(Artwork by Casey Robertson of Robertson Design/champagne_rodman on IG)
Alex Pretti, the man who was shot and killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Saturday, was an enthusiastic bicycle rider. Within hours of his murder, photos of him smiling on a dirt road holding his knobby-tired Surly began to circulate. Now the bike shop in Minneapolis he once frequented is helping organize a nationwide bike ride to honor Pretti and others who’ve had their lives ended and upended by Trump’s troops.
In a post on Instagram Monday, Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee wrote that Pretti was, “A kind and caring soul put on this earth to be the light for others.” “Although his light has been extinguished by this fascist regime, it hasn’t been lost,” the shop continued. “If anything, those sparks fell and ignited something in us that’s been hiding all along,”
In the past 24 hours, well over a dozen cities have announced rides to follow their lead. So far cyclists will roll together in: Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia; Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, Texas; Bellingham, Washington; San Francisco, California; Wichita, Kansas; and Memphis, Tennessee.
The Portland ride is being organized by Golden Pliers Bike Shop. “This ride will be a vigil for those murdered by ICE, for the families that have been torn apart, a ride in solidarity with communities across this country,” wrote the shop on Instagram.
A normal day of bike traffic on North Williams Avenue in May 2016. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The annual adjustment of the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) Climate Investment Plan (CIP) has freed up $15 million in climate tax revenue that could be put toward a transportation-related program. On Thursday, the Portland City Council Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee will host an in-depth discussion about some of the ideas that have been put forward for how to spend that money.
Right now, the PCEF Committee has recommended switching that chunk of revenue from an electric vehicle subsidy program to a home energy program. But some members of City Council have ideas of their own.
So far it seems the two leading ideas are to put this $15 million toward either transit (to help TriMet stave off service cuts), and/or to make an investment in bicycling. Councilor Mitch Green supports transit funding, and Committee Chair Councilor Steve Novick has made it clear he supports an idea that would boost bicycling.
Dubbed “Bikeable Portland,” this plan is only in a conceptual phase. It’s based off a 2024 memo from Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller. The new, 5-page document was prepared by PBOT at the request of Councilor Novick who wanted to see a more shovel-ready version of Geller’s plan.
“This project will catalyze momentum for the next 20 years of biking in Portland by aiming to restore bike ridership back to pre-pandemic levels.”
– From Bikeable Portland concept plan
The gist is that both Geller and Novick believe Portland’s bike infrastructure network is much better than current ridership implies. They see that ridership plummeted while the network got better (since 2010 (when the Bicycle Plan for 2030 was adopted), PBOT has added 160 miles to the bikeway network). That’s in part why Geller has long held the view (of which he’s convinced Novick of too) that the mantra “build it and they will come” hasn’t really panned out.
Since bike infrastructure has improved at the same time ridership has declined, Novick told me last week, “we should at least consider some non-infrastructure ideas.” That’s how we got to this Bikeable Portland concept.
The idea is to focus on encouraging Portlanders to use what we already have. For example, in its proposed budget, the plurality of funding in the concept plan would go toward paying organizers to offer neighborhood rides. Imagine hundreds of mini Sunday Parkways all over town, each one hoping to light the spark in participants so they’ll keep riding on their own.
According to the concept plan, Bikeable Portland will, “Catalyze momentum for the next 20 years of biking in Portland by aiming to restore bike ridership back to pre-pandemic levels.” Below is more about the goals of the project:
As proposed by PBOT’s bicycle coordinator, the goal of this project would be to ignite and sustain the momentum we once had for making Portland bikeable by leveraging and celebrating our progress in building Portland’s world class bike network. The project’s intent is to get more people to choose to bicycle by focusing on three mutually reinforcing actions:
Igniting a civic conversation about the ease, desirability and benefits of biking and Portland’s commitment in continuing to advance as a bikeable city.
Creating consistent opportunities for Portlanders to get support in biking.
Celebrating over two decades of a strong, vibrant, and inclusive bike culture.
Bike Together
The excerpt I shared last week was from the “Bike Together Program” element of the plan. The idea is for PBOT to contract with an organization who will hire coaches to lead rides. These ride leaders would fan out systematically across each neighborhood and would be responsible for organizing daily bike rides from set locations at set times. Imagine adult bike buses springing up citywide as word spreads between neighbors.
