will help them with an important update of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Mode Plan. The 16 person committee was chosen to guide the development of the plan and to “reflect input from stakeholders across the state.”

Out of those 16, there are five names we recognize from the world of local and statewide bicycle advocacy (boldfaced below): Jenna Stanke is special project manager for Jackson County and she’s also worked with the Bear Creek Greenway Foundation and she was recently named Chair of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee; Chris DiStefano of Rapha is a veteran of the bicycle industry with previous stints in marketing roles with Chris King Precision Components and Shimano America (he’s also a major off-road cycling advocate); Jerry Norquist had a long career in sales with Specialized Bicycle Components before taking on the role of ride director at Cycle Oregon; Dennis Mulvihill is a political consultant, Bicycle Transportation Alliance board member, and well-known figure in Washington County; and Stephanie Routh is the former director of Oregon Walks who recently left that position to start Hopscotch Town which is a “consulting and small publishing firm that inspires and celebrates fun, lovable places for everyone.”

The rest of the members include five elected officials, three transportation agency staffers, and one rep each from Disability Rights Oregon, the Oregon Trucking Association, and AAA Oregon/Idaho. Check out the roster below:

    • Mark Labhart, Tillamook County Commissioner
    • Sid Leiken, Lane County Commissioner
    • Sally Russell, Bend City Council
    • Phil Warnock, Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments
    • Peter Fernandez, Public Works Director, City of Salem
    • Steve Dickey, Director of Transportation, Salem-Keizer Transit
    • Jenna Stanke, Special Project Manager, Jackson County
    • Bob Joondeph, Disability Rights Oregon
    • Bob Russell, Oregon Trucking Association
    • Craig Campbell, AAA Oregon/Idaho
    • Dan Thorndike, General Council, Medford Fabrication
    • Chris DiStefano, Rapha
    • Jerry Norquist, Cycle Oregon
    • Dennis Mulvihill, Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) Board Member
    • Stephanie Routh former Executive Director, Oregon Walks
    • Jerry Breazeale, formerly City Manager, City of Irrigon
    • Policy Advisory Committee Chairperson pending

As we reported back in May, this mode plan update has potential to be a big deal. When complete it will be adopted by the Oregon Transportation Commission and it could hold important sway over policy, funding, and project design decisions.

This committee’s first meeting is next Tuesday (12/10) in Keizer and they will meet once a month until the plan is updated. We’ll be watching their progress and reporting back here on the Front Page.

Learn more about the mode plan update on ODOT’s website.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Unit
Unit
10 years ago

Intriguing to have 8 local government representatives – and not a single one from the Portland metro region (aka the place where the vast majority of bike/ped travel occurs). Anyone have any insight into this decision?

Dan Morrison
Dan Morrison
10 years ago
Reply to  Unit

Outsider perspectives can be illuminating and Portland can take care of itself as far as bike infrastructure goes, but the rest of the state could use a boost. I don’t know if any of that is true to this situation, I’m just speaking in generalities.

nuovorecord
nuovorecord
10 years ago
Reply to  Unit

Nor is there representation from Corvallis or Eugene, the two other cities in Oregon that have Portland-level cycling infrastructure relative to their size. I don’t think ODOT’s stupid or blind to this; I have to think that they’re looking to create a PAC comprised of “devil’s advocates” as opposed to “the choir.” This hopefully results in a plan that policy makers around the state can get behind and support, as opposed to a “Portland-centric” plan. I think it’s probably the right balance. There will be plenty of opportunities for Portlanders to weigh in on the process.

TOM
TOM
10 years ago

An hour ago, I got this email from ODOT. They are sure timely folks.

>>Questionnaire for issue you submitted on 4/7/2006 with the Citizen’s Representative Office of ODOT

Oregon Department of Transportation
Citizen’s Representative Office

Client Survey

To our clients:
We are interested in your opinion about the service you received from the Citizens’ Representative Office recently . We realize that the answer you received might not have been the one you were hoping for; however, the purpose of this survey is to evaluate our responsiveness and timeliness. We ask that you complete the questionnaire with those criteria in mind.

We value your opinion and ask that you take a few moments to complete the survey by clicking on the link below.

Thank you for your help.

ODOT Citizens’ Representative Office

can’t even remember what the issue was …7 (seven) years ago. “RECENTLY” ????? where is the ROFL emoticon ?

Opus the Poet
10 years ago

Question: Why do cargo and AAA get seats at the bike project table? Are there bike people at the trucking and freeway table?

Erin
Erin
10 years ago

Congratulations to these folks! Jerry Norquist is a former chair of the state’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, which Jenna now chairs. Jerry’s experienced with Portland, as he lived here part-time for many years. Steph is a native Portlander and certainly will bring perspective from our state’s largest municipality. This is exciting news. 🙂

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
10 years ago

So few comments on this story. Granted wonkish policy articles don’t draw the same passions as more pedestrian topics I have to wonder just how much an important policy story gets buried by fluff lifestyle invective.

Mike
Mike
10 years ago

I’m tired of policy stories. Who cares?

Don’t get me wrong — policy is theoretically important.

But the key words in Jonathan’s article above are “potential” and “could”. There are lots of non-binding plans floating around out there (i.e. the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030), but it is implementation (or not) that people notice.

Case in point: I noticed that the 2030 plan had a one-year progress report, but there has been no two-year follow-up, and we’re now three years on.

Wake me up when the number of completed projects exceeds the number of non-binding plans and advisory committees.

Meanwhile, Cathy Hastie is spewing outrageous, crazy invective TODAY.

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
10 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Yes, the Jerri Springer article is much more interesting.
/sarcasm.