A.J. Zelada has seen the future of cycling in the Columbia River Gorge and it looks a lot different than it used to. There will be a lot more bicycle users and most of them will be on electric bikes. With some popular destinations in the Gorge managed by the US Forest Service, which still regulates e-bikes as motor vehicles, Zelada is worried that current policies and a lack of parking spaces will choke off growth of cycling in the “waterfall corridor” just as its popularity soars.
The current ban on e-bikes on the plaza outside of Multnomah Falls Lodge is an illustration of how outdated USFS policies that put e-bikes in the same vehicle category as cars and trucks set up a clash with the Oregon Department of Transportation’s adopted policy goal of making the corridor more transit and bicycle-oriented. Zelada thinks the ban is a bad policy and he’s working hard to change it.
“Cycling has changed. Cycling in the Gorge is no longer men in lycra cycling for health benefits. They want to see waterfalls, not count the speed nor the miles ‘conquered.’… and no different than a vehicle, they want a parking place.”
– A.J. Zelada
Zelada is a long time cyclist and advocate who’s passionate about the Gorge. He was appointed by the Oregon Governor and served eight years on the Oregon Department of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, he’s a board member of the Friends of Historic Columbia River Highway and in 2019 he created the Gorge Pedal bike ride.
Zelada has seen the rise of e-bike traffic in the Gorge, especially around Multnomah Falls (Oregon’s top tourist attraction). In summer of 2023 he observed 88 e-bikes arrive at the plaza outside Multnomah Falls Lodge at once. Those bikes overwhelmed the plaza as there were not enough places to park. USFS Recreation Staff Officer Stephen Elgart said in a June meeting of the Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee that the bikes, “generated a safety concern.”
“The useful space in the plaza was impacted as bikes surrounded the planters,” Elgart said. “The USFS considers e-bikes motor vehicles, which are prohibited at the plaza. We are working with our partners to find spaces to put them.”
These concerns spurred the USFS to post a “No E-Bikes on Plaza” sign near the plaza entrance. Zelada thinks that’s a mistake and he wants the ban lifted. He also thinks the USFS should provide more (and better) bike parking and adopt a more bike-friendly stance in general.
“Cycling has changed. Cycling in the Gorge and also our nation is no longer men in lycra cycling for health benefits,” Zelada writes in his bike count report. “They want to see waterfalls, not count the speed nor the miles ‘conquered.’.. and no different than a vehicle, they want a parking place.”
Wanting to get ahead of the issue and gather data to inform policy conversations, Zelada and another volunteer worked with the USFS this past summer to install wildlife cameras and then analyzed the footage to get an accurate count of bikes on the plaza outside the lodge. That footage became the basis of a 19-page report published by Zelada that will present to the Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee at their upcoming meeting on December 12th.
Zelada and his team photographed 10 different days during July, August, and September of this year. When the images came back they counted a total of 567 bicycle users. Of those, 67% were e-bikes. They also noted that a majority (62%) of e-bike riders parked longer than 30 minutes. By comparison, nearly 80% of all “pedal cyclists” (non e-bikes) parked less than 30 minutes and one out of four of them parked for less than 10 minutes. Zelada says this insight suggests non e-bike riders are just stopping for the bathroom and e-bike riders are more likely to be tourists stopping at the gift store and taking in the views of the falls.
Out of 80,000 total images snapped over the 10 days, Zelada saw just one person riding a bike on the plaza.
The counts make the issue clear: e-bike users need a safe and secure place to park, and the current policy banning them from the plaza makes that very difficult. Zelada says the ban at the lodge is at odds with USFS policy on several fronts.
“US Forest Service policy dictates regulations of e-bikes on USFS roads, trails, and grasslands. It does not have a policy for plazas,” Zelada states in the report. “The plaza is not a road nor a trail nor a grassland; it is a concrete plaza created in 1965.”
Zelada also notes in his report that the USFS encourages their own employees of the lodge to bike to work. “So staff using an e-bike for commuting would not be allowed to park their e-bike on USFS land,” Zelada writes.
