Monday Roundup: Seattle bike lane innovation, a Bullitt Landspeeder, fake parts, and more

Welcome to the week. The river of rain has arrived and I hope you got out a bit this past weekend before everything got wet.

As we approach the end of another year, please reflect on how much you use and appreciate BikePortland — and then consider becoming a paid subscriber or increasing your monthly payment. BikePortland has served this city for over 20 years with news, resources, and events. The news and information shared here — and the community of people around it — has an immense impact on policies, people, politics, and projects. It took a tremendous amount of work to build this platform and I continue to pour my heart and soul into it! We are on the cusp of another Bicycling Golden Age in Portland and I’d love to have your support as we move into the future together. Visit BikePortland.org/subscribe for all the pertinent links. Thank you.

Now let’s get you caught up on the most notable stories I came across in the past seven days. Thanks to everyone who suggested links this week.

Seattle innovation: What if old car tires could be repurposed into a better bike lane protection product that has many benefits over cast concrete curbs? That’s a question Seattle’s DOT just might answer with their new “Pretred” protectors. (Seattle Bike Blog)

The Power Broker, the movie?: It would be so very cool if the amazing, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Power Broker, was made into a feature film. There’s a rumor that Netflix is interested. (Deadline)

Counting e-bikes: A research project counted the number of New York City bike riders are on e-bikes and the numbers are a good illustration of just who dominant a mode they’ve become — and not just for food delivery workers. (Streetsblog NYC)

SF says ‘no’ to neckdowns: Transportation officials in San Francisco have admitted that a traffic calming experiment called “neckdowns” didn’t work as intended and will be removed. The design forced car users to navigate a narrow lane in hopes it would create slower speeds and more caution — but turns out it was just confusing and maddening to use as some likened it to playing chicken. (San Francisco Standard)

Empower the people: This article is a good overview of how grassroots groups are pushing city DOTs to re-think their approach to small safety projects projects in light of how grassroots groups can shoulder much of the labor burden. (Next City)

A Bullitt Landspeeder: I love this story about how a guy in California bought a Bullitt cargo bike, turned it into a Landspeeder like the one Luke Skywalker drives in Star Wars, and has used the bike to build community around his advocacy. (Larry vs Harry blog)

Driving to Reed College: After years of progress toward lowering the number of people who drive cars to the Reed College campus in Southeast Portland, numbers from a recent survey show the school is now headed the wrong direction as the number of drivers has gone up. (The Reed College Quest)

It’s not real: Remember that if you see a price for a piece of cycling equipment from a dodgy online seller, it’s probably too good to be true. Counterfit goods from major bike brands are out there. (Bicycle Retailer & Industry News)

Even a broken clock is right twice a day: Hard to know if he’ll do anything to follow through on it, but President Donald Trump and his DOT Secretary say they’ll promote the construction of tiny cars in America. That’s a great idea! (The Hill)

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.