The city believes (and they have a lot of experience doing this type of work), that depending on the budget and scale of the effort, this could reach up to 181,000 Portland households in the target area which the city has defined as: Central City, Interstate Corridor, Lents-Foster, Montavilla, Hollywood, MLK-Alberta, Belmont-Hawthorne-Division, Woodstock and Sellwood-Moreland-Brooklyn.
(Source: PBOT/Councilor Novick)
Spark a Civic Conversation About Bicycling
The proposal would also take steps to spur a more robust, citywide conversation about bicycling. PBOT and its partners would do this in two main ways: using pavement markings and hosting cultural events.
The plan calls for doubling the number of “sharrows” (shared-lane markings) currently being used on Portland’s streets in order to elevate the visibility of the existing network. There would also be another type of special temporary markings installed with an aim to, “encourage people to change behaviors where/ when they can.”
The plan would sponsor, host and encourage events designed to, “Celebrate Portland’s determined history in creating a comprehensive network for bicycling, encouraging use of that network, and supporting the shaping of a culture that invites citywide uptake of bicycling.”
Branding, Storytelling and Evaluation
This element of the project would create a Bikeable Portland website whose main goal would be to, “elevate individual voices from community members and political leaders and give people the opportunity to share what a bikeable city means to them.” This part of the campaign would also include marketing materials like fliers, mailings, and billboards.
As these activities are going on, PBOT would do several, “relatively simple and affordable capital projects” in the target area. PBOT wants to make a few key bikeway upgrades in a way that bolsters their encouragement efforts. Here’s more from the concept plan:
These are projects that can be undertaken to improve conditions for bicycling in the project area and that will enhance other supportive encouragement efforts. The bikeway network in much of the target area is formed by neighborhood greenways. Those greenways include known areas of higher-than-desired traffic volume. Areas like SE 21st between Clinton and Division, SE 16th between Stark and Sandy, SE Ankeny between 3rd and 6th. Similarly, E Burnside between 73rd and 94th are sub-standard bikeways for this critical connection between inner SE / NE and East Portland.
Diverters and improved bike lanes in such identified hot spots will be the focus for this flexible capital funding. This program area can also augment encouragement by providing bicycle access for the specific events and activations called out in this project.
At this very early, conceptual stage, PBOT sees Bikeable Portland as a three-year plan. 2026 would be used for set-up and prep and the full effort would kick off in 2027. That would bring us up to 2030 — the end date for the Bicycle Plan we adopted 20 years ago.
This would be a very novel plan with some very innovative elements. But it wouldn’t be totally foreign to PBOT, an agency with decades of bicycle marketing and promotion under its belt. And it wouldn’t necessarily require the full $15 million that’s being debated right now. Depending on scale, PBOT could launch this for as little as $6 million and then consider expanding later depending on how it works (or doesn’t).
Even if it doesn’t get adopted this time around, it opens up some interesting conversations about how to increase ridership going forward.
I’m curious what you think about it now that it’s a bit more fleshed-out. And keep in mind, Councilor Novick told me he’ll read the comments before Thursday’s meeting.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson has thrown down a gauntlet. At an event to celebrate the opening of the Southwest 4th Avenue Improvement Project last week, Wilson told a crowd of business owners and tourism officials that, “We are and have to be the biggest bike mode city in the nation. Our multimodal focus has got to be at the center of every decision we make.”
Wilson called the SW 4th Avenue project — which includes one of Portland’s most high-profile protected bike lanes and less space for driving — “a physical manifestation of the change we wanna see in our city.”
I wasn’t at the event, which was held at the Hoxton Hotel on SW 4th, but someone who was in attendance shared a clip of Wilson’s speech with me. These are very positive and exciting words for anyone who cares about making biking and transit better in Portland.
Below is an edited version of Wilson’s remarks at the event.
“You can see the green shoots all around and the green shoot that is the 4th Avenue project.
There were a lot of headwinds. Thank you [to PBOT Director Millicent Williams and Deputy City Administrator for Public Works Priya Dhanapal] for your absolute clear focus on our bike infrastructure.
Our multimodal focus has got to be at the center of every decision we make. TriMet has to be at the center of every decision we make. They [TriMet] set a very aggressive goal for 2030. They want 80 million riders on their network. So do I. So do you. The more we focus on a multimodal transportation system where a travel-shed is focused on safety and pedestrians and bikes and bus, we have a more vibrant community that’s focused on community health and safety.
