2015 Archives

Milwaukie carves a new path: widespread support for better biking

Plans for downtown Milwaukie’s bike network.
(Image: Milwaukie)

One year after Milwaukie voters elected two vocally bike-friendly politicians to their city council, Milwaukie is lining up some significant investments.

The biggest new one in the works, a crosstown neighborhood greenway on Monroe Street, will get its first public meeting at city council on Nov. 3.

“We have consensus on council to make this a top priority,” Milwaukie City Councilor Karin Power said in an interview Wednesday about the city’s work on an “all-inclusive bike-, pedestrian- and street-safety program.”

Milwaukie doesn’t have a citizen biking or pedestrian advisory committee. But public support for biking and walking improvements has led to something interesting: the city’s public safety committee has broadened its focus and is now taking a lead role on infrastructure planning.

Carole Barkley (before the collision).
(Photo: David Loftus)

It has happened. And I hate to say that I’m not surprised.

On Sunday October 11th, Carole Barkley was hit by a man riding a bike near the Tilikum Bridge. The woman was walking her dog (the dog was not injured) near the west end of the new bridge when the collision occurred.

We received the email below last week from David Loftus, Carol’s husband (emphases mine):

“My wife was hit, hard, by a cyclist near the west end of Tilikum Crossing bridge on Sunday morning about 9 a.m. The collision knocked her down and put her in the hospital for more than two days with four broken ribs, a separated shoulder, a chipped vertebra, lots of cuts and abrasions, and attacks of vertigo.

She was walking our six-pound dog (who was fortunately unhurt), and specifically waited for the pedestrian crossing signal at the east end of the Orange Line MAX platform. Presumably the cyclist had a red light, but my suspicion is that he wasn’t looking for a signal under the presumption that he’d passed the big intersection at Moody and Meade and was free to climb the bridge heading east.

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Bike lane blockage (and what you can do about it)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

We’ve all seen it. Probably dozens of times. A sign or other hazard placed in a bike lane by a construction crew doing official work in the public right-of-way.

On Monday, BikePortland subscriber Kim Isaacson saw a particularly egregious case of this. Kim was riding south in the bike lane on SW Broadway. As he rolled toward the I-405 overcrossing at SW Jackson he came across a large reader-board sign. The sign was completely blocking the bike lane.

Being the well-informed citizen that he is, Kim took a few photos and emailed the City of Portland as soon as possible. To help ensure her issue would get some attention, Kim emailed not only safe@portlandoregon.gov, but also the city’s permitting manager and PBOT spokesman Dylan Rivera. He also cc’d BikePortland.

The issue on Clinton.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

Here’s the latest on the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s effort to decrease the amount of people driving on SE Clinton…

A trial traffic diverter is now set to be installed at Southeast Clinton Street and 32nd Avenue, instead of Clinton and 29th as first proposed. In addition to the east-west diverter, it’ll use semi-diverters to prevent turns onto Clinton from 32nd while allowing traffic on Clinton to turn either north or south.

That’s in addition to the trial diverter planned at Clinton and 17th.

That revised proposal has raised objections from some neighbors, just as the initial one did. While some nearby residents are reportedly organizing to oppose the latest plan — possibly at a mostly unrelated town hall this evening attended by Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales — the city has delayed installation to allow a second open house early next month.

The Signal will offer extensive bike parking and car parking spaces will be optional.
(Rendering courtesy Metro)

Beaverton is looking to get a slice of Portland’s walkable-bikeable apartment boom.

Tomorrow morning, developers and city officials will break ground at the vacant lot at Southwest First Street and Angel Avenue in Beaverton’s streetcar-era Old Town neighborhood, officially kicking off construction of The Signal.

The four-story building will be about two blocks from Beaverton High School, half a mile from the Beaverton Transit Center and 2.5 miles from Nike headquarters.

Kyle Gunsul’s stolen Kuota.

This article was submitted by Bryan Hance of Bike Index. It originally appeared on his blog at BikeIndex.org.

The theft

Just over nine months ago, someone broke into Kyle Gunsul’s house and stole his bike.

They did a good job, too. Portland locals might remember Kyle’s post to the local racing listserv detailing his burglary:

“… (the burglar) removed the porch light, broke a locked gate, came through a window, busted down two security cameras and busted through another gate. They ONLY took the bike. They were feet away from my living room with computer and stereos but they knew what they were coming for. Was definitely cased.”

