Memorial events are comment. But a full-blown funeral procession? (Photos: Jonathan Mauus/BikePortland)
Welcome to Get Legal, a column that goes deep into traffic law with the help of experts in the field. Today’s expert is Ray Thomas, a Portland-based lawyer at Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost with decades of experience in bicycle law and advocacy. Read past Get Legal columns here.
“You can have a bike funeral, complete with a funeral procession leader whose bicycle is outfitted with special lights making other traffic stop or pull over.”
– Ray Thomas
As more people integrate cycling into their lives, more parts of our lives will be done on a bicycle.
After all, if funeral processions can happen with cars, why can’t we use bikes to carry a loved one to their final resting place?
This situation came up recently when friends of the late Aaron Tarfman considered a funeral procession through the streets to a local cemetery. Aaron was staunchly anti-car and it would have been antithetical to his values to use one of them — much less several in a slow-moving parade through the city — for his final ride. As initial emails flew around, legal questions arose. Ultimately, noted local lawyer and bike law expert Ray Thomas (as in Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost, a longtime BikePortland advertiser) was cc’d on one of the emails.
Thomas looked into the issue and discovered that, lo and behold, it’s actually legal to use bicycles for funeral processions in the state of Oregon.
“Frankly, conducting a funeral procession by bike had never occurred to me before except as a ‘why not’ sort of thing,” Thomas shared with me via email recently. He wanted to find out not only if it could be legal to transport remains by bicycle on public streets; but whether participants in a bicycle funeral procession would have the same legal protections while participating in one as car users do.
“Stomping around in the ORS and case law revealed no direct answers about bike funerals but it seemed reasonably clear that you can have a bike funeral, complete with a funeral procession leader whose bicycle is outfitted with special lights making other traffic stop or pull over,” Thomas wrote.
Let’s dig into the statutes…
Ray Thomas
In Oregon law, a funeral procession is defined (in ORS 801.288) as, “two or more vehicles, including any Funeral Lead Vehicle or Funeral Escort Vehicle, accompanying the body or cremated remains of a deceased person.” According to Thomas’s interpretation, a “Funeral Lead Vehicle” and/or a “Funeral Escort Vehicle” can be any vehicle — including a bicycle since a bicycle is a vehicle in Oregon law — equipped with either red or red and white lights (ORS 811.800 and ORS 816.285).
Why does this matter? Because by law, a funeral procession is given many unique rights over other users of the road.
“Funeral processions are allowed to essentially take over an intersection if the Funeral Escort Vehicle or Funeral Lead Vehicle lawfully enters an intersection, and the following procession may then enter the intersection without stopping,” Thomas says, citing ORS 811.804. “The statute requires that a person must yield the right of way to a funeral procession and stop before entering any intersection occupied by the procession, then remain stopped until the procession has passed.”
If someone drives, or even walks or bikes through an official funeral process, they can be found in violation of ORS 811.802, “Failure to yield right of way to funeral procession,” a class D traffic violation. Class D is the lowest level traffic violations and has a maximum fine of $250, minimum of $60 and presumptive fine of $110.
Thomas also believes that standard bike lights would be ample enough to trigger the legal requirements to lead a funeral procession by bike, but he recommends as large and as bright of a light as possible for better daytime visibility.
And in case you were wondering, you don’t need a special license or professional training to lead a funeral procession. ORS 432.005, subsection 25 grants any person the right to act as a “Funeral Process Practitioner.” There’s also no requirement to get a permit or clear the route with any authorities.
But keep in mind this big caveat: Thomas warns that,
“If a funeral procession were conducted in order to disrupt traffic or cause trouble for other road users, then it’s likely some regulatory authority could be called upon to control the disruption. Such things could be viewed as misuse of the statutes by deliberating invoking the funeral law privileges. Setting up a mock funeral procession as a direct action would likely be viewed as a ‘violation of the public order’ (a vague concept that can be stretched to include any number of things) and participants could be treated with hostility by law enforcement.”
In Thomas’s decades of experience with traffic law he has never heard of a case where someone misused the funeral procession law. Some things are sacred, and should be kept that way. But if you ever want to honor a friend or member of your family with a vehicle procession that doesn’t rely on cars, it’s good to know there is room in the law to make it happen.
Extinction Rebellion members demonstrating at City Hall this morning. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
“What are the serious actions that the city is willing to take?”
– Janet Weil, Extinction Rebellion PDX
“Deeds not words” was the message a group of activists with Extinction Rebellion PDX had for Portland City Council at their meeting this morning where they voted to approve the city’s Climate Emergency Work Plan.
The work plan is the creation of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and outlines actions across city bureaus to cut Portland’s climate emissions in half by 2030 and hit net-zero emissions by 2050. But some climate activists think the plan is too vague, and are concerned city leaders won’t follow their words up with actions necessary to tackle the climate emergency.
Wheeler and Rubio at this morning’s City Council meeting.
Today’s unanimous vote was no surprise – all commissioners (including Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty who was absent at today’s meeting) had enthusiastically supported the plan at last month’s hearing.
Mayor Ted Wheeler and commissioners Carmen Rubio, Mingus Mapps and Dan Ryan addressed the activists at City Hall today and acknowledged the city’s climate actions lack some transparency. Wheeler asked BPS director Donnie Oliveira if there were steps the Bureau could take to better show the public how the city is progressing with its plans.
“Is there some way that we can make this easy for people to see what we’re doing?” Wheeler asked. “We’re very invested in figuring out where the gaps are.”
Oliveira said the Bureau is working to improve on this front and will keep it in mind as they move forward. Activists said more communication would be helpful, but it won’t be enough if they don’t have strong action plans in the books.
“It’s not only how are they communicating to the public, but what in fact are the serious actions that the city is willing to take?” Extinction Rebellion PDX member Janet Weil told me after the meeting. “There’s a lot this plan is missing.”
Activists with Extinction Rebellion outside Portland City Hall Wednesday.
Weil said the plan is particularly weak concerning transportation, adding that the City of Portland has not shown they will stand up to the Oregon Department of Transportation where climate action is concerned. Earlier this summer, City Council voted to support ODOT’s I-5 Rose Quarter expansion project as well as the plan to expand I-5 across the Columbia River, which some climate activists say is not in line with their climate emergency declaration and promises for city action.
Despite these disagreements, the mood at today’s meeting was mild. City Council members have become experts at acknowledging the many people who oppose their decisions. The Extinction Rebellion activists held up signs urging action at the meeting, but did not cause any disruption. All commissioners and Mayor Wheeler said they were grateful for their community involvement.
Steve Dear is a member of Eugene’s Extinction Rebellion chapter who came to Portland to support the demonstration today. He said people from across the state need to see the City of Portland taking strong climate action, and wanted to be part of the movement encouraging them to do so. He told me he was surprised to see such a collaborative attitude from the commissioners.
“I felt like Council co-opted our message. The mayor enveloped us with his words and acted like we’re on the same side,” Dear said. “But I don’t think we want the same things.”
What on earth is so fun about this sport? (Photos: Mark Boling/@MarkPNW503)
Event flyer.
Believe it or not, ‘cross is coming. The sport Portland helped popularize in America is just around the corner with the first big local race (Het Meer at Vancouver Lake just over the Washington border) is set for September 4th. That’s just 11 days away!
There’s a reason ‘cross is so big around these parts: It’s the most accessible and community-minded discipline in cycling. The short laps and tight, crowded courses make it hard to ever feel like you’ve been “dropped” because there’s almost always someone else racing near you. The courses also typically wind through a “pit” area where the vibe is super fun with lots of cheering (that’s almost always supportive, except for when hecklers go overboard). You can race it on all types of bikes — from commuters with knobby tires to mountain bikes.
One of the best parts is how our community always extends a hand to show more folks the ropes. Case in point is the ‘Cyclocross Curious’ event coming this Saturday (8/27) from our friends at the Fast Fun Nice Cycling Team. One of their leaders, Evelyn Boling, shared a Q & A with us that she did for the Pedalpalooza Instagram account, and we figured it’d be a fun way to learn more about her, the sport and the event.
So here goes!
Evelyn knows crashing is just part of the sport – and the fun!
How long have you been riding/racing cyclocross?
Personally, six years, but we’ll have a myriad of skill and experience levels helping out.
What do you love about riding cyclocross/ the scene/ the culture?
Cyclocross challenges individuals in so many wonderful ways. There are basic bike handling and fitness levels to achieve, but, beyond that, each race unfolds entirely differently. A unique technical feature, like sand or rocks, extra barriers, or no barriers, fast and flat, or muddy hills can completely change the trajectory of how the race turns out. The races consist of several laps around the same course, so you have chances to improve, find a better line, or choose to run something that rode slowly. And then there’s the way it feels to do an all out effort for 45 mins. There’s nothing like that adrenaline, and everyone around you is putting it all out there too, so there’s this camaraderie that forms. Everybody is trying as hard as they can, but you can’t take it too seriously, because riding in circles and jumping over manufactured obstacles is actually pretty silly. So we bring out the cowbells and occasionally the costumes, rarely a goat or a karaoke booth, and that’s cross culture in a nutshell.
What is your cyclocross bike like?
