🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

City releases bike count report, explains first decrease since 1995

BTA New Year's Day Ride-9

Bike traffic on the Hawthorne Bridge.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation has released a full report and analysis on their 2009 bike counts. Last month, an unauthorized and incomplete version of the report leaked to the Willamette Week revealed that bike ridership in Portland had taken its first dip since 1995.

Many theories cropped up to account for this dip and PBOT’s just-released report (which was also partially leaked to the Willamette Week yesterday) explains what they feel are three key factors leading to the decline.

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How should ODOT spend safety funds? Tell them!

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Bike traffic in Portland-9.jpg

ODOT wants input on transportation safety.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has announced two meetings where they will solicit public input on their Transportation Safety Action Plan.

Last updated in 2004, that safety plan is an important part of the Oregon Transportation Plan and it guides ODOT’s safety budget. Anyone with ideas and feedback about how ODOT can improve their safety programs is encouraged to attend. The City of Portland’s top traffic safety staffer, Mark Lear says these meetings are the best place to tell ODOT what you feel is important. Lear adds that PBOT “wants a strategy based on improving safety for all modes” and that he’s most concerned about speed and alcohol related crashes.

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Editorial: Anti-bike group on Facebook needs to go

Screenshot from Facebook group that has
posted this horrific photo and added:
My Way, Get the F%&* Out of It.

A group on Facebook with 32,000 members that is encouraging dangerous behavior and fomenting hate toward people on bicycles violates Facebook’s terms of use and should be shut down.

Among other things, the group named There’s a perfectly good path right next to the road you stupid cyclist!, has posted photos of cars plowing into a group of people racing bikes with words, My Way, Get the F%&* Out of It. Here’s a snip from their group description: “My car is hard, and i am not slowing down!”

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Dispatch from Walla Walla, Washington

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[News intern Alaya Wyndham-Price spent the recent holiday in Walla Walla, Washington. She checked in on the local bike scene and shares her report below.]

Reggie Gonzales at the Bicycle Barn.
(Photo: Alaya Wyndham-Price)

Like Portland, it snowed in Walla Walla during the holidays, about four inches of the white stuff fell and then slightly froze to the ground — typical weather for this small valley town in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, about 250 miles from Portland. The town of about 58,000 is best known for farming, college, and wine.

I’ve been visiting Walla Walla for seven years now, and riding around the area, particularly on the trails outside the town proper. But it wasn’t till this trip that I realized how invested in cycling the community is here.

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Blue Giant Cyclocross 2007?

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Year: 2007?
Brand: Giant
Model: Cyclocross
Color:Blue
Size:White
Stolen in Portland, OR 97219
Stolen:2010-01-7
Stolen From: Capital Hwy and California
Owner: Alex Accetta
OwnerEmail: alexaccetta@hotmail.com
Description: Blue and White Giant with Blue handlebar tape and Beer sticker I believe. Stolen from my garage in SW Portland in early am on 1/7/10. Also stole red/black Giant at same time the buggers.
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Red/Black Giant TCR 2 2006

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Year: 2006
Brand: Giant
Model: TCR 2
Color:Red/Black
Size:54 or 56
Photo: http://archive.giant-bicycles.com/uk/030.000.000/030.010.000.asp?year=2006&model=10276
Stolen in Portland, OR 97219
Stolen:2010-01-7
Stolen From: SW Portland – Capital Highway and California
Neighborhood: Multnomah
Owner: Alex Accetta
OwnerEmail: alexaccetta@hotmail.com
Reward: Undying Loyalty and Beer
Description: Red/Black Giant TCR 2 with PSU sticker on seatpost and Team Beer sticker on fork and Team Forte saddle I think
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Black Gary Fisher HiFi Pro 2008

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Year: 2008
Brand: Gary Fisher
Model: HiFi Pro
Color:Black
Size:SM
Serial: I’m traveling and don’t have paper work… waiting to have it faxed
Stolen in Portland, OR
Stolen:2010-01-7
Stolen From: Cascade Station near the Portland Airport in the Ikea parking lot.
Owner: Debbie Laxague
OwnerEmail: dlaxague@earthlink.net
Reward: A case of tasty beer (if you’re old enough)
Description: Black Full suspension Gary Fisher HiFi Pro, platform pedals, most components are bontrager stock, WTB she speed saddle. If you have any info please call me or email me 530.859.3021
Police record with: Still working on filing a police report
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Leftbank hopes to spur action on traffic woes

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The Leftbank Project-7

Joanna Agee hopes The Leftbank
Building can help spur traffic safety
improvements.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The fast and busy Broadway and Weidler avenues between the Broadway Bridge and Interstate 5 are like two fast-moving rivers that pose a formidable challenge to anyone who dares cross them. These are multi-lane arterials that funnel onto the freeway and the traffic after major events at the Rose Garden is a nightmare.

Smack dab in the middle of that traffic tempest is a calm oasis, a cluster of buildings known as The Leftbank Project. The Leftbank is, on a map, one of the most accessible and central locations in the entire city. Several major bikeways intersect there. But instead of a hub where people gather, the daunting traffic makes it nothing but a blur to passersby.

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Update on disappearing bike lane case: Judge, victim, lawyer respond

No paint, no (legal) protection?
(Photo © J. Maus)

When bike lane striping disappears through an intersection, does the legal standing of a person operating a bicycle in that lane also vanish?

Last month, Multnomah County traffic court judge Michael Zusman ruled that it does and the decision has left many people confused and concerned. We checked in with Zusman, the woman who was hit (City of Portland employee Carmen Piekarski), and a bike law expert to get an update.

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland