🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏

How Portland got a bus/bike only lane on Southwest Madison

It didn’t just happen.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Story by BikePortland Contributor Catie Gould

On May 17th, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) issued a press release to announce a reconfiguration of SW Madison Street aimed at faster bus service. “The upgrade of SW Madison is the first Central City in Motion project to be implemented, just six months after the plan was passed by Portland City Council,” the press release touted. Five days later it was done.

But for a handful of transportation advocates, the work began two years earlier. Today we’re peeling back the curtain to share what went on behind the scenes.

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Use e-scooters in Oregon? You should read this legal guide

(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

If you’re a low-car Portlander, you understand that driving around the city is often more trouble than it’s worth. You probably also find shared electric scooters to be a useful addition to the mobility mix. But where do these vehicles fit into the rules of the road?

Now there’s a handy new guide from a local law firm that lays it all out.

Our friends at Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost have released, Oregon E-Scooter Rights: A Legal Guide for Electric Scooter Users (PDF). This is the fifth booklet from TCN&F since their popular Pedal Power cycling guide was published in 2000.

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PBOT News: Upcoming speed bump construction on Tillamook Neighborhood Greenway

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Note: This is part of a larger project on Tillamook that we covered back in February.

Speed bumps are scheduled for construction on NE Tillamook on July 9 and July 10 between NE 16th and 28th. The road will be closed to through traffic with local access only during construction. The schedule may change due to weather or unforeseen circumstances. The project website will be updated with information about changes to the schedule.

Please do not bike through the construction zone – use NE Hancock or NE Thompson, or walk your bike on the sidewalk.

Speedbumps are included in this project because vehicle speeds on Tillamook are currently higher than the speeds recommended by the operational performance guidelines set by Portland’s Neighborhood Greenway Assessment Report. We are also including speed bumps in this project because we will be turning stop signs on Tillamook to favor the greenway. While turning the stop signs allows people walking and biking to travel more efficiently along the greenway, it can also attract people to drive on the greenway. The speed bumps help discourage driving on the greenway.

Please visit our project webpage for more information about the Tillamook Neighborhood Greenway Enhancement Project] and be in touch if you have any questions.

City contact: Liz Rickles, Capital Project Manager – 503-823-7078 – elisabeth.rickles@portlandoregon.gov

Meet Skip Spitzer; a carfree, climate-change-fighting, single dad

Skip Spitzer tows his son’s balance bike behind their trailer.
(Photos: Madi Carlson)

This week we’re happy to share a profile of reader Skip Spitzer.

I met Skip on my Bike to School Day bike ride to the ‘Red for Ed’ rally, though I’d noticed his trailer in photos of various bike events around town before. As luck would have it, he was at the Woodstock Elementary play structure a couple weeks later while I was running a bike rodeo and he was nice enough to stick around for a conversation and a few photos…

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DA charges man with manslaughter, DUI, and reckless driving in crash that killed bicycle rider

Charging document and probable cause affidavit. (PDF)

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office has filed an indictment against Nicholas Martinez, the driver who struck and killed Lance Hart while he rode his bicycle on SE Flavel Street in the early morning hours of June 23rd.

Martinez, who faced a judge at a hearing this morning, is being charged on three counts: Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Misdemeanor Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants, and Reckless Driving.

In the probable cause affidavit filed last week, Deputy DA Kelley Rhoades said a witness saw Martinez get into his car at the 7-11 on SE 82nd and Flavel and then leave the parking lot “in an aggressive manner ‘at a high rate of speed'” just prior to the crash. Here’s an excerpt from the affidavit:

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Oregon legislature finds ‘missing middle’, passes ban on single-family zoning

Built in 1927, this duplex has been illegal has been prohibited in our zoning code for almost a century. HB 2001 changes that.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

When it comes to boosting bicycle mode share, where we build our homes is more important than how we build our streets. Density of residential dwellings matters because the viability of bicycle use increases as people live closer to their jobs, schools, friends, and other destinations.

That’s why we’ve talked up the connection between cycling and land-use planning and zoning on this site for well over a decade.

Now we’re very happy to share that over the weekend the Oregon Legislature passed a bill that bans single-family zoning. This is a boon for the potential of efficient transportation modes like cycling, and transit.

Here’s the lowdown from Michael Andersen at Sightline:

If signed by Gov. Kate Brown in the next month, House Bill 2001 will strike down local bans on duplexes for every low-density residential lot in all cities with more than 10,000 residents and all urban lots in the Portland metro area.

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From the Archives

Portland’s invisible machine: Behind the scenes at the World Naked Bike Ride