Bike parking at Beach Elementary School in North Portland. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Advocates are scrambling to save a beloved state program that makes it safer and easier for Oregon kids to walk and bike school. They say Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s plan to redirect all existing state transportation funding to operations and maintenance has crossed a line and now threatens dedicated funding for the Safe Routes to School program.
“We thought Safe Routes to School was safe,” said Oregon Walks Executive Director Zachary Lauritzen in a message to other advocates today. “But in the last 24 hours have heard it is now being considered.”
Kotek surprised everyone when she came out with her “repeal, redirect, regroup” plan earlier this month. The “redirect” was a call for lawmakers to redirect as much funding from House Bill 2017 (the previous transportation funding package) as possible to basic operations and maintenance. With hundreds of millions dedicated to highway expansion projects and other grant programs, some insiders assumed that Safe Routes to School would be held harmless. But the program, which has received $10 million per between 2018 and 2022 and $15 million per year since 2023, is now in jeopardy.
Advertisement
“Just recently we heard that SRTS funding is one of the potential programs to be reallocated, which means it would be defunded for at least two years,” Laurtizen wrote today in a message to bike advocates. He shared a sample letter and encouraged everyone in the community to send it to their state reps in order to boost the chorus of voices that stand behind Safe Routes to School.
Here’s an excerpt from Lauritzen’s sign-on letter:
“Dear State Leaders:
We urge you to prioritize Safe Routes to School (SRTS) funding by first reallocating funds from large infrastructure projects that have experienced significant cost and timeline overruns… The safety of our children must remain a core priority… We appreciate the complexity of the choices before you and do not underestimate how challenging this moment is. As tradeoffs are considered, please prioritize and protect the incremental but meaningful gains Oregon has made in safely moving kids and families to and from school. Safe Routes to School is a critical part of that progress and should remain a protected investment.”
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will reduce the number of driving lanes and add a new crossing treatment on a stretch of Cesar E Chavez Blvd where a woman was hit and killed by a driver one year ago.
PBOT won a grant last year through the Oregon Department of Transportation’s All Roads Transportation Safety Program (ARTS) that will fund a $2,232,000 project to reduce Cesar Chavez Blvd from four lanes to three lanes between SE Lafayette (just south of Powell) to SE Schiller. The project will also rebuild the traffic signal at SE Holgate (to protect driver left turns) and relocate the bus stop at SE Holgate closer to the crosswalk.
A three-lane cross-section (one in each direction plus a center turn lane) gives PBOT the ability to build safer crossings. They intend to add $550,000 in their own funding (from the Fixing Our Streets program which is funded through the voter-approved local gas tax) to add one new crossing. The plans are not finalized yet, but the crossing could come with a concrete median island, curb extensions, and a marked crosswalk and new lighting. The three crossing locations under consideration are SE Schiller, SE Francis and SE Cora.
Advertisement
Yellow dots are potential locations for a new crossing treatment.
The lack of safety on Cesar Chavez Blvd has been a hot topic for many years as fatal collisions with walkers and bikers have piled up.
In January, 2025, 71-year-old Tuyet Nguyen was walking across SE Cora and Cesar Chavez when she was hit and killed by someone’s car. In a brief description of the project, PBOT acknowledged the tragic legacy of Cesar Chavez Blvd. “The community is very interested in getting more crossings on SE Chavez. There have been several recent pedestrian fatalities on Chavez, including at SE Cora St.”
This project is still in development and PBOT is just beginning to reach out to the community for feedback. If you’d like to learn more, the project team plans to attend the Woodstock Neighborhood Association meeting on Wednesday, February 4th at 7:00 pm (on Zoom or at Woodstock Community Center, 5905 SE 43rd Ave).
North Interstate Ave. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Could paying organizers to blanket neighborhoods with groups rides and a marketing campaign that spreads the good word about bicycling spur a Portland cycling renaissance? That’s a key question some advocates, insiders, and at least one Portland city council member are seriously pondering this week as ideas swirl around City Hall for how best to spend a $15 million chunk of climate tax revenue.
This funding is being debated as the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability goes through its annual adjustment of the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) Climate Investment Plan (CIP). The PCEF Committee has recommended an adjustment that would transfer $15 million from electric vehicle subsidies to home energy retrofits. But that change isn’t final and councilors see an opportunity to chart a different path for that funding. You might recall my story last month about how City Councilor Mitch Green wants to use the $15 million to backfill TriMet’s budget and rescue them from “doom loop” of service cuts.
Now Councilor Steve Novick, who has a history of pushing for higher transportation spending from the PCEF tax, has come forward with an idea of his own. This issue was first discussed at the City Council Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee on January 15th and a more robust conversation is planned for the next meeting on January 29th.
