Hello everyone. I’m back in the Shed after some time off for a family trip. Sorry things have been quiet around here. I appreciate your patience and understanding. (Remember, this is one of two trips I need to take this month. I leave again August 21 and will be gone through September 3rd.) Can’t wait to see you at Bike Happy Hour this week, where we’ll have a “Show & Shine” bike show… so dust off your rig and show it off!
Here are the most notable items we came across in the past week or so…
Calls for concrete: “Vision Zero will never be achieved and our streets will never be safe if we continue to allow the city to pretend paint and plastic are protection.” (Streetsblog SF)
Cargo bikes > vans: A wonderful byproduct of London’s bike boom is how the cycling enthusiasm has spread to business owners who are re-thinking last-mile transport. (Haringey Community Press)
How to stop sideshows and street takeovers: A reporter in San Francisco says adding traffic calming infrastructure to intersections would help prevent dangerous “sideshows” — the same idea I shared on BikePortland in 2022. Maybe it’s worth a shot, PBOT? (SF Standard)
Aufderheide Scenic Bikeway: One of Oregon’s most stunning roads could become an official State Scenic Bikeway route as the 60-mile Aufderheide Drive between McKenzie River and Oakridge is up for consideration. (OPB)
Reconnecting communities: A deep dive into the Biden Admin’s grant program that seeks to repair neighborhoods destroyed by freeways outlines risks that could prevent the well-intentioned funds from reaching their potential. (E & E News/Politico)
Amish and e-bikes: Sales of electric bikes have spiked in Amish communities in Ohio, where many folks prefer them to the horse and buggy. (Forbes)
The White Line: An important look at the advocacy response to the death of Magnus White, a 17-year-old star student and bike racer who was killed while cycling in Boulder, Colorado. (Streetsblog USA)
Shock the world: In an Olympics full of amazing moments, watching the Alaskan-born Kristen Faulkner sneak into the breakaway and then cooly attack the world’s best cyclists en route to solo gold in the women’s road race in Paris was something I won’t soon forget! (BBC Sport)
What about Walz?: The Democrat’s candidate for Vice President, Tim Walz, has a strong record of supporting progressive transportation initiatives. (Streetsblog USA)
Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.
Thanks for reading.
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Reconnecting communities: There was an old British sitcom called Yes Minister in which a new government comes into power, and the outgoing minister tells the incoming minister, both of whom are elected MPs but from opposing parties, that neither of their respective parties are the opposition, but that the real opposition is and always will be the permanent bureaucracy. And while the reporters of this story comment that Trump might reverse a lot of Biden policies, the fact that less than 20% of the transportation funds have so far been released in 4 years of Biden’s government means that not only will Trump reversals have hardly any impact, but the bureaucracy is still the biggest impediment to any administration ever being effective, not just on the federal level, but also on the state, county, MPO, and city levels.
You mean the deep state?
Big Bro’
The White Line: The Magnus White memorial protected bike lane, signed and approved with great fanfare, will apparently be speedily built in 16 years. What irony. Are they using Reconnecting Communities funding?
No mention of the machete attack on a cyclist at Gateway Green?
Hi Daniel,
I will often not mention bigger stories in the MRU because I want to save them for posts of their own. In this case, I am hoping to find out more and share it here soon.
https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/08/portland-police-arrest-man-in-alleged-machete-attack-at-gateway-green-park.html
And a little tidbit from another source:
https://cbs4local.com/news/nation-world/suspect-apprehended-and-machete-seized-following-northeast-portland-assault-gateway-green-path-92nd-avenue-multnomah-county
Not quite a battle axe, but frighteningly close.
It’s a short sword.
It looks like a cheap bread knife you would get at Fast Freddies.
Glad I’m not the only one calling for real protection for bicyclists and pedestrians . . . CONCRETE – not paint – not plastic wands – not little tiny bumps in the road . . . . CONCRETE
But maybe not the kind that blocks the bike lane, like the example shown in the article.