There’s a resurgence of cycling in the city of Milwaukie just south of Portland. After being quiet for a few years, Bike Milwaukie has been reinvigorated thanks to a dedicated group of volunteer advocates who are building on a strong foundation. I caught up with one of them, Maitri Dirmeyer, earlier this week for a conversation to hear more about what they’ve been up to.
For the uninitiated, Milwaukie sits along a bend in the Willamette River about two miles south of Sellwood Park. It’s separated from Portland by the posh Waverly Heights golf course and an industrial area anchored by the Goodwill bins. The population is just over 21,000 people spread out across about five square miles of land.
The relationship between Milwaukie and Portland was forever changed in 2015 when TriMet expanded MAX light rail to Milwaukie. And then in 2017 the City of Milwaukie spent $3.3 million on a bike path to connect the two cities along SE 17th Avenue. That path takes you right to Milwaukie Bay Park and connects to the Trolley Trail which you can take for a few more blocks south to an Orange Line MAX light rail stop. On the city’s northern border is the Springwater Corridor path.
These biking and transit connections create a solid active transportation foundation. But as many of you know, no American city realizes its biking potential without a persistent push from dedicated advocates. That’s where Dirmeyer and the core volunteer group behind Bike Milwaukie comes in.
Bike Milwaukie started in 2007 (as Milwaukie Bikes) and by 2009 there was enough juice in the local bike scene that BikePortland hosted a Get Together event at a cafe on SE Main Street. Bike Milwaukie founders Matt Menely and Greg Baartz-Bowman led monthly rides and formed partnerships with city government to do things like raise money to install a bike rack outside City Hall in 2015.
Dirmeyer says the group went dormant for a few years but came back to life this past spring when advocates had to answer the call and make sure City Council adopted the 29th Avenue Greenway project. “After the council meeting, a group of us decided we should start back up our monthly rides,” Dirmeyer shared with me earlier this week. “And we’ve been hosting at least one ride every month since May.”
Dirmeyer credits a “core group” of advocates for the recent renaissance including: Jay Panagos, Pam Denham, and William Anderson.
Hosting rides is a great way to establish (or in this case, re-establish) the presence of a bike advocacy group. But Dirmeyer rattled off an impressive list of other things she and her fellow volunteers are working on. They’ve successfully attached a biking component to several major Milwaukie community events like Porch Fest and the recent Umbrella Parade, where they held a bike decorating contest. “We’re also collaborating with the city’s Arts Committee to cross-pollinate and get more people comfortable with cycling. It’s all about introducing routes and just creating community and having a good time on bikes,” Dirmeyer said.
At the Umbrella Parade, Bike Milwaukie worked with city officials to set up temporary bike parking. The partnership went so well, the City of Milwaukie plans to set up another bike parking area at the upcoming annual Winter Solstice event on December 21st.
Milwaukie also has its own Bike Happy Hour. Dirmeyer loved the vibe at our weekly events (“I just think they’re awesome!”, she said), so she brought the love to her city and they’ve met every month at Beer Store Milwaukie since September. In January, a Milwaukie city councilor will attend and speak about upcoming transportation projects.
Milwaukie is already relatively bikeable given its small size (“You can bike anywhere in Milwaukie because it’s all within three miles,” says Dirmeyer), but the City of Milwaukie is poised to push even further. In part due to the strong climate and cycling legacy of former Milwaukie mayor and current Oregon House Represenative Mark Gamba (who I interviewed in 2019), the city already has a slate of good bike projects on the books.
The impressive raised and separated bike paths on SE Linwood Avenue installed in 2022 set a new standard for what’s possible. Now Dirmeyer and her crew are watch-dogging a number of projects and plans, including an important upcoming update of the city’s Transportation System Plan. The next big project will be a multi-use path on SE King Road that connects to Linwood. “That’s going to be a big deal,” Dirmeyer said.
Milwaukie’s cycling future looks really bright because of Bike Milwaukie and the folks behind it.
If you want a perfect excuse to roll down and find out what all the excitement is about, check out their Winter Solstice and Christmas Ships Viewing event on December 21st. Dirmeyer says they love having Portlanders visit by bike and they’ll be leading a ride to the event. If you’re worried about being cold, the event is famous for its hot chocolate, chili, cookies, and bonfires!
To plug into all this Bike Milwaukie fun, watch for their events on the Shift calendar, and/or follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
Thanks for reading.
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It’s interesting to me that it seems to take groups of cyclists in places like Milwaukie to drive change.
If cyclists in Milkwaukie were a bunch of hermits, would the city NOT create any bike infra for them? We don’t ask drivers of motor vehicles to affiliate and advocate for change – everything is just provided for individual drivers, as a service, or so it seems.
(Cue responses about the “Good Roads” movement in the 1920s.)
Anyway, it’s great that cyclists are getting together in Milwaukie and more power to them!
Cheers for Bike Milwaukie! And for Jonathan’s “Bike Portland.”
I’m a solo senior woman, past 70, and I’ve grown to love the Milwaukie and Portland bike scenes. I only started cycling regularly in the last 3 years and, wow, has it enriched my life. Our bike community is so wonderfully inclusive … all ages, colors, sizes, backgrounds. Nobody cares. We just move and have fun. I credit the bike community for helping me stay active, engaged, and young-ish.
And I thank my daughter, Maitri Dirmeyer, for nudging me onto that first heavy Townie.
Linda Elliott
I’ve really, really enjoyed living in Milwaukie for the last two years, both as a cyclist, and a resident in general. The new bike paths on streets like Linwood and SE 43rd are comfy (when I’m not on my e-bike), and I appreciate the street-sweeping that the city does to make bikeways safer to ride in leaf season.
I can still easily ride and drive into Portland for work, so I don’t miss many of the draws of the Big(ger) City. I feel like Milwaukie is capably run, and it’s also a bit less hectic than SE Portland.
It’s great to hear that people in Milwaukee are getting stuff done. Credit to them for putting in the work and yes, it’s right to name former Mayor Gamba who has quite a legacy down in the Clackamas. If you’re tired of milk toast Portland politics the linked article from 2019 is a bolt of wasabi. Here’s a quote from Gamba:
“…99E is one of the routes, top to bottom, that’s bad* — with the exception of one spot in the middle. Guess where that is? That’s Milwaukie. It’s because we have a lower speed limit through downtown. It makes a huge difference.”
*For traffic fatalities
That worked because anybody going south on 99 knew there was a police car behind the train trestle and not for a smoke break.
Gamba went to meetings with his rain gear on and everybody knew he was going to, figuratively, pound his shoe on the table before it was over.
Milwaukie. Autocorrect.