Advertisement
One of the ideas Novick supports is based on an intriguing plan to boost bicycle ridership first covered by BikePortland in November 2024. It’s an idea championed by noted bike planner Roger Geller, who’s led the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s bicycle program for over 30 years. Here’s the gist: Geller and Novick believe that since the bike network has improved dramatically in the past decade while ridership has cratered, what’s needed now is a grassroots effort to get people to actually use it.
In 2024 Geller told the city’s bicycle advisory committee: “You can’t watch anything on TV during the football season without seeing five Bud Light ads over the course of an hour right? That’s the level of campaigning that I want to do for biking. That’s what I think we need.”
The idea came and went for most of us, but Geller has never stopped thinking about it. Now with the opportunity for funding presented by PCEF, the plan’s moment in the spotlight has arrived.
At last week’s Climate Committee meeting (which Novick co-chairs), Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Jim Middaugh hinted at the plan: “We have a world-class system that gets people on their bikes. There is clearly opportunities for more investment to make that system better, but we can also make the most of it today by encouraging people to bike.”
Advertisement
Due to his role as BAC chair, Middaugh has certainly been privy to renewed interest in Geller’s plan from Councilor Novick. One element of the plan — that appears to be just one part of a more fleshed-out and formalized version of Geller’s 2024 memo — was posted on the BikeLoud Slack channel by bike bus advocate Rob Galanakis a few days ago. It reads:
This effort will see PBOT contract with an organization who will enlist coaches who will be responsible for lead rides and encourage participation. Each coach would be responsible for an area that encompasses 1 square mile or approximately 4,500 households.
Coaches would:
Lead regularly scheduled, advertised rides in neighborhoods throughout a project target area. Rides would reliably leave daily from set locations at set times.
Promote the rides throughout their assigned area of the project target area. Promotion would be in the form of door-to-door canvassing, putting up flyers in neighborhood destinations and attending events and public meetings.
Depending on scale, the effort could reach up to 181,000 of Portland’s 304,000 households in the following neighborhoods: Central City, Interstate Corridor, Lents-Foster, Montavilla, Hollywood, MLK-Alberta, Belmont-Hawthorne-Division, Woodstock and Sellwood-Moreland-Brooklyn.
As you can see, the plan would be akin to a get-out-the-vote campaign, but for cycling. And this is just one element of the bike marketing plan. If what Novick’s cooking up tracks with Geller’s 2024 vision, it would also include a few high-visibility network improvements, a professional marketing campaign, and demonstrations of political support. I hope to share the full plan soon so you can see the whole enchilada and make your judgments based on that. But for now, what are your general thoughts about this approach?
Councilor Novick sounds like he wants to give it a try. “I tend to agree with Roger that since infrastructure has improved somewhat over the last decade but ridership has plummeted, we should at least consider some non-infrastructure ideas,” he told me yesterday.
Novick says we can expect an in-depth discussion about this and other ideas for how best to spend the $15 million, at the Climate Committee meeting next week (January 29th). Stay tuned.
82nd Avenue near SE Flavel. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The debate over bus lanes on 82nd Avenue evolved considerably at the meeting of TriMet’s Policy and Budget Committee last Friday.
Before that meeting, a coalition of business owners strongly opposed plans for new “business access and transit” (BAT) lanes and leaders of several key advocacy groups were pushing TriMet to adopt the “More BAT” design option that would build semi-dedicated bus lanes on nearly the entire project corridor between Clackamas and Northeast Portland.
But as the project timeline inches forward and tension builds like the crowd inside a Line 72 bus during rush hour, a compromise now feels inevitable. The agenda for Friday’s meeting was to discuss the contentious bus lane issue one last time before members make a recommendation at their meeting next month.
TriMet GM Sam Desue starting things off with an unexpected twist: He read from a letter signed by a surprising alliance of advocacy groups.
Advertisement
“My own recommendation would be to pull BAT lanes away from Powell. There are a lot of problems that get generated around there.”
– Chris Ford, ODOT
“We all want this project to create a transit-rich corridor,” the letter read. “We believe it is possible to deliver BAT lanes while ensuring that the people and businesses who make 82nd Avenue special can continue to thrive.” What made the letter surprising is that it was co-signed by Oregon Walks, APANO (Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon), Unite Oregon, Verde and the Portland Metro Chamber. Yes, the same Portland Metro Chamber whose members threatened lawsuits over the bus lanes just a few months ago was now collaborating with groups whose members strongly support better transit on 82nd Avenue. What brought them together? A shared demand that TriMet completes a third-party economic impact study on how the BAT lanes will effect businesses.
But getting business owners to look past their transit fears was just one hurdle the BAT lanes faced. The other, even more serious challenge for the project, is getting it approved by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). As the pre-eminent road authority, ODOT has veto power over any project that crosses and/or impacts one of its roads. In the case of the 82nd Avenue Transit Project, the plans impact ODOT’s Powell Blvd (Highway 26), NE Lombard (Highway 30 Bypass), and access to Interstate 205.