I ride a cyclocross-specific bike. It’s the style of a road bike, but with clearance for knobbier tires. Oregon races don’t require a certain bike, though, so anything that feels comfortable riding through dirt and fast would work. I raced my first season on a Surly Straggler, the same bike I use for commuting around town now.
How did you get the idea for your ride? What led you to want to lead a ride like this?
When I tell people I race cyclocross, most people don’t know what it is, and I often get the question, “how did you even get involved in something like that?” like it’s this insider, niche sport. I mostly commute when I ride, so I know there are fast, skillful riders all over this city, but most race promotions are aimed at people who are already racing. The sport is trying to become more diverse, but if we want all races and genders and body sizes fully represented, we have to change how we recruit. Some teams, including Fast Fun Nice, are starting to offer scholarships to lower that initial barrier, but we also need to spread the word.
What can folks expect to see/hear/experience on your ride?
We will have different leaders at stations. Each will be an informal, fun introduction to a cyclocross skill, like dismounting or cornering. We’ll have a tent with more people to answer questions and a spinny wheel and raffle prizes for those who complete each station!
Thanks for sharing Evelyn!
Learn more about Saturday’s event on our calendar and follow the Fast Fun Nice folks via IG.
Looking west toward N Wabash.Looking east from N Chautauqua.New crossing at N Emerald.Entering new mixing zone at N Peninsular (that’s Greeley behind him).Click or swipe through. Full gallery below. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Source: ODOT
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has completed a $16.5 million project on N Lombard Avenue that reduced space for driving and added a buffered, unprotected bike lane.
The Lombard Multimodal Safety Project stretches about 1.2 miles from N Fiske (west of Columbia Park) to N Delaware. In addition to new bike lanes the project repaved the street, upgraded ADA ramps, added new signals, added crossings with flashing beacons and medians, and more. ODOT found space for the bikeway by putting Lombard on a road diet in some sections. Instead of the previous cross-section of four general purpose lanes and a wide shoulder and/or parking lane, the new cross-section has two general purpose lanes, two bike lanes, and a center turn lane.
Since Lombard is also a U.S. Hwy 30 bypass and freight route, ODOT widened the general purpose lanes to 12 feet. The new bike lane is seven-feet wide (including the one-foot buffer). The speed limit is posted at 25 mph.
This project is the third time in recent years ODOT has added bike lanes to Lombard. In 2015 they striped from N Ida across the railroad cut to N Wall (leaving a glaring gap across the railroad overpass). Then in 2017 they striped a bike lane from Wall to Portsmouth. These are all nice steps forward, but the quality of the bike lane and several key gaps leave us with a head-scratching, relatively low-quality cycling experience that isn’t likely to change travel behaviors among most people.
These newest lanes are almost a dozen blocks east of where the bike lane ends on Portsmouth. And it’s another 10 blocks or so east of where they end at Delaware to the existing bike route on N Denver Ave. The gaps are a bummer, but when you consider that these bike lanes just unceremoniously end and plop (perhap unsuspecting) bike riders into a stressful, shared-lane environment is a real safety concern.
As for the bike lanes themselves, they are a welcome step in the right direction. To have dedicated cycling space on a major street like Lombard through a section loaded with important destinations like churches and parks and businesses is a very big deal. I rode them back and forth several times on Tuesday morning and — while I prefer physical protection — I felt like I was finally welcome.
It’s very unfortunate the bike lanes have no physical separation except for very tiny bumps every few feet. For some reason ODOT is reluctant to physically protect their bike lanes. When PBOT added concrete curbs and candlestick wands to N Rosa Parks Way in 2019, ODOT demanded their section over I-5 remain unprotected and they even narrowed the bike lane. (I’ve asked ODOT why they don’t protect bike lanes and will update this story when I hear back.)
The smooth new pavement was nice (although they’ve left a lot of sewer access covers full of loose gravel!) and driving speeds already seemed slower than usual. If there’s any truism to road design, it’s that less space for driving equal lower speeds. The fact that folks no longer have a way to zoom around slower drivers is huge.
It’s just too bad that ODOT holds their bike lanes back from reaching full potential. I’ve mentioned the remaining gaps and the lack of separation, but just as problematic is the amount of debris that collects in the lanes. Curbside bike lanes on high-volume arterials always have a lot of trash, car shrapnel, gravel, leaves, and so on piled in them. We must have ironclad plans for regular maintenance on the bike lanes or people won’t use them.
I saw just as many people riding on the sidewalks instead of the bike lanes while I was out there. And the presence of debris is a big reason why. One person I spoke to put it this way: “The new bike lanes may seem like a great idea, but there’s just glass everywhere, right where you would be riding your bike.” This person said they’ve gotten 4-5 flats riding in the shoulder and that expense and hassle has led him to being a sidewalk-cyclists from now on.
