2014 Archives

Bikeway in name only? Clinton Street’s heavy traffic prompts calls for diverters

Traffic on SE Clinton Tuesday evening.
(Photos: M.Andersen and J.Maus/BikePortland)

It was this March that Brian Sysfail, a regular user of Clinton Street, decided that if nothing else was going to get in the way of through-traffic on the Clinton Street neighborhood greenway, he was.

“Don’t like the increase in traffic on Clinton during rush hour and especially drivers cutting through neighborhoods?” he asked in a Facebook invitation to 278 people. “Neither do a lot of cyclists and pedestrians. So how about we all ride bikes together as a group after work on Friday.”

The crew from Seattle Neighborhood Greenways

Phyllis Porter of Rainier Valley Greenways, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways Executive Director Cathy Tuttle and Seattle City Councilor Sally Bagshaw on a visit to Portland Sunday.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Over beers at the Hopworks Bike Bar happy hour Saturday, Seattle City Councilor Sally Bagshaw didn’t bother dithering over whether Portland’s Sunday Parkways street festivals are an idea worth spending city money on.

“We are determined to,” she said, waving dismissively at the question.

(Photo: Banjo Brothers)

Banjo Brothers, a popular brand of bike bags and accessories, will b ring their “Tiny Bikeshop Concert Series” to Portland tomorrow night (7/30).

The free concert will take place inside Western Bikeworks on NW 17th and Lovejoy.

Here’s more from the company:

— This post was co-written by Michael Andersen and Jonathan Maus

KATU-TV ended their evening newscast on Friday with a pretty touching anecdote about a girl who knows how much her dad’s bikes mean to him.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Not rolling west from the Rose Quarter for a week.
(Photo: M.Andersen)

It’s likely to be one of the hottest weeks of the year, but Monday, Aug. 11 through Friday, Aug. 15 is looking like a good time for east-side MAX riders to test non-air-conditioned alternatives.

The 10-block light rail connection between the Rose Quarter Transit Center and Lloyd Center, probably the highest-ridership stretch of rails in the TriMet system, will close for track and switch improvements that week, adding an estimated 15 to 30 minutes to trips in or out of the central city.

TriMet has full details about the temporary shuttle-buses that will connect the two stops through the week. But it doesn’t mention the fact that for everyone going to or from much of the east side, a bicycle will probably become the fastest link to the Rose Quarter and downtown during rush hour.

Sunday Parkways is pretty darn great. I know these two guys wouldn’t change a thing.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

In Paris on Sunday there were women on the podium, not mere “podium girls.”
(Photo: Luc Revel)

— We’re excited to share a report from a major bike race in Paris — and we’re not talking about the Tour de France. Author and former Portland resident Anna Brones witnessed the first ever “La Course,” a women’s race put on by the organizers of the Tour, and she filed this report for BikePortland. (Photos by Luc Revel)

The aftermath of a fatal high-speed chase.
(Photo: Graham T. Beck via Streetsblog)

Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

A for effort: New York’s top court found that a car thief who “fatally struck a Brooklyn pedestrian during a high-speed NYPD chase” isn’t guilty of murder because the fact that he sometimes swerved to avoid people as he sped down the street proves that he didn’t have a “depraved indifference to human life.”

Bike share buyout: Portland-based Alta Bicycle Share is on the brink of a deal to sell “at least 51 percent” of itself to a New York-based real estate company in exchange for a necessary cash infusion.

Oregon Manifest Bike Design Project reveal party-40

The “Solid” bike drew a crowd at the big reveal party Friday night.
(Photos by J Maus/BikePortland)

What happens when top design firms are paired with expert bike makers and told to create the “ultimate urban utility bike”? Thanks to the Oregon Manifest Bike Design Project we now know the answer to that question.

A crowded bike corral.

The other day, an exchange about one of BikePortland’s favorite topics (the many benefits of charging money for car parking) took a turn when a reader who goes by “meh” asked if we all wanted to pay to park in bike corrals, too.

That inspired another reader, Kirk, to spin out a vision for paid on-street bike parking that almost won me over.

I would gladly pay into a system (but of course only from 8am-7pm) that provides bike corrals along most every block face (not just every few blocks or so, it’s gotta be convenient) in the city where there is overwhelming bike parking demand in the commercial areas, residential areas, industrial areas, any of those – once we start charging for car parking in all of the areas that currently experience overwhelming car parking demand as well.

Traffic on the Broadway Bridge, 2013.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

In case you weren’t sure whether Portland is truly unusual as mid-sized U.S. cities go, the 20-year comprehensive plan map released this week ought to make it clear.

The plan might be the city’s clearest statement ever that it’s betting everything — not just the future of biking or riding mass transit, but everything — on being able to make car-lite transportation dramatically more attractive than it is now.

The culmination of an eight-month collaboration between Ti Cycles and Portland design firm Industry will be unveiled tonight as part of the Oregon Manifest Bike Design Project competition.
(Photos: Industry)

Portlanders will have an opportunity to dwell on the frontier of bicycle design and technology tonight at the Reveal Party for the Oregon Manifest Bike Design Project.

Bikeway in name only? Clinton Street’s heavy traffic prompts calls for diverters

Seattle’s friendliest insurgent group visits Portland, eager for wisdom and dispensing their own

Tomorrow: ‘Tiny Bikeshop Concert Series’ comes to northwest Portland

Even a 6-year-old can feel Portland’s massive bike theft problem

Good excuse to try biking: TriMet’s week-long MAX detour next month

If you could change one thing about Sunday Parkways, what would it be?

Dispatch from Paris: ‘La Course by Le Tour’ was much more than just a race

The Monday Roundup: Credit for swerving, a ‘Happy’ dance and more

Five cities reveal ‘Ultimate urban utility’ bikes: How does Portland’s entry compare?

Comment of the week: How paying for on-street bike parking could be awesome

City’s Comp Plan makes it clear: Portland is mostly finished adding auto capacity

Go boldly into the bike/tech frontier at Oregon Manifest unveiling tonight

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland