Changing America’s dysfunctional traffic culture begins on the street in front of where you live.
It will take a lot more than signs and paint to win the battle against traffic violence — but both of those things are part of the fight. The Portland Bureau of Transportation has a new way you can aid their “Vision Zero” efforts: They now offer free ’20 is Plenty’ yard signs. Their goal is to help educate us about speed and give everyone a bit of a fair warning before the new 20 mph citywide residential speed limit goes into effect on April 1st (no foolin’).
Here are the times and places you can pick up a free sign:
Every second Tuesday of the month at 6:00 to 8:00 pm in City Hall Lovejoy Room (1221 SW 4th Ave)
Introductions/Announcements
Committee orientation
Chair Rithy Khut and Vice-Chair Elliot Scott will provide a brief welcome and orientation to new members.
Greetings to new members
Leah Treat, Director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, will provide remarks to this newly formed iteration of the Bicycle Advisory Committee.
Portland’s bicycling efforts: an orientation for new BAC members
Roger Geller, Portland’s bicycle coordinator, will present an overview of Portland’s efforts to “create conditions that make bicycling more attractive than driving…” (Comprehensive Plan Policy 9.20).
New bicycle-pedestrian bridges
Dan Layden and Nicole Pierce with PBOT will present current design considerations and timelines for the Sullivan’s Gulch and Flanders Street bridges. They are seeking committee input on cross-section design.
Support for Build Portland
Emily Tritsch, with PBOT, will seek committee support for dedicated Build Portland funding for a range of transportation projects.
Biking as transportation is — thankfully — being acknowledged somewhat in the search for solutions. However, some advocates are concerned certain proposed bike lanes (on a section of 5th, specifically, which the Bicycle Advisory Committee endorsed) were being used by the city to justify a new ordinance that would, in effect, evict houseless people from staying overnight in vehicles on the street. Washington County just enacted their own ordinance prohibiting camping on-street in RVs. Like Portland, Beaverton is struggling to house all its residents. The city has even decided to apply for an Urban Growth Boundary expansion.
But today, I’d like to outline a seemingly small detail of the bigger parking problem. It’s an example of the kind of mundane traffic decision that should be considered from a carfree person’s perspective, as part of the equity consideration.
And I think it’s worth a call-to-action for people whose preferred or primary mode of travel in Beaverton is a bicycle.
OMG so cute. You know you wanna do the Worst Day of the Year Ride on Sunday. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
The weekend is right around the corner and now is the time to tidy up your plans.
Our guide this week has two special “BP Picks!” — which means we’re working hard to feature these events because the organizers support BikePortland. If that’s not added reason to check them out I don’t know what is.
So don’t miss a night of great bicycle stories on Friday at Live the Revolution and then join hundreds of your fellow Portlanders for the traditional Worst Day of the Year Ride on Sunday. Here’s the full menu…
We’ve seen this sad movie before: After seemingly incessant traffic violence on our streets, people join together with tears in their eyes and frustration in their hearts to implore our government agencies to do more to make our streets safe.
This time Oregon Walks and the Rosewood Initiative will lead the way. They’re hosting a press conference Thursday morning to draw attention to terrible conditions on outer SE Stark Street after a woman was killed by an auto user at 148th Street last week. That was the third fatal traffic crash at or near that same intersection in less than a year. In a statement (below), Oregon Walks Executive Director Noel Mickelberry is calling on the City of Portland to declare an official emergency on SE Stark in order to immediately reduce the speed limit from 35 to 30 mph.
The bike lanes aren’t pretty, but they’re better than nothing (depending on who you ask). (Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
“PBOT believes there was evidence to justify the State Engineer to reconsider his decision and leave the bike lanes in place. ODOT has communicated to the City that they will not reconsider that decision.” — Dylan Rivera, PBOT
The bike lanes on SE 26th Avenue approaching Powell Boulevard are on life support.
In a saga that has spanned nearly 30 months, PBOT appears to have finally acquiesced to the Oregon Department of Transportation’s demand that a pair of bike lanes that have been in use since the 1980s be removed in favor of the state’s preferred route for bicycle users two blocks east on SE 28th. It all comes back to a deal struck by PBOT and ODOT two years ago.
In order to build a new traffic signal and crossing at the intersection of SE 28th and SE Powell for their 20s Bikeway project, PBOT needed a special permit from ODOT and the blessing of State Traffic Engineer Bob Pappe. ODOT, who owns and manages Powell Boulevard, agreed to that permit only on the very specific condition that once the new signal was up and running, PBOT would remove the bike lanes on 26th.
Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.
Job Title *
PT Bike Valet Attendant
Company/Organization *
Go By Bike
Job Description *
Go By Bike, under the aerial tram, is looking for a friendly, outgoing part time afternoon valet attendant. The job responsibilities include parking and unparking bikes, and closing up/cleaning the shop at night. You spend a lot of time outside in the largest bike parking spot in North America. No bike mechanic skills are necessary but being able to fix a flat is definitely a plus. We’d be happy to teach you. You must be reliable, have a positive attitude, and work well on your own. Wages start at $13/hour with a 50/50 health insurance option. Mon-fri 3:30pm-8pm with paid holidays and sick/vacation time.
How to Apply *
Email a one-two paragraph cover letter explaining why you would be a good match for this position and a resume. Position to start ASAP.
Streetview of NE 7th looking north toward NE Knott.
The Bureau of Transportation has kicked off a project that aims to make it safer to travel between the Lloyd District and Woodlawn neighborhoods.
The $552,000 Lloyd to Woodlawn (L2W for short) neighborhood greenway project will utilize either NE 7th or 9th and will stretch from Weidler in the south to Holman in the north. Once completed, the route would connect the buffered bike lanes in the Lloyd District to existing neighborhood greenways on Tillamook and Holman. It would also include a safer crossing of Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.
PBOT has scheduled the first open house for the project on February 27th.
[Publisher’s note: Welcome to our Family Biking column! I’m thrilled to share Madi’s insights and experiences here on BP. Please give her a warm welcome and let’s thank Clever Cycles for helping bring this content to the community. — Jonathan]
Hi. I’m Madi.
I bike for all the typical reasons — it’s cheaper than driving, it’s safer than driving, it’s simpler than taking the bus, it’s healthy, it doesn’t pollute, it’s usually faster than all other modes of transportation — but mostly because it’s tremendously fun. Even with kids. Especially with kids. I love to share that sense of fun and ease with others in the hopes of encouraging more families and individuals to bike even just a little bit more often. I’ve found focusing on the fun stuff to be an effective way of promoting bicycling as transportation (but I also reserve the right to discuss statistics and badmouth car traffic).
I ride with my two sons, aged 10 and 8, and our conveniently-basket-sized dog. I’ve been family biking since my first son was one year old and have gone through several bike iterations along the way. I like to think there are a lot of different right answers and very few wrong answers when it comes to choosing a family bike.
Lynn Peterson imitating public art during a bike tour of Gresham. (Photo: Lynn Peterson for Metro President)
If you want to lead the agency that oversees the entire Portland metro region, you need an intimate understanding of the cities within it. What better way to gain that knowledge than from the seat of a bicycle?
Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman at Portland’s Parking Day event in 2013. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman is putting what she learned in Portland to very good use: addressing the sexism in urban planning and helping women take leadership roles in how our cities are designed.
“The city, as we know it today, has been designed and shaped primarily by men,” she wrote in a recent email, “By bringing women’s voices to the forefront of the urban discussion, the Women Led Cities Initiative aims to achieve a greater level of equity in urban planning and design – both bottom-up and top-down – and start conversations about developing feminist city policy towards greater equality for all people in our cities.”
Those projects were just the start for Johnston-Zimmerman. She’s also founder of the THINK.urban consulting firm, part of the tandem (along with fellow urbanist Kirsten Jeffers) that hosts the Third Wave Urbanism podcast, and one of the driving forces behind the Women Led Cities initiative.
After hundreds of comments, dueling online petitions, and a now-legendary open house that devolved into a “mob scene” takeover, the City of Portland has emerged with a new approach to the Lincoln-Harrison Neighborhood Greenway Enhancement Project.
They have altered their initial plans and — in an effort to assuage naysayers of certain elements of the old plan — have redoubled their efforts to effectively communicate the need for the project in general.
