December 2013 Archives

Springwater now paved — and open — from Portland to Boring

Newly paved, now open.
(Photo: Clackamas County)

As promised last month, Clackamas County has just announced that paving is complete on the final segment of the Springwater Corridor Trail from Rugg Road to Boring Station Trailhead Park. This 2.25 mile section now means the popular paved path extends 21 miles from downtown Portland to Boring.

The new section is 10-feet wide with 2-4 feet of compacted gravel shoulders (for people on horses). The County has also added a new bridge deck and railings and improved intersection treatments and signage at street crossings. Funding for the $1.9 million project came from a $1.2 million federal Transportation Enhancement grant and addition funds from Metro’s 2006 Natural Areas Bond Measure and Clackamas County Parks.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

New design for Foster Rd will be front and center at
open house event tonight.

It’s another one of those nights in Portland where there’s a ton of great bike-related events going on. Fortunately for you, we’ve put together a nice menu to aid in your selection…

The big advocacy event tonight is an open house for the City’s Foster Road Streetscape Plan (6-8pm at SE Works on SE Foster and 78th). As we shared back in October, a citizen committee already approved the City’s ideas for re-allocating the roadway to make room for bicycle access. Now the public-at-large will get a chance to see those plans and weigh in with their feedback.

Frost on the Esplanade floating path yesterday morning.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

How are you dealing with the cold conditions?

Year: 2008
Brand: Scott
Model: sub 20
Color:black/Large 56
Serial: GA875217
Stolen in Portaland, OR 97202
Stolen:2013-12-3
Stolen From: Riverpark condo parking garage.
196 SE Spokane St, near Springwater Corridor.
Neighborhood: Sellwood
OwnerEmail: sfsbice(A T)yahoo.com
Description: Bar ends on handlebars.
Black metal rack (rear rack)
clipless pedals
Police record with: Portland Police
Police reference#: 13101620
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

From New Orleans to New Haven, driving is on the decline

People riding bikes in Austin, Texas.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

A new report Wednesday from U.S. Public Interest Research Group shows, among other things, that there are many ways to look at the same numbers.

Most Americans, including most Portlanders, “still” drive for transportation? True.

The use of cars is on the longest slide ever recorded, one that seems only partly related to economic trends? Equally true.

And as US PIRG’s latest report, Transportation in Transition: A Look at Changing Travel Patterns in America’s Biggest Cities shows, this isn’t just because of the rapid drops in supposedly “weird” enclaves like Portland or Austin. It’s happening almost everywhere. To quote from PIRG:

Saddle selection at Gladys Bikes.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Remember Gladys Bikes? The small shop on N Williams Ave opened back in October with an aim to cater specifically to women. When we visited the shop one of the things that stuck out was that owner Leah Benson stocked a relatively huge selection of saddles. Now it turns out she’s even more serious about getting people the right-fitting saddle than we imagined.

Benson has unveiled a nifty program called the “Saddle Library” Here’s how it works (via the Gladys Bikes website):

Step 1: Come into the shop and talk with our knowledgeable staff about your saddle needs and concerns. We’ll make recommendations about which saddle(s) might be a good match for you.

Step 2: For $25 you get a Library Card, which gives you access to check out any of the saddles in our loaning library. For each saddle you check out you get one week try it out on your bike.

Read more

Police ask for help finding stolen ‘Stealth Bomber’ e-bike worth $10,000 – UPDATED

The Portland Police are asking for the public’s help to find this stolen bike.
(Photo: PPB)

Portland Police are on the lookout for a stolen e-bike they say is valued at nearly $10,000.

Year: 200?
Brand: gary fisher
Model: triton
Color:blue
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2013-12-4
Stolen From: my front porch
Neighborhood: Se 16th and Boise
Owner: Kerr Mahnke
OwnerEmail: kerrmahnke(A T)gmail.com
Description: bontrager rims, white seat and handlebar tape, single speed, baby blue gary fisher triton w blue fenders
Police record with: ppd
Police reference#: ?
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Bike/walk projects dominate requests for state lottery-backed funding program

Legislator bike ride at the Oregon Bike Summit-30

The Union Street Bridge in Salem — open only for walking and biking — is the type of project that is eligible for ConnectOregon funds.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Cities across Oregon are clamoring for more money to build infrastructure that makes it easier for people to walk and bike.