At issue are traffic models used by ODOT that assume folks who currently drive cars on 82nd Ave would use other roads if a bus lane existed. In ODOT’s world, car traffic is a constant and diversion from a major arterial like 82nd could cause congestion on state-owned facilities. And while to you and I congestion just means a trip takes a bit longer, to ODOT it’s a five-alarm fire.
Advertisement
“I know there are a lot of different safety issues on this corridor, including vulnerable users and transit riders,” said ODOT Region 1 Policy and Development Manager Chris Ford at the meeting Friday. “But the thing that we also wanted to consider was if there would be diversion to off-ramps from I-205 where you would get rear-end collisions which tend to be serious and fatal.”
According to TriMet’s analysis, about 15-25% of the peak-hour car traffic on 82nd would be diverted onto other roads (depending on the extent of BAT lanes installed). Prior to Friday’s meeting, ODOT ran a detailed analysis on how those additional car users might impact their facilities.
(ODOT slide)
ODOT’s biggest concern is along Powell Blvd at 82nd and 92nd avenues (see above). If BAT lanes are installed at 82nd and Powell, Ford said car drivers would queue up all the way north to SE Division and south to SE Holgate. And the entire section of Powell between 82nd and I-205 would be a clogged-up mess. He laid out three mitigation options: drop the BAT lanes at this intersection altogether, widen 82nd Avenue to handle more car traffic and create a new bus turn lane, or roll the dice and see if ODOT would grant TriMet and the City of Portland a “design exception” which is essentially a get-out-of-jail-free card for traffic engineers.
While options were presented, it was clear that only one is likely to be politically and practically feasible. Widening 82nd would add costs and time to the project, as well as making it even more dangerous to cross. And the design exception process (managed by ODOT) would take at least 6-8 months to complete and thus could jeopardize the project timeline (an all-important consideration given that it’s federally funded and the feds do not mess around with timelines).
So that leaves just one option: drop the BAT lane.
Advertisement
“ODOT’s preference would be no BAT lanes [at 82nd and Powell],” Ford shared with committee members. “My own recommendation would be to pull BAT lanes away from Powell. There are a lot of problems that get generated around there.” Then Ford added as a note of caution, “If the project wanted to move forward with pursuing a design exception that you know ahead of time what your ‘Plan B’ would be.”
Throughout the meeting there was an evident tension from TriMet project staff. They know BAT lanes deliver more of what the community wants out of this project, but they also don’t want to do anything that jeopardizes the project from being completed on time and on budget.
82nd Avenue Transit Project Manager Jesse Stemmler summed it up like this: “Our aim as a project is to deliver the most BAT lanes possible while addressing the risk, the challenges, and those concerns that we’ve heard.” Asked about impacts of dropping BAT lanes, Stemmler estimated that bus riders would lose about 30-40 seconds in travel time savings if BAT lanes were dropped at Powell. (Stemmler also wanted to make it clear on Friday that the base project — even without BAT lanes — will be a massive improvement for transit on 82nd Avenue.)
Stemmler explained that the staff recommendation he’ll present at next month’s Policy and Budget Committee meeting will be to drop the BAT lanes at Powell Blvd, pursue a design exception at 92nd (where ODOT said they can live with the impacts to I-205 ramps) and commit to a slight widening of 82nd at Stark and Washington (to accommodate side-by-side left turn lanes). Stemmler also said they’ll recommend pursuing another design exception for two other section between NE Glisan and Foster (see slides below) and would consider dropping BAT lanes north and south of Powell if that exception doesn’t get approved by ODOT.
Advertisement
While momentum favors dropping BAT lanes at one (or more) location(s), not all officials around this project are ready to throw in the towel. At one point, committee member and Metro Councilor Christine Lewis made it clear she doesn’t want TriMet to give up on full BAT lanes, but the response from project staff sent a powerful message.
“I’m wondering if there’s an opportunity to continue to do research and planning on [BAT lanes on] 82nd and Powell… I would like to study BAT lanes here at this intersection in particular because it is such a prominent and and difficult intersection,” Lewis commented.
To which TriMet Interim Director of Major Projects Michael Kiser responded, “More study of Powell is pursuing a design exception which is over a six-month process. Within the next few months we are going to start our risk and readiness review with FTA. If they [Federal Transit Administration] see that there’s uncertainty in scope/schedule/budget and decisions amongst partners, that’s a red flag for them.”
Lewis and her fellow Metro Councilor Duncan Hwang still seem willing to go to bat for BAT lanes. “I’d love for the project team to continue to study full BAT the entire length,” Hwang said Friday. “I think we’re in a place of, how do we study the whole thing while still being able to make cuts strategically if we have to, but not closing doors [on BAT lanes] now.”
For her part, Portland Bureau of Transportation Director (and Policy and Budget Committee member) Millicent Williams seems more willing to compromise than Lewis or Hwang. “The City of Portland will be happy to support as much BAT as is possible,” Williams said. “She prefers a “Goldilocks” option of “more than some [BAT], but less than more [BAT]”.
A few months ago this debate was about “Some BAT” (just three miles of BAT lanes with the busy, central portion of 82nd BAT-free) or “More BAT” (BAT lanes along the entire project corridor). On Friday the front lines shifted slightly in a BAT-ward direction; but the debate is far from over.
People riding on SW Halsey Street between Troutdale and Wood Village. This stretch is identified as a “priority safety corridor” in the plan. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Hey look it’s my photo on the cover!!
East Multnomah County took a big step toward taming dangerous streets last week when the County Commission voted to adopt their Transportation Safety Action Plan, which comes with the goal of zero traffic deaths by 2035. “No loss of life is acceptable, and we must ensure our streets are safe for all community members to travel, including those who walk, use bicycles, take transit, or use mobility devices,” states the 67-page plan.
The new plan was a joint effort by the cities of Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale, and Wood Village. The City of Portland proclaimed the same goal in 2015, but as of last year we are still far short of the zero deaths goal. Hopefully these cities do better than we have. It will be no easy task, given the state of roads in east county and the fact that this plan comes with no dedicated funding to implement its recommendations.
Traffic crashes that result in death or serious injury are a “major public heath concern,” said Multnomah County Health Department Manager Brendon Haggerty at the Commission meeting last week. According to Multnomah County and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) crash data, 104 people died in east County crashes and 473 people were seriously injured between 2013 and 2022. Haggerty said traffic crashes are a leading cause of death for folks who live in East Multnomah County and they are impacted at a disproportionate rate as folks closer to the central city. “For example, we found that the rate of years of potential life lost in East County was roughly double what it was in the central city,” Haggerty told commissioners.
Advertisement
L to R: Map of priority safety corridors, high injury corridors, and bicycle crash locations.
It will come as no surprise that the big culprit for unsafe streets in east county are fast and wide arterial streets — which are where most of the deaths and serious injuries occur. The map of high injury corridors (above) criss-cross the entire region, so there’s really no escape. One local resident’s feedback shared in the plan stated, “All the busy roads make it hard to make my bus transfers. Sometimes there’s no crosswalk that gets there and I have to run.” When people can’t move through their community easily and safely, they can’t participate fully in its economy. That fact is top of mind for Commissioner Vince Jones Dixon, who represents East Multnomah County. In a speech at the Policymakers Ride in September, he said, “The thing that drove me to public office has been community safety and economic empowerment. And one of the main connectors is being able to travel safely throughout communities.”
Another important part of this new plan are the 10 “priority safety corridors” the county has identified (see below). Similar to the City of Portland’s “high crash network,” these intimidating corridors will become ground zero for safety interventions and investments:
Corridor 1: Hogan Dr from Division St to Stark St
Corridor 2: Hogan Rd from Powell Blvd to Springwater
Corridor 3: 181st Ave from Sandy Blvd to Yamhill St
Corridor 4: 182nd Ave from Yamhill St to Springwater
Corridor 5: Burnside St from Cleveland St to Powell Blvd
Corridor 6: Stark St from 162nd Ave to 223rd Ave
Corridor 7: Halsey St from 162nd Ave to 257th Ave
Corridor 8: 238th Dr from Sandy Blvd to Arata Rd
Corridor 9: 223rd Ave from Halsey St to Glisan St
Corridor 10: Stark St from 257th Ave to Troutdale Rd
Advertisement
For advocates and community leaders who want to improve road safety, this plan is an excellent informational resource. The detailed maps show where the problems are and the recommendations (based on the same “Safe Systems” approach used by the Portland Bureau of Transportation) provide a roadmap for how to implement them. Beyond the zero deaths goal, the new plan details several short, medium, and long-term actions. Short-term actions are defined as things that can happen in 1-3 years and include:
Pursue grants and other funding sources that can be used for safety projects.
Create program to fund and implement quick build and low-cost safety projects.
Continue to gather public feedback and empower the public to share roadway safety concerns.
Add speed feedback signs paired with enforcement along high injury corridors and in school zones.
Develop a program to enforce speed limits and vehicles stopping at stop signals through automated speed safety cameras and movable ticket vans.
With this plan completed and adopted, there’s no excuse for the status quo to continue. It’s time for east county leaders to “prioritize safety over speed,” urged Metro Councilor (and former Executive Director of nonprofit Oregon Walks) Ashton Simpson at last week’s meeting. “Without real tangible action, the goal is only as strong as the paper it’s written on.”
Catch three bike touring slide shows right after Bike Happy Hour at 6:30.
PS3 Robb Wolfson (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Hope you can join us at Bike Happy Hour (BHH) on Wednesday (tomorrow!) as we’ve got two special things going on.
First, from about 4:30 to 6:00 on we’ll be joined by Portland Police Bureau Public Safety Support Specialist (PS3) Robb Wolfson. PS3 Wolfson will tell us about the work he’s been doing to help folks prevent bike theft. He’ll also register your bike, so if it does get nabbed it’ll have a much greater chance of being recovered.
If you’re new around here, you might have forgotten that in 2015 BikePortland worked with PPB officers to establish a Bike Theft Task Force. The unit did great work for several years before it ran into the budgetary and political maelstrom of 2020. Fast forward to a few months ago when I was biking through Peninsula Park and a guy who I first suspected was a Park Ranger walked up to me and said, “Would you like to register your bike?” It was PS3 Wolfson, who I soon learned had picked up the bike theft work that had sat dormant for a few years.
Wolfson is committed to registering as many bikes as possible with services like Project 529 and Bike Index, and he wants to increase awareness of bike theft prevention. Come out Wednesday night to meet him and get your bike registered.
Advertisement
And right after BHH, our friend Ted Buehler will host another one of his Bike Touring Slide Shows. He’s lined up three really great presenters who are ready to share their adventures with you. Starting at 6:30, you can sit back with great food and drinks and be entertained by the photos and words of Mia Pisano, Joel Finkelstein, and Steve Vertal.
Below is a little blurb from Ted about each one to whet your appetite:
Mia Pisano – Bike Touring novice goes abroad! (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, 2025) With no previous bike-touring experience, Mia cycled through five countries in the Baltic Sea area. She will show you some highlights and some things she learned which might be useful for other novices. She will also share a global perspective that she gained through traveling in countries with a Russian border.T raveling with her highly experienced friend Ted, Mia Rolled on a 1990s mountain bike with full camping gear. Highlights were swimming in lakes and rivers, sampling local cuisine, searching for the best linen shop.
Joel Finkelstein – Tour of great bicycle cities in Northern Europe (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, 2025) Joel responded to Ted Buehler’s invite to see some of the best bicycle cities in the world on a whirlwind autumn adventure. Starting in Copenhagen, they went to Odense, Denmark, Munster Germany, Rotterdam and Delft, Netherlands, and Malmo Sweden. These are cities that have gone to multi-decade efforts to build and maintain excellent bicycle infrastructure. With varying levels of success. But overall, each one is a huge inspiration for those of us in Portland who wish we could achieve such goals.Joel rolled on a vintage Bike Friday New World Tourist. Stayed in hotels, hostels and with friends. Highlights were odd bits of coastline in three countries. And one day with a terrific tailwind.
Steve Vertal – Portland to Astoria and back Steve is retired and a road rider. He traveled “light” on his bicycle to Astoria, stayed in a hotel, then returned to Portland. The route included the Banks Vernonia Trail, and sections of Highway 202 along the Nehalem River, through Mist, Birkenfeld and Jewell. This sector of Oregon is surprisingly quiet and pleasant, given its proximity to the Portland metro area.
So come out to Migration Brewing on North Williams Avenue Wednesday evening from for bike theft prevention tips and bike touring inspiration. I’ll be there at 3:00 pm as per usual, we’ll have snacks at 4:00, PS3 Wolfson should show up around 4:30 and will stay until 6:00. The slide shows will start at 6:30. See you there!
Welcome to the week. There is so much going on beyond the cycling and transportation world that demands our attention. I hope some of you were able to take part in community-building and/or service work yesterday for Martin Luther King Day. And I know most of you logged some sunny miles on the bike over the past three days! I’ve unfortunately been sick since Friday but am finally feeling a bit better. I should be 100% by Wednesday and look forward to seeing everyone at Bike Happy Hour.
For now, let’s take a look back at the most notable stories of the past week…
The Amish and e-bikes: Amish folks know how terrible cars are for communities, so they’ve stuck to horse-and-buggy. But an increasing amount of them are hopping on e-bikes as a way to get around. (Jalopnik)
Portland snubbed! A major national cycling nonprofit published a list of the top 10 bike lanes built in the U.S. last year and Portland’s SW 4th Avenue was not among them. Ouch. (People for Bikes)
More bus, less stop: There’s one bus service change that is cheap, fast, and effective: removing stops. I have yet to hear a good argument against having fewer stops. And for folks who bring up access issues for older and/or disabled riders, I’d say the pros (much better service overall) outweigh the cons (a few extra blocks to a stop). (Works in Progress)
New Jersey’s blunder: The governor of New Jersey signed an absurd and unprecedented bill into law that requires riders of all e-bikes — from basic Class 1s to e-motos — to be licensed and registered. It’s a worst nightmare situation. (NJ.com)
Sound Transit deep dive: An excellent look at the ups and downs of Seattle’s Sound Transit as it builds out its light rail network and experiences ridership growth, while being criticized for not building fast enough. (Bloomberg Citylab)
All eyes on Salem: It will be fascinating to see what happens in the transportation funding debate during the upcoming short session. This article is a good overview on where things stand at the moment. (The Oregonian)
Two-way streets are better for humans: I hope some influential folks in Oregon read this story about how cities across the country are converting one-way streets back to two-way streets. It’s always bugged me how many downtown main streets across Oregon are suffering because of one-way thoroughfares. (AP)
I’m sure you’ve noticed how the mix of vehicles using bike lanes has changed in recent years. And I’m not talking about cars. I’m talking about all the different types of electric bikes, e-motos, gas-powered mini-bikes, one-wheels, electric unicycles (EUCs), and so on.
What I hear about these vehicles are usually complaints and concerns about the dangers (and annoyances) they pose to more traditional bike riders. Fortunately I haven’t heard about any bike (or e-bike) riders getting seriously hurt (or worse) in collisions with them. Unfortunately there was a fatal collision between a mini-moto rider and an e-scooter rider earlier this month. And while it didn’t involve a bike rider, it did happen in a bike lane and it speaks to the growing number of non-bike vehicles that use them.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, 66-year-old Stephen W. Hicks was riding what officers referred to as a, “gasoline powered mini motorcycle” northbound in the SE 122nd Avenue bike lane. Around the intersection with SE Tibbetts, another man riding an e-scooter was headed southbound (against traffic) in the same bike lane. The two riders collided and Hicks died at the scene. The e-scooter rider sustained non life-threatening injuries. (Both men were wearing helmets.)
Advertisement
I share this case here for several reasons: It’s of a cautionary tale of what’s to come as the vehicle mix on our roads continues to diversify and it shows why we need more space on major arterials like SE 122nd for vehicles that aren’t cars. For many years now, myself and other folks in local transportation reform circles have talked about re-framing “bike lanes” into something more expansive — something that captures a wider range of vehicles. I like “LIV lanes” where LIV is said as “live” with a short “i” sound and stands for low-impact vehicle. I’ve also heard “LIT lanes” where LIT stands for low-impact transportation.
It’s time to embrace the fact that there’s a wider range of two (and even one!)-wheeled vehicles out there and our lane designs should reflect that as much as possible. Or maybe you see this tragic collision as an anomaly and a result of someone who was simply riding where they shouldn’t be?
ODOT says they’ll add warning signs at 4 to 6 locations on this section of Highway 43 south of Sellwood to warn car users about the presence of cyclists. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The Oregon Department of Transportation manages a highway near Portland’s southern border that’s the only way for some bicycle riders to travel between Sellwood and Lake Oswego. Unfortunately this highway, Highway 43, poses extreme risks to cyclists who encounter a shoulder full of rocks and dirt with just inches of space between themselves and car users driving over 50 mph.
68-year-old Rutilo Jorge learned that the hardest way. He was killed while bicycling on Highway 43 on November 11th. Police officials say he hit a rock in the shoulder, lost control and then was involved in a collision with a driver.
It’s unclear exactly what happened that night; but it’s clear the current conditions cannot stand. ODOT must provide a greater level of safety for bicycle riders in this corridor.
As I reported last month, ODOT Vulnerable User Crash Response (VCR) team took a closer look at the location of Jorge’s death with an eye toward identifying changes that might prevent future tragedies. I’ve been in touch with ODOT Region 1 Public Affairs Manager David House about the ODOT investigation. He said the goal of the team is to, “identify risks and potential options to reduce risks to vulnerable users such as cyclists.” House shared that the VCR team has dedicated funds to implement projects, but those are limited and very uncertain at the moment given ODOT’s current funding crisis.
Advertisement
House says the VCR team has recommended the installation of warning signs, “as an immediate measure that can be done with available funds.” The plan is to identify four to six location in the area where Jorge was hit where caution signs would be installed. House says the signs, “would increase car driver awareness of cyclists.” The signs are expected to be installed sometime this spring.
As for longer-term options like widening the highway or restriping existing lanes to make space for a protected bike lane — those would require a much larger financial commitment that ODOT is unwilling to make at this time. It’s worth noting that this location has already been identified as a top priority for investment, and Jorge’s death only makes it more so. It will be up to advocates and community leaders to hold ODOT’s feet to the fire and push for more substantive solutions. “We would need to develop long-term solutions with the local communities’ transportation plans as well as coordination with local cyclist and pedestrian proposals – such as Lake Oswego to Portland Trail Plan,” House shared with BikePortland in an email.
“While our current funding situation is in limbo and a long-term funding solution for ODOT may be years away, ODOT Region 1 traffic investigations will be maintaining and tracking a list of requests/improvements that we can put into effect once an alternative source of funding is found,” he added.
The City of Portland wants to talk about its bike share and e-scooter rental program. 10 years after the Nike-sponsored Biketown system launched to much fanfare, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has grown its fleet of orange bikes into a relatively reliable form of transportation for thousands of people. Today there are roughly 3,000 bikes and scooters available as part of the “Shared Micromobility” program for rent in a service area that touches nearly every square mile of the city.
Now PBOT says they are, “thinking through new ways to shape the future of e-bike share and e-scooter share,” and they want to benefit from your opinion. Today the bureau launched a Shared Micromobility long-term planning survey. If my memory serves, this is the first time they’ve conducted such a survey. I haven’t heard any rumors about big changes afoot, so I can only assume this is being done so PBOT can keep their finger on the pulse of folks who use the system. I also feel like these systems are pretty static at the moment and if everything stays the same ridership will likely stay flat and the fleet of scooters and bikes will become even more outdated and in need of a refresh.
Advertisement
That’s why I believe the one thing on the horizon that could have a major influence on the future of this program is funding. From what I can tell, the current system is starved for cash. The older model “Watson” bikes (the orange ones) are woefully outdated and a majority of them have batteries in dire need of replacement. Ideally the entire fleet would be replaced with the newer, “Cosmo” models (the grey ones), but that would require a big investment. The system also needs a lot more bikes in order to meet its vast potential as a true public transit system.
With PBOT in such a dire budget situation and the political capital necessary for more public funding of Biketown, the only bright spot for Biketown investment is the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF). PCEF has already funded Biketown’s low-income program and in their latest annual revision of the PCEF Climate Investment Plan, the City of Portland has made it even easier for Biketown to win grants through this program. Among the changes to the CIP that’s under consideration by Portland City Council this month, PCEF will add “Biketown infrastructure fleet addition” as an eligible use of funds.
If we expect councilors and the City of Portland to continue to support and invest in bike and scooter share, it’s important they hear what folks think about the system. Which brings me back to the purpose of this post: to encourage you to take the survey.
I took the survey this morning. It was very quick and the questions were straightforward. Take the survey here.
Slide from TriMet presentation to be shared tomorrow.
Imagine the irony of a transit agency not building dedicated bus lanes because they’re worried about how it might impact car traffic on nearby state-owned highways. That’s the position TriMet is in as the agency ponders a decision on dedicated bus lanes in their 82nd Avenue Transit Project.
As BikePortland has been covering for months now, a key decision about the extent of “Business Access and Transit,” or “BAT,” lanes on a 10-mile stretch of 82nd Avenue has been become fraught. TriMet faces threats of lawsuits from business owners who say the lanes would drive car-using customers away, while BAT lane boosters (which include advocacy groups, politicians and more than one TriMet board member) say they won’t stand for even one block to be built without them. In the middle of the controversy are TriMet project staff who’ve felt heartburn over increased costs of a design option known as “More BAT” — which would build semi-dedicated bus lanes on nearly the entire scope of the 82nd Avenue project — might delay and/or otherwise jeopardize the project timeline.
While we’ve understood “More BAT” would come with more costs since this story first heated up back in September, now TriMet has shared another hurdle for dedicated bus lanes to clear. In documents shared ahead of a key project committee meeting tomorrow (Friday, January 16th), TriMet has laid out seven “areas of concern” that have been identified by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).
Advertisement
This entire project is possible because ODOT transferred jurisdiction of 82nd to the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation, so why is ODOT still sticking their neck in PBOT’s business? Because 82nd Avenue is 3,400 feet away from Interstate 205, it crosses Powell Blvd/Highway 26, and the northern part of the project touches ODOT’s Highway 30, also known as Northeast Lombard. ODOT worries that if more space on 82nd is dedicated to bus travel, less of it will be available for car users, and the resulting diversion could cause congestion and crashes on/near their facilities.
As many of you know, transportation departments live and die by highway design manuals (both state and federal) that tell engineers and planners how to respond to various levels of auto traffic. Models based on lane characteristics, current and predicted traffic volume, distance between signals, and so on spit out numbers that tell engineers whether a design will succeed or fail (in the eyes of the manual). If engineers and planners willingly choose a design the formula says would fail — one that exceeds the target volume-to-capacity ratio, or v/c — they must receive permission from ODOT through a “design exception” in order to move forward.
According to a presentation ODOT will share at the 82nd Avenue Transit Project Policy & Budget Committee meeting Friday, they found seven locations where this might become an issue. ODOT says five of those seven locations require some sort of mitigation (such as a change in the design) or must receive a design exception.
Advertisement
A few slides from the ODOT presentation.
We got a hint of these challenges at the December TriMet Board of Directors meeting when TriMet Interim Director of Major Projects Michael Kiser mentioned congestion from diversion at specific intersections under the “More Bat” scenario and said, “Maybe we pull the BAT lanes back in those areas.”