“Workers at Multnomah Falls wouldn’t be allowed to use an e-bike to get to work, because e-bikes aren’t allowed on the plaza,” Zelada told me in an interview last month. “So there’s a schism between intention and reality. and upper-level management is being very restrictive about the prohibition on USFS land despite fact that their policy on e-bikes doesn’t really say that.”
To remedy the situation, Zelada wants USFS to lift the ban the e-bikes and create bike parking areas to manage demand.
One area Zelada has in mind is just west of the lodge along a wide shoulder that currently lies behind Jersey barriers. It’s a perfect spot, Zelada says, because it’s close to the plaza and has no other foot traffic. But USFS engineers say it’s too dangerous. “Studies do not indicate we will be able to add bike parking in the areas blocked by jersey barrier after the Eagle Creek Fire anytime soon,” Elgart said back in June.
Zelada believes safety concerns are nearly ubiquitous in the Gorge and that — despite concerns from USFS engineers — the location for a physically protected bike parking zone along the highway and near the plaza that could hold nearly 70 bicycles would be “ideal.”
Overall, Zelada feels like agencies with jurisdiction in the Gorge need to adopt a holistic bike-friendly policy in order to welcome riders into the corridor. The State of Oregon has spent hundreds of millions on the Historic Highway State Trail project in recent years with the specific intent of attracting cyclists. It behooves everyone to be on the same page when it comes to having policies that will allow Oregon to make good on that investment.
Elgart with USFS says they’re still collecting data and monitoring e-bike increases. “We do not have a date for when policies will be revised.”
Meanwhile, Zelada is sharing his report with everyone he can — including top brass at USFS. He’s playing a masterful inside-outside game, just as you’d expect from someone with decades of advocacy experience. When I talked to him last month, Zelada clearly understood the bureaucratic hurdles preventing a simple solution here. But he was still frustrated. “My goal is to get more parking. Come on! Let’s do something!” he exclaimed.
— If you’d like to learn more, tune into the livestream of the December 12th Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee meeting. You can also download Zelada’s report as a PDF here.
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Go get ‘em A.J.!!!
Easy solution. Turn 4-5 (or whatever demand seems to require) parking spaces into bike parking, put bike corrals in these spaces, to allow locking up and so cars don’t park there.
Plus it’s much more efficient use of the space and is probably safer than a parking area adjacent to the road.
Plenty of space by the cliff. Bolt down some staples and we’re done. And you don’t have to cross the highway after parking your bike.
The plaza is a pedestrian space. No vehicles should be allowed there. A.J. Is right that there should be ample and convenient parking for bikes and if that means converting car parking into cycle parking so be it, but cluttering the pedestrian plaza with random scattering of bikes diminishes the user’s experience in a special but frequently crowded area.
On a separate note, the Forest Service is correct to designate e-bikes as motor vehicles. That bikes are vehicles is a position that BP has long exposed and e-bikes have motors.
I agree that e-bikes should be considered motor vehicles in some respects. But there are grey areas and I think USFS policy needs to catch up with the times. They should recognize the vast difference in e-bike types (just like Oregon law is trying to do) and they should create specific policy that recognizes that most e-bikes are functionally different than cars and trucks and ATVs and therefore need different, more permissive, regulations.
Espoused
I love that AJ is fighting for bike parking, and I think bike priority on the historic highway should be a part of that. There should be ample bike parking spots at every waterfall. I think motorized bikes and bikes should be encouraged to use the travel lanes on the highway and there should ample parking for them in the parking areas. However, I do not think any bikes should be allowed on the plaza. That space should be reserved for people walking or using mobility devices.
Correctly so, because they are vehicles, and they have motors.
So is a motorized wheelchair. While it may be literally a motor vehicle, they already have (and rightly so) different regulations for different vehicles. Putting e-bikes in the same class as 500 pound gas powered motorcycles and SUVs is nonsense. They need to (continue to) use nuance in regulations for vehicles.
Electric wheel chairs have specific US FS policy regulations that govern their use within USFS jurisdictions. The 1990 ADA law and its revisement and implementation are distinct from hand powered wheelchairs and any bicycle.
That’s great!! Let’s change it for ebikes too – keep up the great work!
Thanks for the discussion; hoping more ideas pour out.
Some points of Subtleties are different for recreation areas versus urban streets. Having a vehicle space can allow 6-8 pedal bikes park inside the lines but 1) e-bikes have become very bulky and 2) a number of grouped bikes arrive often at once by visiting cyclists. Getting in and out of a single space works poorly. I don’t think I am spouting a separate but equal policy here. I think it is better to have a zone that collects bikes and allows cyclists to dismount-and ‘un-gear’ and then be pedestrians to the restrooms or sights to see. The present 1996 installed bike rack at Mult Falls lodge and plaza does not allow certain size e-bikes to be attached. We have to evolve a different model of parking for rec zones.
Many e-bikes have kick stands which eliminate the need for a rack support; removing the ‘dashboard’ or using the ‘cafe lock’ on an e-bike is a form of disabling the bike to quickly steal; having the bike near an active place , e.g. restrooms, discourages stealing.
Most of the other waterfall trailheads only have one or two staple racks. Add two families of 4 and you don’t have enough lock ups. Mult Falls often had 25+ bikes at a time near 1030 and 2pm on busy Fri-Sun days. When you look at the makeup of e-bike users in recreation places, you realize these are not single cyclists sharing the space to park. Places such as National Park Service, Gettysburg or Bryce Canyon, have Rangers and multi bike users…they are groups of 6-8-10-12 bikers! And their cycling experience is minimal or years ago. It just isn’t the urban commuter or Lycra athlete.
There remains a bigger issue of e-bike identity. The three level of e-bikes in a majority of states (USA) are pedal assist electric. When you stop pedaling the ‘motor’ component of an e-bike goes away and it is not a motorized ‘item.’ This may be moot as the number of sold throttle e-bikes is eclipsing the three levels mentioned in most laws. I think in 3 yrs the 3 levels will be dwarfed by a majority of throttle controlled bikes…so then it will truly be a motor drive ‘vehicle.’ Push a button and it goes forward. I saw many throttle bike users on the Springwater/Tilikum bridge already this past summer. And they are obviously already present in the Gorge. I still think we need to regulate Behavior of any bike, NOT regulate the mode of bike. If the speed needs to consider pedestrians or horses or strollers or people with disabilities on a trail or road, then that appropriate speed should be policy. (which brings up the fact that all our jurisdictions barely have any money for enforcement in the Gorge; imagine a ranger saying, “are using a throttle bike today?”) So for me a breakfast powered cyclist at 20+ mph passing a family with strollers on the Hatfield Twin Tunnel is can be just an entitled narcissist as an e-bike powered cyclist at 20+mph. It is the behavior not the power. No different than an Aston Martin driver versus an old Datsun user driving through a school zone.
I welcome your ideas and comments; consider attending the Historic Columbia River Highway – ODOT meeting next week, Dec 12. I can send you the date & zoom details. ajz@zelada.com
I think that’s right, it should be behavior (i.e. speed). I think some other considerations matter though. E.g. even a very considerate cautious rider on a 2 stroke dirt bike should not be riding around on bicycle paths with people. The noise and exhaust alone are a problem. And for that matter, an actual electric motorcycle that weighs 300+ pounds is dangerous to be riding around with mixed traffic just because of its weight (and potential to go 90mph at the flick of a wrist).
And I just want to add one quibble, but the “3 levels” classification system includes throttle only bikes. Class 2 e-bikes can go 20mph with throttle only. So it’s not (necessarily) true to say throttle bikes will eclipse the 3 level bike system, as they are part of it. Although yeah there are throttle bikes that wouldn’t fit the class 2 definition.
How on earth do you enforce that? I think we’ve conclusively proven that when it comes to speed and good behavior in/on vehicles, the honor system will not work.
Great article. AJ Zelada is a treasure and one of the hardest working advocates I know. Here’s hoping all that work yields more bike access and parking in 2025!