There are two other notable elements of this project: The new crossing treatment at Delaware and the mixing zones at Peninsular.
N Delaware crossing.Northbound Delaware. Note where beg button is located.
I’ve gotten three emails from concerned people (all of them moms who ride with kids) about how ODOT has changed the crossing at Delaware. This is a very important north-south bike route with two schools (Portland Village and Chief Joseph Elementary) just a few blocks away. Previously there was a half-signal (for Lombard traffic) and a marked crosswalk on the east side of the intersection. There was a beg button to activate the signal for bike riders in both directions.
Now the half-signal has been removed and in its place is a median island crossing with a rapid flashing beacon. This is nice, but it makes the intersection worse for biking in some ways. For northbound bike traffic, the beg button is now further away and requires folks to re-position up a curb ramp and into a narrow sidewalk space to use the crossing. But the changes southbound are worse.
Reader Emily W wrote in to say:
“What I find problematic is the beg button has been disengaged. To cross going south you have to [cross over both lanes] get on the (east) sidewalk, find the pedestrian button and cross in the crosswalk. It is also really annoying and potentially unsafe as people turn onto Delaware headed north and bikes are crossing over headed south to get to a signal.”
And Kristin S. wrote:
“The pedestrian activated beacon at Delaware is a huge pain for cyclists, especially for longtail and box cargo bikes. It’s on the wrong side of the road if you’re headed southbound and have to dismount because of the way the ramp is cut, and cars don’t respect the beacon like they do a stoplight. Definite downgrade from what was there before.”
I’ve asked ODOT to clarify this location and will share an update when I hear back (see updates below!).
Crossing of N Delaware.Northbound on Delaware. Note location of beg button relative to bike position.
The other notable section is the busy few blocks between N Villard/Peninsular and N Greeley (the Walgreens/Green Zebra area). The bike lane loses its buffer here as you go west approaching Peninsular and then turns into a mixing zone where you get a shared-lane environment with other road users. Westbound, the bike lane merges in a similar way. Just like the City of Portland does, there’s green color to signify a potential conflict-zone. This treatment is done to avoid the risk of right-hook collisions when curbside bike lanes come to intersections with a lot of right-turning drivers.
I felt OK in these sections, but my experience is not typical of everyone.
Overall, I’m happy to see bike lanes on Lombard, but ODOT needs to do more to make them fully functional to more people by filling more gaps, keeping the lanes free of debris, and adding protection.
What do you think? Will you ride on Lombard now?
Check the full gallery below (you can now click or swipe (on mobile) through our galleries if you hadn’t noticed yet):
Several cars drove past before one let him cross.Looking east toward N Chautauqua.Looking west toward N Dwight.Way too much crap in the lanes.Looking west from N Emerald.Looking east from N Emerald.Looking east from N Peninsular.Mixing zone approaching Peninsular.Crossing at N Emerald.Access management median at N Greeley prevents turns into a gas station and convenience store.
UPDATE, 2:30 pm: I’ve heard back from ODOT about the lack of physical protection and the Delaware crossing changes.
Here’s what Region 1 Public Information Officer Don Hamilton relayed about the bike lane design:
BikePortland: Why does ODOT not place plastic curbs or candlesticks in the buffer zone like PBOT often does, in order to make these bike lanes protected?
“The cross section of Lombard is limited and to install a plastic curb or candlesticks require more buffer space than what was available to ensure the devices installed can be maintained along with required shy distance to the vehicle/bicycle lanes. Lombard is also a freight route that requires a set amount of horizontal space to be provided for when larger loads have to use this road and installing curb/candlesticks would physically restrict that access.”
BikePortland: Can you clarify what bike riders are supposed to do to cross Delaware?
Southbound or northbound bike riders would need to either treat the Delaware approach like a vehicle or a pedestrian. They can use the stop control like a vehicle which will be easier to gauge now that the highway has been changed to a 3-lane cross section to judge a gap or they can go to the marked crosswalk activating the RRFB system like a pedestrian to proceed across the marked crosswalk.
Why was the traffic control method changed at Delaware?
— The age of the signal equipment means that it might simply not have enough slack in the wires or space in the conduits to move or add wires.
— The signal equipment is attached to utility poles, which does not have engineering specifications. We simply have no way of knowing if adjusting the signal heads would have a detrimental impact to the structural capacity.
— The signal heads are smaller than modern signal heads and they really should be replaced with larger ones to both meet federal standards and be more visible to drivers. However larger signal heads are heavier and would have the same issue of structural capacity as noted above.