In addition to registering with Bike Index, Kyle got the word out. Photos of his stolen Kuota Kharma made the rounds on Nextdoor, Twitter, Facebook, and the usual local bike email lists. After that, though, Kyle’s bike did what most stolen bikes do – it disappeared.

Until July.

There’s a fantastic pair of events coming to town on Thursday.

Remember David Bragdon? Yep, our former Metro president. Well, he went off and moved to New York and worked for the Bloomberg administration for a while. Now he’s leading a non-profit called TransitCenter, a group that advocates for “improving urban mobility.”

TransitCenter is sponsoring two events on 10/22 that will offer lessons and insights about the “role of citizen activism influencing transportation reform.” Learn more in the press releases below.

“There ought to be some higher level of consequence when you use a deadly weapon to kill someone, even if you didn’t do it on purpose.”
— Ray Thomas, lawyer at Swanson Thomas Coon & Newton

There’s a gap in Oregon law that has outraged citizens and hamstrung prosecutors for many years. It’s a gap that makes it all too common for someone to receive a mere traffic citation when their actions while operating a vehicle lead directly to a serious injury or fatality.

This maddening situation first made major headlines here on BikePortland following our tragic October of 2007 when Tracey Sparling and Brett Jarolimek where killed in traffic collisions. In both cases the person behind the wheel of a large truck turned across a bicycle lane that was already occupied and two people died as a result. Despite those actions, the District Attorney declined to pursue criminal charges in either case.

The problem here isn’t with the DA’s office. The DA is constrained by Oregon law which currently has a yawning gap between the culpability threshold of a traffic ticket and a more serious criminal charge.

“There ought to be some higher level of consequence when you use a deadly weapon to kill someone, even if you didn’t do it on purpose.” That’s how noted lawyer Ray Thomas described the problem to us when we published a story about this gap in 2010.

The beauty, folly, and challenge of cyclocross was in full display in Cascade Locks on Sunday.
(Photos by Dylan VanWeelden/Pushing Towards Normal)

By all accounts, this weekend’s Cross Crusade event out at Cascade Locks was a huge success. Everyone I’ve talked to about it had rave reviews — not just for the usual racing and fun vibe these events have; but for the venue itself.

Almost half of southbound rush-hour traffic on Barbur turns right here. Converting the right lane to right-turn-only could boost driver safety on Barbur while making room for continuous bike lanes.
(Image: Google Street View)

Buried inside 115 pages of analysis of Barbur Boulevard, a “safety audit” released Monday seems to have come up with something interesting: a pretty solid new idea for fixing the dangerous wooded section of Southwest Portland’s most important street.

It’s fairly simple. Instead of losing a northbound auto lane from Miles to Hamilton, one of Barbur’s two southbound auto lanes could peel off at Capitol Highway.

South of Capitol Highway — which is where 40 to 50 percent of southbound Barbur traffic exits anyway — the street could be restriped to add continuous bike lanes across a pair of narrow bridges, ending the current situation that pushes bikes and cars to merge into the same 45-mph lane.

I saw a trashy glint in my planting strip walking (yes, walking, not riding) back from the store tonight. Went to remove the trash, and found that it was a mostly-stripped bike frame – a Univega Via Montega, 23″.

Calling the police non-emergency number at night gets you nothing. How do I report an obviously stolen bike that I found, rather than lost? This does not fit any category of incident that can be reported to PPB on line.

I’ve got the serial number; now what?

Much more than socks: The Athletic toasts one year in business

The Athletic celebrated one year of business at their
retail store located at NW 19th and Lovejoy.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

As I looked into The Athletic’s retail store in northwest Portland on Friday night and saw it jam-packed with fans and customers, all I could think of was this: It all started with a pair of socks inspired by airport carpet.

Milwaukie carves a new path: widespread support for better biking

Woman walking near Tilikum Bridge suffers serious injuries in collision with bicycle rider

Bike lane blockage (and what you can do about it)

City pushes Clinton diverter proposal to 32nd, sets new open house

New 78-unit apartment will include downtown Beaverton’s first bike wash

Guest article: A stolen bike that took nine months to recover

The theft

Event: Community activism and transportation reform

Wonk Night (10/26) will focus on Oregon’s negligence gap

Through the Lens: The Cross Crusade visits Cascade Locks

Safety audit reveals new approach to fixing Barbur bridges

Why is it so hard to report a found bike?

Much more than socks: The Athletic toasts one year in business

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland