Happy Monday everyone. Lots to get to this week so let’s get things started.
Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…
Traffic creation: This interview with transportation researchers totally debunks the idea that wider freeways are a good response to traffic congestion concerns and it feels particularly relevant given ODOT’s expansion obsession.
Traffic evaporation: On the flip side, when space is taken away from drivers in dense central city areas, the result is nicer places with fewer cars and less driving, not the chaos DOTs often assume it will be.
Mobility lanes: I’m sharing this story not because of the lanes themselves (although it’s great news), but because they call them “mobility lanes” — not bike lanes. Should we stop using “bike lanes” once and for all in Portland? Would it help move projects forward?
$900 million up for grabs: The Biden Administration has announced the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program that will fund transportation projects with an eye toward, “creating good paying jobs, boosting the economy, ensuring equity, and tackling our climate crisis.”
About those alleged delays: Major advocacy group Cycling UK has revealed that despite sensational headlines about emergency response delays due to the installation of bike lanes, the emergency response companies themselves don’t buy it and actually support bike lanes due to their obvious public health and safety benefits.
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Self-charging helmet light: A new helmet from POC has a light that is charged by light thanks to a collab with a solar energy company.
Walking while Black: A Texas man was arrested and spent the night in jail. His crime? Walking in the street because snow blocked the sidewalk.
EVs won’t save us, part 3,156: “Liberation from car culture requires a more fundamental reimagining of how we get around, with investments in walkable and bike-able roadways,” says this NY Times opinion piece on the perils of technology as a savior.
Racism and helmets: Infraction data showing King County’s helmet law is enforced disproportionately against riders who are Black, homeless and/or Native American has prompted calls for its repeal.
War on Cars comes to Portland: Cully Green, a housing development just east of 42nd Street is the subject of the latest episode of the War on Cars podcast.
Idaho stopped: Lawmakers in Virginia who are fine with allowing people in cars to make right turns on red to accommodate traffic flow have decided that it’s just too dangerous for bike riders to do something similar with stop signs.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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