— “Half-signals” are no longer permitted by federal standards and are expected to be removed whenever possible.
— Half-signals are noted to increase confusion and crash risk as drivers on the side street have different expectations to drivers on the mainline. In addition, since they rarely turn red, most drivers get used to the light being green and are more likely to run the red light, further increasing crash risk.
— To have a traffic signal at these locations would mean building a brand-new full traffic signal. In addition to funding difficulties from the project, these locations do not have enough traffic volumes to meet signal warrants as laid out in the MUTCD. At a rough estimate, the traffic volumes would have to be 3-4 times higher on the side streets during the peak hours to even come close to meeting the volume-based signal warrants.
— Though the existing signals can’t be modified to fit the project and new signals aren’t appropriate or cost-effective, we still wanted to provide an enhanced crosswalk for pedestrians. The main features of the project (reducing the number of through lanes and providing a median) make it easier for pedestrians to cross even without further enhancements. Pedestrians will have fewer conflict points to negotiate and they will have a place to wait so they don’t have to make the crossing in a single movement. Providing an island, a high visibility marked crosswalk, lighting, and an actuated beacon further enhance the visibility of pedestrians crossing at these locations.
— RRFB’s have been shown to be highly effective at getting drivers to stop for pedestrians. The rapid flash is attention grabbing unlike a traffic signal which rarely turns red and therefore is often ignored. In attention, it requires pedestrians to look that vehicles have stopped before crossing. Signals sometimes give a false sense of protection and pedestrians may cross before ensuring that it is safe to do so.
This summer’s Pedalpalooza has been one for the ages. The combination of amazing weather, an urge to reconnect after the dark times of Covid, and many any factors, seem to have created a perfect storm for one of the most vibrant and exciting summers of bike fun ever.
When the 14th annual Loud n’ Lit ride took off back in June, people were amazed at the size of the crowd. Thousands and thousands of happy Portlanders rode bikes together that night. It was so fun and so big, the Bike Summer gods decided to do it again. Loud ‘n Lit Redux happened on Friday night and it was massive again! The night was made even more special by the return of its original founders — Dutch and Sysfail — who were their to lead and keep the ride on point.
There was such a great vibe at the meet-up spot at Irving Park. It felt like a cycling circus with so many people showing off colorful light displays and jaw-dropping outfits. The dancing and partying started before we even hit the street. And when we did, the stream of riders stretched for what felt like miles.
Here are the rest of the photos from the night (sorry I didn’t stay until the end spot!):
Ride co-founder and organizer Sysfail.Ride co-founder and organizer Dutch.
The Yacht Rock Pedalpalooza ride rolled through West Burnside and 10th back in July. It was the busiest intersection for foot traffic downtown this spring. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Despite years of terrible headlines and a persistent narrative from many people that Portland is “dying,” new data from the Portland Business Alliance shows that our downtown core is showing major signs of life.
“People are returning to Downtown Portland in dramatic numbers compared to 2021. The city is far busier than last year, and the community is flocking into downtown for large-scale events, dinner and entertainment,” read a statement about the new numbers.
Hundreds of people watched the Portland Criterium on Saturday. And that was just one of many bike-related events that have helped bring people downtown this summer.
This is quite a different headline than last week when a study based on cell phone data blanketed local headlines because it showed Portland lagging far behind other cities in downtown recovery since the one-two punch of protests and the pandemic. But last week’s study conveniently left out several major downtown destinations including the Pearl District, Old Town, Portland State University and the culture and theater district.
To get their data, Downtown Clean & Safe used Placer.ai, an artificial intelligence tool that specializes in counting foot traffic. This has given them a much more comprehensive look at pedestrian counts than their previous methodology of using manual counts at a limited number of intersections and times.
According to the most recent numbers, the busiest foot traffic intersection downtown is West Burnside and 10th, right outside Powell’s Books.
“Union Pacific appears congenitally unable to manage trains in Brooklyn Yard without disrupting neighborhoods and transit throughout the Metro area.”
Trains were all the rage last week, and I’m beginning to think that good comments travel in packs. Readers’ response to Taylor Griggs’s article, City will seek federal grant to study southeast train crossing delays, was strikingly knowledgeable. Portland is lucky to have such well-informed residents.
Out of the crowd, Ruth’s comment stood out because it was a strong and simple tale of the disruption the trains cause her—from someone who has spent hours waiting for trains to pass. The comment’s power comes from the contrast between her calm description of the problem and how maddening it must be to experience it.
What’s the lesson? Writing is not about merely expressing your emotion, it’s about leading your reader to feel it.
Here’s what Ruth wrote:
I’ve e-mailed TriMet twice on this very topic. Both times before plans were finalized. I cross these tracks (pedestrian) twice a day, every day I work. I call if the train is not moving. My phone shows I call between two and eight times a month. This on a four day work week basis, so eight crossings a week usually.
My record wait (after MAX went in & before the return of a pedestrian overpass) was one hour and 50 minutes. And traffic was already stopped & backed up in front of my workplace more than three blocks north of the crossing when I left work.
It is not so much the trains moving through that are a problem, though UP has pretty much doubled the length of the longest making even a moving train a non-trivial wait. It is the ones that park on the tracks. UP is using SE Portland and likely NE, NW, N PDX (and probably Milwaukie) as an extension of Brooklyn Yard.
UP logistics appears congenitally unable to manage trains in Brooklyn Yard without disrupting neighborhoods and transit throughout the Metro area. Perhaps it is time for UP to dismantle Brooklyn (better: turn it over to the Rail Historical Society) and move switching out somewhere into empty countryside. There, they can park the trains for extended periods without blocking multiple crossings & polluting multiple neighborhoods.
New lane seen from corner of SW 3rd and Main looking toward 4th. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
The elk’s spot is still empty.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation made some long-awaited changes to SW Main Street between 3rd and 4th Aves in downtown Portland last weekend. This stretch of Main is known for housing the Thompson Elk Fountain – a bronze elk statue perched atop a large fountain base – for more than 100 years before the city moved it to storage for safekeeping during protests in summer 2020. But earlier this year, the city announced they’d be bringing the statue back to its home base, and its homecoming would grant the Portland Bureau of Transportation the opportunity to install a bike lane on the block.
While a one-block bike lane may not seem monumental, its absence here left a meaningful gap in the downtown bike network. SW Main connects directly to the Hawthorne Bridge’s westbound exit, making it the most direct route from the bridge to places like the South Park Blocks.
Prior to this project the first two blocks of SW Main were equipped with bike lanes, but they dropped off at 3rd avenue, leaving people biking to merge with car traffic for a block. This added a snag to the bike route, and with PBOT’s $16.9 million SW 4th Ave Improvement Project on the way, closing this gap was a high priority.
Looking northwest from 3rd toward Main.Looking southeast at SW 3rd from Main.Looking east toward SW 4th.A bit of whimsy of course.View looking east on SW Main from SW 3rd.View looking east on SW Main from SW 3rd.
However, it looks like they were able to find a compromise. The full street redesign isn’t done (there’s still no elk), but the restriped lanes are in full effect. Now car and bus operators can only drive in one lane instead of two and bike riders get an entire lane all to themselves!
I went to check it out yesterday, and found it pleasantly unremarkable, like it had been there all along. Other people biking or rolling on the new bikeway also appeared nonchalant and used the new lane naturally. I thought this was good – people don’t have to treat every new piece of infrastructure like a big spectacle in order to use it effectively.
But I imagine they’ll notice once the elk returns. The timeline on that is up in the air, but PBOT gave us something to tide us over: a new bikeway character decked out in antlers.
I’m glad PBOT didn’t wait until the elk was ready to get this bike lane in. And when paired with the other nearby projects we recently expanded on, there are more exciting things on the horizon for people who bike downtown. Give me safer downtown Portland streets to bike on any day – I’ll be glad to see the elk back when it comes, but I can wait.
Check out our latest TikTok for another look at the new bike lane.
The calm on Portland’s marquee open streets event was shattered Sunday when the driver of a large pickup truck yelled at volunteers and participants, drove onto the route while screaming obscenities, and at one point during the heated exchanges, slammed a handgun onto his dashboard.
It happened around 11:30 am during the east Portland edition of Sunday Parkways, the second and final version of the event this year. According to four witnesses and videos shot by two different people, a man in an extended cab Chevrolet pickup was extremely agitated and sped around intersections on the route that were “filled with cyclists.”
We obtained two separate videos shot by sources who wish to remain anonymous and have stitched them together.
Map shows where the driver traveled in our videos.Location of the incidents relative to event map.
The video shows the driver stopped on SE Market Street at 130th where he’s talking to a volunteer who’s standing in front of “Road Closed” barricades. A bystander was also yelling at the man and it’s clear something had already happened because they were exchanging obscenities. The man yelled that he just wanted to go home. The volunteer (who was very calm) went to remove a barricade so the man could access his home (standard procedure is to escort folks at 5 mph who need to get to homes on the route).
As the volunteer walked to the barricade, the man grabbed a handgun and slammed it onto his dashboard. The gun is very clearly seen in the video.
The driver then guns his engine, drives up over over a curb and goes north on 130th one block to SE Mill where he turns left (west).
Still from video.
The video then captures another very heated exchange with a different volunteer at the corner of SE Mill and 131st (near Lincoln City Park and the David Douglas High School football field).
The driver can be heard shouting, “All you bicyclists take over everything. I just want to go home! You’re wasting my time and fuel. I pay rent. I pay taxes! I’m so tired of this shit. You guys are a bunch of fucks. Bunch of granola-eatin’ fucks!” and so on (watch video for full dialogue).
The exchanges were very intense, despite the exceedingly calm demeanor of the volunteer. At one point the man said, “I will fucking snap!” Keep in mind this driver was behaving like this with a gun on his dashboard, a massive and powerful vehicle at his disposal, and was driving on a street where dozens of people — and many small children — were biking and walking with the expectation of complete safety and a carfree environment.
The volunteer at SE 131st and Mill offered to escort the man by foot at 5 mph to his home, but she seemed to not trust him to drive safely. After saying he was going to call his attorney, the driver sped off onto the route past the volunteer who shouted “No!!”.
Two people with large cargo bikes happened to be on the scene (one of them provided the video for us) and they followed the truck and its driver while yelling warnings to Sunday Parkways participants. The driver continued to yell and scream, but thankfully he drove through and out of the route without any major incident.
The bystanders and volunteers deserve a ton of credit for keeping their cool. This situation could have been extremely bad and their calm, level-headed demeanor likely kept the man from completely losing it.
One witness we heard from said, “It was scary and just disappointing. Grateful to the volunteer and others who stood by to support her.”
Another person we heard from who lives in the area said, “I think in that community you are dealing with a lot of people who are auto-centric who drive everywhere, so for the streets to be closed that far out [east], they were pissed.”
This is only one of several irate drivers we got reports about after the event.
PBOT Interim Communications Director Hannah Schafer confirmed that a volunteer reported this event. “I think, stepping back a little bit, we have cars that try to cross the route all the time,” she said during an interview today. “This was an unfortunate incident but it’s important to celebrate that the vast majority of east Portland drivers did respect the route, we had great attendance, and it was a really positive event.”
Schafer said PBOT has checked in with the volunteer several times to make sure they aren’t suffering any trauma.
The Portland Police Bureau says an officer responded to the scene but the driver was already gone. An investigation is open — case #22-225184 — so if anyone has more to share please email crimetips@portlandoregon.gov and reference that case number.
Intersections on Sunday Parkways are almost all staffed by volunteers. This marks a change from the heavy police presence the event had between 2008 and 2015. In August of 2015 PBOT removed PPB presence from the event to cut costs (PPB said it was due to staffing shortages at the Traffic Division).
This incident comes during a tense summer where anecdotal reports of dangerous interactions with raging motor vehicle users have ticked way up.
On Friday, a Portland man posted to Twitter about how angry he was at having to wait 15 seconds behind a bicycle rider. “I can’t even say what I was thinking about doing,” he wrote. “I don’t feel sorry for Portland cyclists that get killed. These fuckers gotta’ learn the hard way I guess.”
This week’s edition is sponsored by Freeya, a new app that makes getting rid of/finding free stuff easy and fun. Don’t miss their Freeyapalooza bike ride this Saturday, August 27th.
Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers came across in the past seven days…
Fewer carrots for cars: In this important opinion piece, the case is made that simply expanding rail and other non-car options is not enough if we continue to pour billions into freeways. (LA Times)
Too bad, so sad: Great news! Some car users in New York City are freaking out because they can’t find a place to park their cars. (Bloomberg)
Take away the keys: Given the terrible state of car culture and driver behavior these days, some folks think taking away licenses is an obvious way to address bad actors; but it’s not that simple. (Curbed)
What parents really fear: Speeding, distracted drivers and careless children are among the top safety concerns of elementary school parents according to a national poll. (School Transportation News)
Inequitable: Many people try to say cycling is elitist and they frame driving as a working class mode; but as the cost of owning a car continues to skyrocket, we’re headed toward a future where our driving-centric culture is a key driver of America’s inequity. (USA Today)
Good news and bad news: New research published in Nature shows that we literally save the world from climate change’s worst impacts and dramatically slash emissions if the billions of people who own bicycles start using them a lot more. The bad news is, we need to convince politicians and the public that it’s possible. (Wired)
Beware Big Tech: We simply cannot rely on the car-loving Silicon Valley to solve our transportation problems argues a new book by Paris Marx that examines the perils of the high-tech driving utopia. (Vox)
Lessons of history: Colin Stein has written what appears to be an exhaustive history of cycling activism in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1986 – 2011 that is chock full of lessons other cities can learn from. I’m ordering a copy! (Viewpoint Vancouver)
Colorado can, can we? Big news from Colorado where a regional transportation board (hi Metro!) has passed a new rule that would end planned freeway expansions and shift nearly $1 billion into climate-friendly transportation projects! (Colorado Public Radio)
Terry Brumfield and his bike at Peninsula Park in north Portland. Full gallery below. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Terry Brumfield has been rolling “rat style” on custom bikes around north and northeast Portland for over four decades and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
When I saw him and his aqua blue and red cruiser on Bridge Pedal last weekend, I knew I needed to take a closer look. We met in Peninsula Park Thursday night.
Brumfield, 53, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in St. Johns and the Columbia Villa neighborhoods. These days he lives just over the river in Vancouver but comes back often to see family and friends.
“I had that ‘rat look’ when I was like 11 or 12 and didn’t even know it!” he said, laughing so his jewelled lower row of teeth shined in the light. He told me he started riding bikes around age 6 or 7, but his first bike was very heavy. It had some cool parts and solid rubber tires — which were great for not getting flats, but not for rolling smoothly. When he was 10, Terry’s mom bought him a ten-speed for Christmas. This was mid-1970s during the big road biking craze.
Terry was happy to have a lighter bike, but all the gears, strange handlebars and skinny tires just didn’t do it for him. “I wasn’t really feelin’ that, you know what I mean?” he said. Somehow he’d come across a beach cruiser and it was love at first sight. The next Christmas he owned one and immediately took the parts of his first bike and started to customize it. “At first my mom was kind of mad, but then she was like, ‘Dang, my son is great!’ because I took those old parts and I came up with something new.”
“That bike was my favorite bike. It came from about five different bikes but you would never know it unless I told you. It all collaborated. It looked like it was fresh off the lot.”
“After that, it was like a no-brainer,” he said, as if “it” was the thing he was meant to do.
The next big step in Terry’s biking evolution came when he and his younger brother did their first big ride together across town. It was just over four miles from St. Johns to the Vancouver-Williams corridor where his mom’s sister lived and they drove their all the time. So much so, he and his brother had committed the streets to memory. Armed with the knowledge that all they had to was go to Columbia Park, then Lombard, then to Interstate, then to Rosa Parks (Portland Blvd back then), then Vancouver — they begged their mom to make the trip alone. She eventually relented.
After that first successful trip across town, Terry said, “It was on from there! I started building more bikes out of nothing because I wanted all my friends to ride now.
Riding with friends was always the thing for Terry. Once friends were bitten by the cycling bug, he said there were four solid “cliques” of 10-12 kids that would ride bikes together all over north and northeast Portland. It was the era of the Schwinn Stingray aesthetic with “tuffs” (mag wheels), banana seats, and whitewall tires. And Terry kept them all rolling nicely.
“I knew we was onto somethin’,” he said, “because we didn’t have the money to get new bikes, but I could get parts from an old bike and do my own thing. Put my own twist on it.”
The twist he put on his latest creation is a 1961 Chevy Impala SS. It’s the car his uncle used to have. “He was the cleanest brother, and he had cleanest car,” Terry recalled.
The bike is full of fun details.
The ’76’ balls were a must-have touch because that’s the main thing Terry remembers from his uncle’s car. He had the rear license plate made by a guy on e-Bay and it’s mounted on a styrofoam core to give it extra width. The blanket roll is for BBQs at the part and he stuffs tools and other essentials inside it. He re-upholstered the saddle himself and added the tassels, jewels, and the Impala badge (which he got from a friend in Lloyd Mall). All the badges are authentic Impala car badges. The front windshield was made for a scooter and has gotten a complete overhaul to match the rest of the bike. The headlight runs off a 12-volt battery pack and he’s got a remote on his dashboard to change colors of the LED light strip under the downtube.
Even his helmet is fully-custom.
And 40 years after rolling with friends, Terry’s still got the love. He started the ‘Just Dippn Rydaz Bike Club’, which is mostly family and close friends; but he’d love find more people to ride with.
As long as he’s riding, it’s all good.
How does riding his bike make him feel? “Man, it’s an emotion. I look forward to it all the time. When I get off work I tell my boss, ‘I’m going for a ride’ and she knows what that means. It’s a meditation kind of thing. Say for instance me and my girlfriend get into some bickering or something, she’ll tell me, ‘you need to go on your bike’ and when I come back I’m a whole new person.”
If you want to see Terry and his bike in person, he’s been invited to show it at the annual Aloha Junior Baseball Organization Car Show this Sunday (8/20) from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Peppermill Pub parking lot at 17455 SW Farmington Road.