Now we know more precisely which areas he was talking about. Below is the list of locations ODOT has flagged for more scrutiny along with their assessment of what must happen if “More BAT” moves forward (see slides above or the full presentation for more):
• 82nd Ave at Powell Bl: Requires mitigation or DE (this is the most acute concern from ODOT and the location the project team wants to drop the BAT lane)
• 82nd Ave at Lombard St: Requires DE or mitigation
• Cully Bl at Lombard St: Requires DE or mitigation
• 82nd Ave at Johnson Creek Bl: Requires DE or mitigation
• SE Powell Blvd at SE 92nd Ave: Requires mitigation or DE
• I-205 SB off-ramp to Powel: No mitigation or DE required but extensive queues
• I-205 NB on-ramp at SE Foster Rd: No mitigation or DE required
Keep in mind that “mitigation” would always lead to higher project costs (something TriMet has already flagged as a concern) and that needing a “DE” or design exception requires a leap of faith because ODOT could ultimately deny it. While these are clearly risks to doing “More BAT,” it’s important to remember that TriMet’s own studies show “More BAT” provides the most overall transit benefit and would provide improvements in pedestrian safety and comfort because the lanes would create buffer between humans on the sidewalk and people driving cars.
The project team will share more about these ODOT traffic studies and concerns at the Policy & Budget meeting tomorrow. TriMet says no final decision will be made about bus lanes at that meeting and that the Policy & Budget Committee will make a final recommendation on BAT lanes at their meeting on February 13th.
PCC student Liraz Brand was able to buy this Trek e-bike thanks to the pilot program. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
138 Portlanders took advantage of the City of Portland’s first e-bike rebate program. The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) launched a pilot of the program back in September and reported last night at a meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee that there was “strong demand” for the discounted bikes.
The pilot offered rebates of $1,600 for e-bikes and $300 for accessories to Portland Community College students. A presentation shared last night revealed that 183 of them finished the application and 138 were ultimately verified. The program directs rebate recipients to specific types of bicycles (Class 1 e-bikes with a 20 mph top speed and no throttle only) at authorized e-bike retailers.PCEF Strategic Communications Manager Elizabeth Stover tells BikePortland, “We have 123 more Portlanders on e-bikes and boosted local business by putting $250,037 in the hands of our Portland bike shops.”
Below is some of the data BPS gleaned from 202 pilot program participants:
The gender split between male and female was relatively even, with males receiving 80 rebates and females receiving 72. Non-binary people received 34 rebates.
When it comes to race, White people received the overwhelming number of rebates with 81. Black Portlanders received 19 rebates, with Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native people received 28 and 29 rebates respectively.
Just over 9% of the participants were new to bicycling.
Asked, “If you weren’t participating in this program would you still consider buying an e-bike?,” 60% of respondents said “Yes.”
Advertisement
Slides from presentation shared last night.
13 local bike shops redeemed at least one rebate. The two shops with the most rebates processed were A Convenient Cycle and The e-Bike Store who both sold 31 bikes through the program. Other top sellers were Trek Bicycle Westmoreland (30), Vvolt (27), Sellwood Cycle Repair (25), and Trek Bicycle Slabtown (24). A big measure of success for the pilot is that 88% of retailers said they had a positive experience working with program staff and 100% of respondents said the online portal was clear and easy to use. There were similar levels of good reviews from program participants.
PCEF Transportation Decarbonization Program Manager Seetha Ream-Rao said beyond the clear success, some of the lessons learned include: more outreach to “key demographics,” more education on choosing e-bikes, and it’s important for participants to test ride bikes before making a decision.
Ream-Rao said the main launch of the program will happen in late March (of this year) with a complementary program for adaptive bikes launching in April. BPS will expand offerings in the full launch, adding Class 2 e-bikes and cargo e-bikes (which will qualify for a $2,350 rebate). Visit PortlandEbikeRebate.com to learn more.
NOTE: I realize that some of the numbers in the BPS report don’t quite add up. I’ll follow up with project staff next week to clarify.
UPDATE, 1/26 at 8:44 am: Given the confusion over data in the report, I asked BPS to clarify. They acknowledged a few typos in the report and have shared the statement below:
I spoke to our team, who let me know the chart in the presentation deck had a typo. Please allow me to share an accurate breakdown of those numbers below:
244 rebates were redeemed overall, including:
123 E-bike rebates
121 Equipment rebates
There were 138 participants awarded, but 15 did not redeem them within the allotted timeframe.
Each participant was awarded a rebate for an e-bike and equipment. However, not everyone who redeemed the rebate for an e-bike redeemed for equipment.
In our chart, the number of overall rebates was incorrectly labeled as “bikes redeemed.”