I love working with TriMet. I love working with our PBOT partners because you understand transportation is the intersection of every healthy life.
Now, I wanna talk about just two goals, clean streets and safe places. It’s back to basics. We are focused on budgeting street sweeping, making sure that when you ride a bike that there’s not leaves on the ground creating a slippery, dangerous circumstance. We have to invest in safety, which means we invest in maintenance. At the same time, invest in safe places. When you go somewhere, you have to make sure you’re going to arrive safe, that you’re comfortable, knowing that we as your leaders are caring for you.
The 4th Avenue project is our future. We are and have to be the biggest bike mode city in the nation. It is my absolute goal that I want to deliver with these partners along with this city to show the world how a community comes together that really lives, breathes, and is successful through our transportation system. The Renaissance is real, but it has to be created and sustained by us.”
Watch his comments and my commentary in the video above.
Everything has changed in America with the killing of Alex Pretti by U.S. Border Patrol officer. Pretti was the second person to be fatally shot as part of the Trump Administration’s occupation of Minneapolis. Now the line is crystal clear that Trump is the leader of a fascist government and to make matters worse, his top officers and spokespeople have doubled-down on blatant lies and propaganda. While cycling and transportation news feels less important against this backdrop, let’s remember that what we do here (in a broad, general sense beyond this blog), has never been just about news and information. It’s about building bonds between each other — one event, one ride, one story, one comment, one person at a time.
On that note, I look forward to seeing you at Bike Happy Hour this week. We’ll have a special open mic where I’ll ask folks to introduce themselves and share what they need from our community and/or what they can share with our community. Together we can process what’s going on and we can help each other respond. See you Wednesday from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at Migration Brewing on North Williams Avenue. (Yummy snacks on me at 4:00 pm!)
And now, a few notable stories that came across my inbox in the past week…
Industry reacts to Alex Pretti killing: Pretti was a bicycle rider and customer of a bike shop in Minneapolis. His death has shaken that state’s bike industry to the core. (Bicycle Retailer)
“Thermal incident”: A Rad Power Bikes retail store in southern California caught fire. The company confirmed it was a “thermal incident” and given the recent battery recall and other problems with the once mega-brand, this will stoke concerns and speculations. (Seattle Bike Blog)
Delay on trail vote: A key vote that would strip the Yamhelas Westsider Trail from the Yamhill County Transportation System Plan has been postponed until January 29th due to a high volume of testimony. Advocates should see this as a win and commissioners should see this as a sign that a lot of folks care about this trail! (Newberg Graphic)
That’s clever: A company in New York City has adapted their technology to provide swappable e-bike batteries to food cart owners in bid to replace loud and toxic gas and diesel generators. (Electrek)
Transit cheaper than highways: How much would it cost to build world-class transit in the U.S.? “It’s not as much as a skeptic might assume, and it’s substantially less than what the country already spends on maintaining its highways, according to a new report. (Governing)
A good sign: Bike and scooter share is alive and well in Seattle as new numbers from Lime report a 61% (!) jump in 2025, with rides to Pike Place Market becoming a top destination. (Geek Wire)
Kids these days: Amid growing popularity of young people riding together in large groups, a man in San Francisco was attacked and beaten by riders after he told them to slow down. (ABC SF)
Commissioners Lee Beyer, Julie Brown, and Jeff Baker at Thursday’s meeting. (Background: IBR project conceptual rendering)
The bombshell report about vast cost overruns for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program that came out earlier this month continues to reverberate. Project staffers faced sharp questioning from members of the Oregon Transportation Commission on Thursday at their first meeting since the news dropped.
Commissioners received an update on the IBR from Interim Project Administrator Carley Francis and Assistant Program Administrator Ray Mabey. Earlier this month, reporting from the Willamette Week revealed that the cost estimate to widen five miles of I-5 and replace the bridge between Vancouver and Portland could balloon from $6 billion to $12 to $17 billion. To make matters worse, project officials have been accused of intentionally holding back the higher cost estimate for political and strategic reasons. Suffice it to say, none of this sat well with OTC members.
“At $13.6 billion, what do you think that’s going to do to our ability to handle projects around the state if that bridge is draining the tank? I’d really like to know what the plan is,” Commissioner Jeff Baker asked Francis. “Because the narrative now is so negative that you guys could put the bridge in jeopardy simply because you’re not willing to have these conversations until the numbers are perfect.”
And Commissioner Lee Beyer, a strong supporter of the project who was a key member of the legislature during planning of the IBR’s previous iteration, the Columbia River Crossing, said, “It’s a tough one. I just don’t see a $12 to $16 billion dollar project being possible.”
“I’m concerned about the numbers jumping that far, that fast,” Beyer continued. “If those numbers are correct, we can’t build this project. There’s no way you’re going to get the money to do it at this point.”
Even OTC Chair Julie Brown had a pointed statement to get off her chest: “You put us all in a bad situation by having information that you may not have given to elected officials or committee members, and tried to contain it and try to figure out what to do.” Brown then said the officials hid the estimate because they were, “trying to come out with a narrative.”
For their part, Francis and Mabey tried to keep the focus on moving forward with the project. There was no clear apology, but Francis said at one point, “It’s incumbent upon us to get information out, which obviously has been a breach of trust with folks. So I’m recognizing that.”
Francis and Mabey painted a picture that the new cost estimate was so preliminary that it didn’t need to be shared yet. But at least one commissioner did not buy that line.
IBR Deputy Program Administrator Ray Mabey and Interim Program Administrator Carley Francis.
OTC Commissioner Jeff Baker
Baker, who had clearly done his homework and has studied the once-hidden cost estimate documents in detail, pointed out that project staff were part of twice-weekly meetings about the numbers. “So this is information that should have been discussed and known.” Baker seemed to resent being in the dark about the numbers during previous conversations with project staff. Referencing a presentation about economic calculations for the project, Baker said staff knew at the time the project cost was going to double, but they presented the information based solely on the old estimate, “without even an asterisk” that it might soon rise precipitously.
In one exchange with Mabey, Baker asked him point-blank: Why was the new cost estimate, which he’d promised would come out in December, moved out to March?
Mabey said they couldn’t provide a new cost estimate until the Coast Guard revealed their decision on bridge type. “It made sense to make sure we’re aligning an estimate with that key knowledge in hand,” he said.
“I’m going to hold your feet to the fire,” Baker replied. “Because there were two documents — one for each bridge type option… So it’s not like we were waiting on that decision to create the information. It was on there.”
Instead of even ponder what a pause or reset for the project would mean, Francis was clearly focused on moving forward. She wants to “start the dialog” about “sequencing” the project — that is, starting with a small piece of it and then moving onto larger pieces as new funding is identified. That tact seemed to irk Commissioner Baker.
“A budget is a promise,” Baker said, during an exchange about construction phasing. “The plan would be that we spend the amount of money that we’ve got allocated right now, and then we come back for more? And we spend until we run out of money, and then we come back and ask for more? And I understand that’s a process that has worked in the state of Washington [where Francis has worked]. And we have been guilty of it here from time-to-time. But, the direction of the legislature and certainly the feeling of this commission, is that that’s not the appropriate way to do it.”
As for the forthcoming, official cost estimate the project team expects to release in March, Francis didn’t say too much about what number we should expect. “The costs are definitely going to go up,” she said.
“I think [the rising cost is] why it’s so incumbent on us about mapping out what are some first steps, and how do they fit, how do they relate to the funds that we have?,” Francis said.
And as Francis talked about moving forward with the project by breaking it up into smaller pieces, Baker didn’t seem comfortable with that idea. “About that comment you made about, ‘How do we get started [on the project]?’ I don’t want you to get started until we get some answers. This is where we get into trouble. And are we starting on $6 billion project? Or are we starting on a 14 billion project?”
No one knows the answer to that question yet; but it’s clear some amount of value-engineering could be on the table. “How much can we downsize that and break it into a number of different projects?” asked Commissioner Beyer.
Beyer, who for some reason only now appears to have noticed the project isn’t just about one bridge, then described the full project scope as a “nice to have.” He asked where cuts could be made.
“I think there are like, six buses that they wanted to buy in there? And there’s some questions about that,” Beyer said. “Do we need that? There’s some questions about the light rail. Do we need both those kinds of things?”
Francis said however the project is phased it must “start at the river,” — which I heard as doing the bridge and its approaches first, and thinking about everything else later.
But it remains to be seen if there will be a later. And if there is, given the loss of trust and severe budget crunches, what amount of funding will lawmakers even be willing to commit to?
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.
“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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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
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.
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)
