2014 Archives

After city balks at neighbors’ request for bike lane, 34th Ave resident goes public

Riding on 34th between Clinton and Division.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

After nine months and 270 petition signatures, the people who live on SE 34th Avenue between Clinton and Division just can’t seem to persuade the city to remove five parking spots in front of their houses in order to add a bike lane.

“It’s not strictly a bicycle issue. It’s just traffic working more smoothly.”
— Mark Zahner

“We’re just framing the argument as safety on this block vs. parking spots,” said Mark Zahner, who lives at 34th and Clinton and has led the campaign. “We see there’s a lot of near misses, we’ve acknowledged the problem, we’ve got support from the neighbors. Where do we go from here?”

Detail of PBOT’s plans.

The Bureau of Transportation is eyeing NE 7th Avenue between Weidler and Schuyler for its latest street re-design project aimed specifically at improving conditions for cycling.

Northbound on 7th, the project will add a six-foot wide bike lane and a bike box between Weidler and Broadway, then a bike lane and sharrows between Broadway and Schuyler. In the southbound direction, the project will a mix of bike-only lanes and shared lanes with sharrow markings between Schuyler and Weidler. Also in the plans are a bike box on Broadway to facilitate two-stage left turns from 7th onto Broadway.

Here’s PBOT’s latest project concept drawing:

Screenshot of virual meeting page.

As we reported last month, the Oregon Department of Transportation is holding “listening sessions” throughout the state to gather input for a major update to their Bicycle and Pedestrian Modal Plan.

Unfortunately there are only five meetings total, just one in the Portland area, and they’re all held during business hours. If you want to share input but can’t make it to one of the meetings, ODOT has launched a website that lets you do so completely online.

ODOT says the Virtual Listening Meeting is the next best thing to showing up in person.

It’s easy to see how this new bike lane
could be mistaken for parking space.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

The new northbound bike lane on 52nd Avenue between Woodward and Division replaced a parking lane, but since July we’ve heard from many readers that the stripe of paint hasn’t stopped people from leaving their cars and garbage cans there.

City traffic engineer Eva Huntsinger said in an interview Thursday that “no parking” signs will go into the commercial node north of Woodward after a discussion about the subject by city staff late last week.

Hopefully these signs will make things safer for people like reader David Ross, who got in touch in July to share his thoughts.

Biking goes to the dogs this weekend at the Tour de Lab.
(Photo: TourdeLab.com)

Welcome to your menu of weekend rides and events, lovingly brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery.

Consider what’s on tap this weekend: From a dirt road journey through rugged and beautiful Oregon backroads, to cyclocross races (two of them!), and a tour of local brewpubs, we can’t remember a more fitting sampling of what makes our region so great for bicycling.

If you’re bummed at summer’s impending conclusion, or if you haven’t ridden as much as you’d hoped, you’ve got to seize this weekend and make the most of these sunny and warm days.

Have fun out there!

Saturday, September 6th

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

PBOT detour map of upcoming project that will close sections of Going.

Portland’s premier neighborhood greenway is about to get a makeover.

(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Project Pabst, a new music festival in Portland’s South Waterfront headlined by local heroes like Modest Mouse and Stephen Malkmus, is bringing progressive transport to new heights this month.

Like many large events popular among discerning Portlanders, it’ll offer a free bike valet service. Unlike any we’d ever heard of, it’ll also offer a free skateboard valet.

In an email response to our query, a Project Pabst organizer explained that the festival simply wants to provide “convenient service for Portland skateboarders.”

Green for new sidewalks, yellow for neighborhood greenways, teal for protected bike lanes, red for painted bike lanes, blue dots for crossing improvements and purple for other improvements like lighting or frequent buses.
(Graphic by BikePortland using Transitmix.net. Click for an interactive version.)

So far, the public debate about a per-household and per-business street fee has been mostly about the costs: who would pay how much.

While that debate rages on, the city has finally floated some specifics about the possible benefits.

Roger Colwell in March 2012.
(Photo J. Maus/BikePortland)

A shop just over the west hills of Portland is set to close at the end of October.

Sunset Cycles (15320 NW Central Drive) owner and founder Roger Colwell announced his retirement in a customer newsletter on Labor Day. Colwell opened the store in 2003 and expanded into a second store in Beaverton in 2011 (he closed that store a year later).

In a message posted to the shop blog yesterday, Colwell said owning the shop has been one of the most rewarding experiences of his life but now he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family and exploring Oregon’s backroads in his bike. “Ill miss the day-to-day interactions with customers who come in the store,” he wrote. “Seeing the look in the eyes of a new cyclist who rides off with a new bike is genuinely priceless.”

Shoulder of Hwy 30 after fatal
collision on Saturday.
(Photo: Oregon State Police)

A 74-year-old man was killed Saturday while riding his bicycle on the shoulder of Highway 30. It’s the sixth major rear-end collision in Oregon and SW Washington in less than a month — all of which have been caused by unsafe driving.

According the the Oregon State Police, this latest tragedy happened west of Rainier in Columbia County near Oregon’s northern border. Peter Linden was riding westbound near milepost 50 when the driver, 34-year-old Kristopher Woodruff, looked down at a text and allowed his truck to veer slightly into the shoulder where it hit Linden.

Woodruff did not stop and was arrested a few miles down the highway. He didn’t have a valid driver’s license and has been charged with Manslaughter in the First Degree, Felony Hit and Run, and a misdemeanor for an outstanding warrant.

Forest Grove, Cornelius, Hillsboro and Beaverton have a common link: a highway that’s mostly terrible to use.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

Final post in a series about the BTA’s five new advocacy campaigns.

If Washington County has an aorta, it’s the Tualatin Valley Highway. The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has launched a long-term campaign to make a separated bikeway part of the plan for keeping it flowing smoothly.

The highway connects 16 miles of increasingly dense suburban development between Beaverton’s historic downtown and Forest Grove.

Omo Activ Sport: It’s soap.

Here (one day later than usual — happy holiday) are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Oops: Six mountain bikers were hospitalized in Norway Friday after mistaking a bottle of detergent for a new energy drink.

Legalized distraction: A Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy who killed a tech executive because he veered into a bike lane while typing on his mobile digital computer won’t face criminal charges because California law exempts emergency workers from the state’s anti-texting law.

After city balks at neighbors’ request for bike lane, 34th Ave resident goes public

NE 7th through Lloyd District slated for new bikeway

Attend a virtual open house for ODOT’s Bike/Walk Plan update

City will add ‘no parking’ signs along 52nd Ave bike lanes

Weekend Event Guide: Tabor, brewpub tour, a ‘stampede’, and more

Saturday, September 6th

Going St neighborhood greenway set for fog seal makeover

Bike valet? That’s nothing – ‘most Portland festival ever’ will also offer skateboard valet

The $60 million map: Here’s what a street fee’s ‘safety’ money might pay for

Sunset Cycles in Bethany to close its doors at end of October

Unsafe driving claims another victim: Why these recent collisions matter

The BTA’s biggest new idea: a Tualatin Valley Highway bikeway across Washington County

The Tuesday Roundup: Energy drink or detergent bottle? And more

Latest Headlines

‘Better Sheridan’ project brings safer street to South Waterfront

Your guide to finding the ‘Wildwood’ crows by bike

My journey to that ‘Hard Rock glow’

Off-Road Cycling Master Plan: A decade later, what has changed?

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland