If you can peel your eyes away from the debris-ridden bike lane and all the cars around you long enough, this is what you can see from SW Barbur Blvd.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

I hope everyone enjoyed our coverage from Southwest Portland last week. We’re not done yet! We’ve got two more posts we’d like to share: The first is a wrap up photo essay from my final two days of observations and explorations. Then we’ll recap the week and share what we learned from the smart people who showed up to our Get Together social event Friday night.[Read more…]

Portland city commissioner and Multnomah neighborhood resident Steve Novick, photographed at Baker & Spice in Hillsdale this morning.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

When Portland’s transportation commissioner arrived in town, he was almost a caricature of a newcomer to the Northwest.

[Read more…]

Ali Reis, on SW Broadway en route to her job just east of Raleigh Hills.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

Ready to rock.

Alexandra Reis (she goes by “Ali”), a 30 year-old social worker who lives in north Portland’s Overlook neighborhood, is one tough cookie. She earned her urban cycling stripes on the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan while going to graduate school at New York University. Now she’s putting her street smarts to use on her 11-mile daily commute to the outer limits of southwest Portland.
[Read more…]

SW Barbur near SW 78th – just west of the section that might be rebuilt by a new transit line.
(Photo by J Maus/ BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

It would certainly be ironic if Southwest Barbur Boulevard became the first arterial in Portland to receive a Copenhagen-style protected bike lane retrofit through a high-destination commercial area.

But that’s exactly what might happen if a regional committee chooses Barbur as the best route for a major new transit line. And getting around outer Southwest Portland would certainly be transformed.

[Read more…]

Jeff Knapp.
(Photos Michael Andersen/BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

Jeff Knapp has two things to blame for his afternoon rides into downtown and back: a friend and a white stripe of paint.

“When I started bike commuting, that was right before it really took off,” said Knapp, 52. “You could sort of feel it was poised to take off.”

A friend of Knapp’s, who lived in Northeast Portland, started riding to work and talking about how pleasant it had turned out to be. So Knapp, a 20-year resident of the Garden Home area, decided to try.

[Read more…]

A SW Illinois Street piggyback ride,
brought to you in part by speed bumps.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

Part of Portland’s big idea of renaming “bike boulevards” as “neighborhood greenways” was that they’re not just bikeways; they’re spaces for street play, sports and other fun. And they’re also, the line goes, good for walking.

It’s easy to laugh that last part off on the east side of Portland, where almost every greenway is lined with sidewalks.

Not so in Southwest Portland, where neighborhood greenways are few but sidewalks are nearly as rare.

[Read more…]

With 36-feet of unused right-of-way, advocates like Roger Averbeck say this portion of SW Capitol Hwy should have a dedicated bikeway.
(Photo J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post is part of our Southwest Portland Week.

For a quarter-century now, neighborhood activists have been pushing to make SW Capitol Highway a nicer place to live, walk, and bike. Yesterday I joined up with local resident and Southwest Neighborhoods Inc Transportation Committee Chair Roger Averbeck for a closer look.[Read more…]

The Fanno Creek Trail near Garden Home is not too shabby.
(Photos J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post is part of our Southwest Portland Week.

It’s been a great week out here in southwest Portland. We’re learning a lot and enjoying the experience of being in a new place with new roads to explore and unique bicycling issues at play. I’ve gotten behind on my daily photo essays, so here’s the one from my ride on Tuesday.[Read more…]

Seems easy enough.
(Photos Michael Andersen/BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

Here’s a confession: though I’ve driven on Southwest Barbur, ridden the bus on it, and walked along it to reach a vigil for a woman killed while she crossed it, in four years of reporting on the street and its problems I’ve never actually ridden a bike on it.

Until this week.

[Read more…]

Bike racks at Rieke Elementary School this morning.
(Photo J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

If you want a foot-friendly family neighborhood in Southwest, it’s hard to beat Hillsdale or Hayhurst.

[Read more…]