By all accounts last night’s World Naked Bike Ride was a huge success. The (rather short) route started in Cathedral Park under the St. Johns Bridge (which by the way is spotless this morning, nice job organizers and volunteers!) and stayed on the bluff along Willamette Blvd before working its way over to the end point at Woodlawn Park.
We’ve heard from several readers who said it was a great night of protest, partying and carfree fun.
Click to enter gallery, then use arrows to view. (All photos property of Eric Thornburg and used with permission.)
Portland photographer Eric Thornburg’s images of Pedalpalooza rides are a testament to what “free bike fun” in Portland is really all about. [Read more…]
Ever been on a MAX Blue Line train to Hillsboro with your bike comfortably resting on the hook and caught a glimpse of a person pedaling behind a sound wall over on the south side of Highway 26? This sight can give way to imagining there’s a well-marked bike route connecting Portland to Washington County. How long is that bike path behind the freeway wall? Does it go the whole way between Beaverton and Portland? Where’s the entrance?
The goal of this short, ride-along-style post is to locate the westside entrance to the bike path that runs alongside Highway 26, for which there are — unfortunately and inexplicably — zero wayfinding signs. It may seem like a short stretch, but one missed turn and it’s possible to get lost. Then a short stretch becomes a lot longer, which is no fun when late to work.
Look for these signs to guide you through the bike detour. (Photo: @madeyerish on Twitter)
If you are one of the 2,500 or so OHSU employees who bike to campus and use the Portland Aerial Tram to get that free lift up to Marquam Hill, remember that you’ll have to change your plans for the next five weeks.
As we shared last fall, a routine maintenance project will close the tram tomorrow through the end of next month (July 30th). The bad news is that people will have to figure out other ways to get up the hill — none of which will be as easy or convenient. But the good news is that the Portland Aerial Tram, OHSU and other agencies are pulling out all the stops to make sure things go as smoothly as possible during the closure.
The GoByTram.com website has all the information you need to plan your trip by transit, biking, or walking. There’s even a frequent daily shuttle service they’ve set up just for the closure.
When it comes to biking, here’s what you need to know:[Read more…]
With a staggered rollout of key project features, the results of the Rosa Parks project have been a mixed bag thus far. (Photos: Jonathan Maus)
“We’re definitely learning some lessons.” — Scott Cohen, PBOT project manager
It’s been six weeks since the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) began grinding off pavement and laying down new lane striping as part of the North Rosa Parks Way project. Yet despite weeks of dry weather and no major controversy or pushback (at least that we’ve been able to confirm), the project is still not closed to being finished. Meanwhile, people who ride on the two-mile stretch between Martin Luther King Jr and Willamette boulevards are frustrated by incomplete striping and many people park their cars illegally in the new bike lanes.
At the end of May, PBOT posted an update that acknowledged the major elements of the project that remain: they haven’t even began on the sections from Delaware to Interstate and Williams to MLK; none of the promised, plastic delineator posts have been installed; no permanent “No Parking” signage has been added despite a major change in parking availability; many bits of pavement markings are incomplete; and a median island crossing at Villard has yet to be started on. [Read more…]
PBOT includes a variety of new tools in their ETC plan; but not all of them play equally well with bicycle users. We wanted to get our hands dirty and learn more about what types of stations we currently have — and how future designs could be better. About 30 people showed up for the ride to learn and share what they know about bus stop designs. Here are some takeaways: [Read more…]
Time to cruise carfree streets in north Portland! (Photo: Jonathan Maus)
The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!
It’s definitely a clothing-optional weekend.
Whether you want to soak in the Portland spirit at Sunday Parkways and the World Naked Bike Ride; or escape the craziness for a race on Mt. Hood or a ride through the Willamette Valley, we’ve got something for you in this week’s guide.
Don’t forget to peruse the official Pedalpalooza Calendar for all the goodness. And don’t forget to support Abus Bike Locks for making this content possible.
The two largest car-sharing companies in Portland have announced that some of the vehicles in their fleet will now be equipped with bike racks.
It’s not clear why both car2go and ReachNow announced the bike racks just minutes apart from each other today; but it’s a positive development for the many low-car Portlanders who use the services.
Car2go launched in Portland in 2012 and currently has 475 cars in their local fleet. They first installed bike racks on their vehicles in 2014 then phased them out when they moved to larger vehicles last fall. At the time, company officials said bicycle users could put the seats down and stuff bikes in the back. [Read more…]
New PPB Traffic Division Captain Stephanie Lourenco.
On June 28th, Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw will promote Lieutenant Stephanie Lourenco to the rank of captain of the Traffic Division. We follow that position closely here on BikePortland because it’s the Traffic Division captain who has the most influence over street safety and transportation-related issues.
Lourenco will replace Michael Crebs, who is taking a position in parking enforcement with the Portland Bureau of Transportation.
The promotion of Lourenco to Captain is notable for several reasons: Stephanie is the first transgender person in the Bureau’s history to hold that rank, the first non cis-gendered person to lead the division since at least 2005, and just the latest in a long-running trend of short-lived captains at the Traffic Division. Since I started keeping track we’ve had Bill Sinnott, Marty Rowley, Vince Jarmer, Larry O’Dea, Eric Hendricks, Bryan Parman, Todd Wyatt, Eric Schober, and Michael Crebs. This frequent turnover makes it much more difficult to establish the the type of relationships with city staff, advocacy groups, and the community-at-large that we need to fix complex problems. [Read more…]
This PBOT graphic shows where they want to make transit better.