Back in July, thanks to a concerted lobbying effort the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), the state of Oregon made biking and walking projects eligible for $42 million in funding through the ConnectOregon program for the first time ever.

Sources say this never would have happened without the BTA’s extensive and focused lobbying on the bill and they call it the biggest victory for BTA in Salem in at least 5 years.

ConnectOregon began in 2005 and it relies on lottery-backed bonds to invest in “multimodal transportation projects” around the state. It’s a rare state transportation program that offers dedicated funding for “non-highway” infrastructure. Prior to this year, only air, rail, marine/ports, and transit infrastructure were eligible.

Yesterday, ODOT announced they received 108 applications for this year’s round of ConnectOregon funding. Of the $129.4 million total requested funds, $47.5 million are categorized as “Bicycle/Pedestrian” — more than any of the other four eligible modes and more than the requests for Aviation, Marine, and Transit projects combined.

In the latest sign that Portland’s lead as America’s best cycling city is dwindling, we were completely left out of a list of the year’s top 10 protected bikeways published by People for Bikes yesterday.

People for Bikes (formerly known as Bikes Belong) is an industry-funded advocacy group that also runs the Green Lane Project, an effort to hasten the development of protected bikeways across the country. Portland was one of five cities selected to be part of that program when it launched in May 2012; but despite our long-held reputation as a bikeway innovator, we lag behind other cities when it comes to protected bikeways (loosely defined as bike lanes with some sort of protection from other lanes of traffic). According to a Green Lane Project inventory, Portland has managed to build just 3 miles of protected bikeways in the last four years.

Portland’s absence from the top 10 isn’t because our protected bikeway designs are bad, it’s because we didn’t even build any new ones in 2013. The one Portland project listed in the Green Lane Project’s inventory for 2013, SW Multnomah Blvd, has been delayed and is yet to be built.

Lifestyle columnist Cathy Hastie.

Cathy Hastie is BikePortland’s lifestyle columnist … even when she says things we wouldn’t all agree with.

Some people say that bikers are an arrogant group. I am the first to admit that I am a card-carrying member. Portland has its coffee snobs and its beer snobs, and me — I’m a transportation snob.

I ride my bike past rows of motionless overheating cars with my nose in the air, flaunting my obviously better commuting choice. I crow to my officemates about how little I spend on gas and how I never pay for parking. My ego precedes me as I fill the elevator at the office with my bulky two-wheeler. I take advantage of the ambiguity bicycles are afforded in respect to sidewalks, driveways, streets and bike lanes. If I can ride on it safely, I will.

Year: 1995
Brand: Specialized
Model: Hardrock GSX
Color:dark silver with orange letters
Size:17″ frame
Serial: P5CB10805
Stolen in Portland, OR 97217
Stolen:2013-12-3
Stolen From: Portland Community College, Cascade Campus, from the bike rack on the NE corner of the Moriarty Arts and Humanities building. This building is on the corner of N. Albina and N. Killingsworth Streets.
Neighborhood: Humboldt
Owner: Elizabeth Bilyeu
OwnerEmail: bilyeuking(AT)comcast.net
Description: The bike is covered with stickers. It has road tires and fenders with a rear bike rack with one collapsible black metal basket attached to the rack. The bike was purchase from River City Bicycles in Portland, OR in 1996, and their sticker is still on the frame.
Police record with: Portland reported to Community College Public Safety
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Springwater now paved — and open — from Portland to Boring

Events tonight: Foster Road Open House, Bikes & Tech, West End Bikes party and more

Cold commute open thread

black/Large 56 Scott sub 20 2008

From New Orleans to New Haven, driving is on the decline

Local bike shop offers library card for saddles

Police ask for help finding stolen ‘Stealth Bomber’ e-bike worth $10,000 – UPDATED

blue gary fisher triton 200?

Bike/walk projects dominate requests for state lottery-backed funding program

Guess who didn’t make list of America’s top 10 protected bikeways?

Lifestyle column: ‘Those arrogant bikers,’ and why I’m one too

dark silver with orange letters Specialized Hardrock GSX 1995

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike