Month: January 2017

On SE Clinton, PBOT finishes permanent diverter and readies new ‘bike-friendly’ speed bumps

new permanent traffic diverter on SE Clinton at 32nd-4.jpg

(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

About a year after taking temporary measures, the City of Portland has finished installing a permanent traffic diverter on SE Clinton at 32nd. With the diverter complete, the final piece of the puzzle in reclaiming Clinton as a bike-priority street (a.k.a. neighborhood greenway) will be to install five new speed bumps between SE 17th and 26th.

Here’s a look at the new diverter, followed by some new information about the speed bumps…

BikePortland subscriber Adam Herstein gave us an early look at the new design just before Christmas. Since then PBOT has added several finishing touches including bright yellow paint and more signs. I rolled out yesterday for a closer look.

Compared to what PBOT first installed last year, the new design is a massive improvement. The old design, with its large concrete drums and orange cones, not only looked bad it also didn’t work well. People in cars would routinely drive right through it (into oncoming traffic!) and people would park too close to the gap where bicycle riders were supposed to cut through.

Here are a few more photos:

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Weekend Event Guide: Tram’s 10th, legislative town hall, women’s ride, and more

The Tram is awesome.
(Photo courtesy Portland Aerial Tram)

The Portland Aerial Tram takes top billing this weekend.

It’s hard to believe that a decade has passed since Aerial Tram opened. I remember covering it back then and having no real clue about how transformative it would be — not just for the South Waterfront district but for bicycling in Portland. Watch this space Friday morning for a story about how the Tram has impacted cycling. For now, check out details on the Tram’s 10th birthday party and several other cool events below…

Saturday, January 28th

Sorella Forte Women’s Club Ride – 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at River City Bicycles (706 SE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd)
Inspired by the Women’s March? How about a women’s ride? Geared to intermediate riders, expect an average speed of about 15-17 mph for about 30-40 miles. Organizers say it’s “faster than a recreational cruise, but almost always conversational, except for the hills.” Please be ready to ride at 9 am and park on the street, not in the River City lot. More info here

Town Hall to Discuss 2017 Legislative Session – 10:00 to 11:30 am at PCC Cascade (Moriarty Auditorium – 705 N Killingsworth St)
The session is about to get busy and Portland legislators could play a key role in the major transportation package that will be debated. Come and tell North Portland reps Lew Frederick and Tina Kotek what kind of projects and policies you think they should fight for – and which ones they should fight against. More info here

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For bike riders, the storm’s hazardous road conditions continue

Gravel, gravel everywhere. On the left is the short raised cycle path on SE Division east of 82nd. On the right is the bike on on SE 52nd at Clinton.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

For people who ride bikes in Portland, those nasty winter storms are far from over. The weeks of rain, ice, snow, studded tires, chains, and plows have wreaked havoc on roads — especially in the space used for cycling.

It’s one thing to deal with it in a well-cushioned car, but another thing entirely when trying to navigate a bicycle: Ride in the gravel, mud and other hazards and you risk flats or losing control; ride in the lane and you risk interactions with motor vehicle users.

We hate to complain; but this situation is not new. It’s also dangerous and we haven’t seen significant steps taken to improve it even though it has been on the City’s radar for many years. We’ve documented hazardous post-storm cycling conditions (and PBOT’s response to it or lack thereof) in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2014.

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People on Bikes – NE Broadway near Moda Center

Eager to ride after winter storms, yet still cold enough to have to bundle up. This us just a tiny slice of who’s riding bikes in Portland.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

How good does it feel to be able to pedal bikes again after all those snow and ice storms?

This is the first full week we’ve had since early December where the roads are dry and we can get back to a somewhat normal commute (yes, we know about all the gravel and we have a story about that coming up next). To kick off the return of fellow riders to the bike lanes, I thought it’d be fun to do a People on Bikes. This is a regular feature where I stand in one place and photographing people as they roll by. There are a lot of cool things we can learn from this. Here are some of the questions I have in my head as I look at the images:

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Subscriber Post: A breakout year for Northwest Trail Alliance

We love to ride… but that’s not all we do!

[Note: This post was submitted by BikePortland Business Subscriber Northwest Trail Alliance through our Subscriber Post system. We think it deserves a wider reach so we’ve posted it here on the Front Page. Remember, if you are a subscriber you can also be a contributor! We would love to amplify your voice and share your experiences with a wider audience. Sign up here. – Jonathan]

Hi! We’re new to the BikePortland community — and there’s a good chance the Northwest Trail Alliance is new to you — so we’d like to take a moment to introduce ourselves.