UPDATE: The plan was adopted 3-0.
At 2:00 pm today (6/20) Portland City Council is set to hear public testimony on the Enhanced Transit Corridors plan. The move will allow the Portland Bureau of Transportation to move forward with design and development of projects aimed at making transit faster, more reliable, and ultimately more competitive than driving. [Read more…]
Greeley looking south. Red line is location of future bike path. (Photo: Jonathan Maus)
Project location. (Map: PBOT)
Initially slated for spring 2017, a project that will create a protected bike path on Greeley Avenue in north Portland has been delayed again and isn’t expect to be built until spring 2019.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation plans to piggyback on a repaving project on Greeley between Interstate and Going in order to create the new bikeway. The current street cross-section of four standard vehicle lanes and two unprotected bike lanes is very dangerous and stressful. People drive very fast at this location and bicycle riders in the southbound direction are forced to negotiate a freeway onramp with auto users traveling over 50 miles per hour. [Read more…]
SE Tolman at 51st in the Woodstock neighborhood. (Photo: Terry Dublinksi-Milton)
This guest post is written by SE Uplift Neighborhood Coalition Co-Chair Terry Dublinski-Milton and Mt. Scott-Arleta Neighborhood Land Use & Transportation Chair Matchu Williams.
Biking is fun. Biking with kids is double the fun. Bike camping with kids is triple the fun, triple the exhaustion, and the biggest adventure I’ve ever experienced!
For me, summer means bike camping with Kidical Mass. My first bike camping trip was six years ago with the Seattle chapter. Having only been car-camping meant I didn’t have small or lightweight gear, but I was able to fit our old four-person tent and all our full-size pillows onto my cargo bike and we had a blast.
Over the years I’ve replaced older gear so it’s much easier to carry everything and I’ve even become confident enough that I camp without a big group. However, for many years our camping trips were only done surrounded by a bunch of brand new friends, and it’s still my favorite way to camp. And it just so happens Kidical Mass PDX is hosting their annual bike camping event next month at Dodge Park. [Read more…]
Riders cross the Hawthorne Bridge during the 2012 edition. (Photo: Jonathan Maus)
Official poster by Ken Sellen.
The largest free bike ride of the year is less than a week away.
Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) is many things: a celebration of humanity, a protest against driving and fossil fuel abuse, a rolling party, and a demonstration of the unifying power of bicycles. The event will attract upwards of 10,000 people — many of whom don’t bike any other day of the year. That’s an impressive number; but what’s even more impressive is that it’s all organized by volunteers. People in our community care so much about this event they dedicate weeks of their lives to make sure it’s a positive experience for everyone who shows up.
That means we owe it to them to help make the Naked Bike Ride a continued success.
I talked with one of the main organizers yesterday to get the lowdown on this year’s ride. Here’s what you need to know to have as much fun as possible — and to make sure we don’t risk spoiling this invaluable, largely DIY, tradition.
Justin Pitts called drove nine hours from San Francisco to Burns to ride in the Skull 120. Here he is on an unmarked road north of Dry Gulch Reservoir. (Photos: Jonathan Maus)
The town of Burns in Harney County is one of the most remote places in Oregon. At over 10,000 square miles, you could fit 21 Multnomah Counties inside of it. And with a land mass about the size of Massachusetts, Harney County has less than one resident per square mile.
But along with junipers, pines and pristine meadows, the county boasts an abundance of unpaved roads. 20,000 miles of them, locals say. And it’s a resource they’re ready to tap. [Read more…]
Welcome to the week. Today’s Monday Roundup is made possible by Efficient Velo Tools: “Conceived, tested, and proven in Portland – the Safe Zone Helmet Mirror provides unparalleled protection.”
Here are the best things we found floating around the BikePortland universe in the past seven days… [Read more…]
It’s not the Esplanade, it’s the Philadelphia skyline and Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk seen from the South Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River. (All images courtesy Metro)
Written by Metro Parks and Nature Department Senior Planner Robert Spurlock. Robert is also a member of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the Oregon Recreation Trails Advisory Council. This post first appeared on Metro’s Outside Voice blog.
A thriving metropolis at the confluence of two major rivers.
A world class bike path in the heart of the city, built over the water to bypass a tangled mess of highways and train tracks that had historically cut off the city from its river. [Read more…]
Burnside at the Wildwood Trail Crossing. 58 percent of people driver over the posted speed of 40 mph here. The City thinks the speed limit should be 35.
The City of Portland wants to make a 1.5 mile section of Burnside that runs through a wooded area of the West Hills more human-friendly. But the State of Oregon has thrown a wrench in the works.
Between Skyline Boulevard and Tichner Road, the curvy and relatively narrow three-lane cross-section tears right across the Wildwood Trail, Portland’s marquee hiking destination. The trail crosses Burnside in a curve with poor sightlines and Oregon Department of Transportation data shows a majority of people go over the 40 mph speed limit. This section of road also has such a dubious crash history — 45 of them between 2013 and 2015, 35 of which resulted in people being injured — that the Portland Police Bureau has flagged it as a concern. [Read more…]
BikePortland first caught up with Rich Fox and Circa Cycles about four years ago, when the company was new on the Portland scene. Since then, there have been several interesting developments and we thought it’d be fun to circle back. [Read more…]