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Surly Bikes is hosting two events in Portland next week

If you’ve been around bicycling for a while, you’ve probably bumped into Surly Bikes. The brand is super-popular in Portland because they make many of the affordable, no-nonsense and useful bikes that are dearly beloved around here: The longtail Big Dummy, the uber-commuter Cross Check, and others.

All you Surly fans out there will be happy to know that next week they’re coming to Portland.

We heard from Surly’s Kate Echols Moore that they’ve got two events planned while they’re in town — one to show support for bike shop employees and the people who love them, and the other is a “WTF (women/trans/femme) focused event” where everyone is welcome.

Check the details below and make some plans…

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National org will help Portland’s Gateway district make a ‘Big Jump’ for bicycling

Cora Potter-3

We’ll see a lot more people like Cora Potter riding calmly on the Halsey-Weidler couplet in the near future.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

If all goes according to plan one part of Portland will leapfrog to an exciting new level of bike-friendliness in the next three years. Or should we say, it’ll jump?

Portland has just been named one of 10 cities nationwide (out of 80 that applied) to be part of “The Big Jump,” a program managed by the nonprofit advocacy group People for Bikes that aims to double or triple the amount of riding in one geographic area by 2019. In Portland’s case the focus will be on the Gateway district.

Dubbed the “Gateway to Opportunity” project (more on that name later), the bureau of transportation will zero-in on the area bordered by I-84, East Burnside, I-205 and NE 132nd Avenue with the goal of making it much more bikeable than it is today. With this nudge from People for Bikes, PBOT will look to advance and complete 13 different projects by 2019. The projects include protected bike lanes on the NE Halsey-Weidler couplet in the heart of Gateway, three major neighborhood greenway projects, a bikeway overpass of I-205 to connect to the Sullivan’s Gulch trail, and much more. In total, the Gateway to Opportunity project will encompass an estimated $21.35 million in infrastructure spending and create about 39 miles of new bikeways.

As one of the selected cities, Portland will receive the equivalent of $200,000 in technical support from People For Bikes each year for three years, as well as an additional $50,000 in matching funds or financial commitments from local organizations.

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PBOT will extend Naito Parkway bike lanes into NW industrial area

The new Field Office development on NW Front between 15th and 17th will come with new bike lanes.
(Graphics courtesy City of Portland)
The catalyst for this project is the Field Office development just north of the Fremont Bridge.

Last April we highlighted the massive potential for cycling in the northwest industrial area — a place with thousands of jobs, burgeoning residential and office development, and lots of wide streets.

Now, thanks to the ongoing building boom along the Willamette River north of the Fremont Bridge, the City of Portland will create nearly a mile of new bikeways to connect the area’s new residents and employees to the rest of the city.

The new bike lanes will connect to existing ones that currently end at NW Naito Parkway and 9th. From 9th to NW 15th, PBOT will reconfigure the roadway from its existing five standard travel lanes to three standard lanes (one lane in each direction and a center turn lane), two buffered bike lanes and an auto parking lane.

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The Monday Roundup: Tour de Trump, fatbikes, racial profiling, and more

Trump’s big bike race.

This Weeks Monday Roundup is sponsored by the Worst Day of the Year Ride, coming on February 12th!

Welcome to the week.

We’ve got lots of stories to share this week. Before we get started, let’s not forget about the most interesting and important stories we came across last week…

Symoblism in India: If I were a citizen of India I seriously consider voting for the political party that just won the right to use the bicycle as their official symbol.

Guilt caught on camera – or not: A video appears to show clear negligence by a bus operator but the NYPD failed to hold anyone accountable and won’t investigate.

Riding in winter: People in Chicago are cycling through cold winters in larger numbers these days — and some credit the presence of bike share.

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Portland Resistance 2017: Bikes and YouTube stars

(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

[Note: This post was submitted by BikePortland Subscriber Kiel Johnson (a.k.a. “Go By Bike”) through our Subscriber Post system. We think it deserves a wider reach so we’ve posted it here on the Front Page. Remember, if you are a subscriber you are also a contributor! We would love to amplify your voice and share your experiences with a wider audience. Sign up here. – Jonathan]

What does mass resistance look like in 2017 Portland? The marches we saw over this weekend were the largest since the Vietnam War, unless of course, you follow “alternate facts”. If you look at the history of resistance in the world, it is constantly changing. Resistance must conform to the technology and public spaces of that period. Martin Luther King used television and the American Revolution used pamphlets.

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