Two more great job opportunities were listed this week.
Learn more about each one via the links below…
–> Custom-Build Specialist – Joe Bike
Free and easy: Portland loosens rules for carfree block parties
Streets are not just for driving on. This is a fact that the City of Portland’s transportation bureau is embracing wholeheartedly these days. A few new tweaks to the City’s rules for neighborhood block parties is the most recent example.
With spring weather finally here after one of the darkest and wettest and coldest winters on record, Portlanders are ready to party in the street — and PBOT just made it much easier and cheaper to do it officially and safely.
Starting this year PBOT no longer requires block party permit applicants to get signatures from all the residents on the block. All you have to do is share a flyer about the event with your neighbors. Also new this year is the ability to do the entire application online.
Weekend Event Guide: Filmed by Bike, tulip farm race, b-ball art, and more
(Photo: Filmed by Bike)
Our Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus bike locks.
Welcome to (almost) the weekend. It goes without saying that it will be amazing because, well, as I’m sure you know already, the weather has finally turned to dry and warm.
Outside Mag shares tough talk about cars and other ways to make U.S. better for biking
Outside Magazine isn’t usually the place we turn to for the latest perspectives on transportation reform. But an article they published online last week, The bike industry’s sharpest minds on how to make roads safer for cyclists, is worth your attention.
And I don’t say just because it features a bit of a rant by yours truly.
Reporter Jeff Foss asked 11 people for their insights on how to make roads in America nicer to cycle on. I decided to share some of my thoughts about cars and car culture. Below is my blurb, followed by a brief outline of what the other 10 folks said:
The United States has fallen way behind in cycling and traffic safety because we don’t do enough to curtail and regulate automobile use. The auto lobby is kicking our butts, and too many of us don’t seem to mind. Far too often, we settle for incremental progress—a new bike lane here, a new bike law there—when what’s needed are big, bold changes in both culture and infrastructure.
Bamboo bike building workshop coming to Portland this summer!
Bicycle builder extraordinaire, John Bam Climaco, is a bamboo enthusiast who has led workshops with Craig Calfee to master the art and science of building your own one of a kind bamboo bike frame. This 3 day workshop includes all the materials and guidance needed to create your own bamboo bicycle frame.
The mission behind the workshops is to share our passion for advocating for a more sustainable earth and advocate for the progressive livelihood of renewable materials such as bamboo and abaca (banana tree). We also aim to make professional bikes more accessible to people of all incomes, by building it yourself you can save thousands on a new bike. Finally, the heart of the workshop model is getting back to the makerspace, working with one’s hands, and learning that everyone has the tools and capability to build their own bike.
Check out finished bikes at Bambu Technologies on Instagram and Facebook.
For more on Bamboo bikes, check out: https://momentummag.com/how-green-is-your-bicycle-manufacturing
To reserve your space in the workshop, contact Portland host, Shawna at shawna.cain@presidio.edu
First look: The tiny (yet important) cycle-track on SW Terwilliger at Capitol Highway
It might not look like much, but it makes a big difference.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)
“The changes are a big improvement.”
— Barbara Stedman, southwest Portland resident
Slowly but surely, the City of Portland is improving bikeways in southwest. Case in point are the recently completed changes to the intersection of SW Capitol Highway and Terwilliger (a.k.a the “teardrop”).
People who ride in this area know the intersection well because it was a common place for close-calls. I experienced this first-hand during a ride-along with a southwest Portland family in 2012 (see photo below). The curvature of the road, mixed with the unprotected bike lane was a bad combination. Fortunately a Portland Water Bureau project provided the impetus to finally fix the bikeway and make something much safer (and we were fortunate that a volunteer advocate spoke up to make sure it happened – thanks Keith Liden!).
Before I share more photos of the new bikeway, here’s how it used to look (note the pinch-point and how the younger rider opts wisely for the sidewalk):
Should we open suburban bike lanes to other vehicles?
The suburbs: what to do? We have mostly disconnected streets and the ones that connect are wide and fast. This makes for less than ideal biking conditions. We have put bike lanes on these roads, but they are empty a lot of the time. Eventually, as transportation dollars become even tighter there will be push-back for spending this money.
Any time government builds something that doesn’t get utilized it appears as though we’re wasting our money. What can we do about this?
Slow-narrow vehicles are perfect candidates to use bicycle lanes. Currently many of these vehicles are not allowed in bike lanes. Mopeds can’t use bike lanes if they’re operating their motor, motorcycles definitely aren’t allowed in bike lanes. The relevant statue is here: https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/811.440 (2015 ORS 811.440 – When motor vehicles may operate on bicycle lane)
I think that on suburban arterials with speed limits often between 35-55 mph, slower vehicles are basically unable to operate on these streets without being allowed into a ‘slow lane’. Whether we continue to call the bike lanes or not to me is not important. What we should want is build up a coalition of users strong enough to lobby for more lane-miles, better connectivity and better maintenance of bike lanes on suburban arterials.
What do you think? Should we allow other vehicles into bike lanes on suburban arterials? Will this help get more bike infrastructure or maintain what we currently have, or would this simply create more conflicts between bicyclists and other users?
Electric bikes are already multiplying and are currently allowed in these lanes. We should think about this sooner rather than later.
470 bollards not enough to protect ‘Better Naito’ bikeway
This is supposed to be a carfree lane.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)
Let me make this as clear as possible: If Portland wants to get more people cycling, we must provide a network of high-quality, physically protected routes that are connected to destinations. Any bikeway that does not provide physical protection from “A to B” that’s both real and perceived is a gap in the network.
I bring this up because of the fanfare that launched Better Naito last week. Don’t get me wrong, I think the fanfare is justified. The volunteers who advocated for the project initially and the city staff that have embraced it have many reasons to be proud. But let us not forget that this is still second-rate infrastructure designed on the cheap.
PBOT wants to crowdsource bike corral usage data with eye on improvements
Bike corrals have become a common feature of Portland’s streets. Looks like they could use a larger one at Ex Novo on North Flint Ave.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)
From St. Johns to Lents, and all points in between, the City of Portland has 145 bike parking corrals. The groupings of blue staple racks have become a standard piece of street furniture and a symbol of Portland’s commitment to cycling.
But how often are they used? Are some overcrowded? Should they be larger? Smaller? And how does Biketown figure into the equation?
These are just some of the questions the Bureau of Transportation hopes to answer with a new, crowdsourced bike corral reporting project. Using a short online form, PBOT wants to know three basic pieces of information: How many bikes are parked at the corral, if they include Biketown bikes, and the date/time of the observation.
Three winners announced for annual Mark Bosworth Cycle Oregon Scholarship
(Photos courtesy Mark Bosworth Scholarship Fund)
Mark Bosworth was an employee of Metro and Cycle Oregon volunteer who went missing from the event in September 2011. He has never been found.
His family established a scholarship fund to provide entry fees to people for the Cycle Oregon Classic ride that Mark loved so much. Below are this year’s winners.
City launches ‘Bike to Books’ art contest to kick off Bike Month
Multnomah County Youth Librarian Barbara Head at Bike Storytime in Hillsdale this morning.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)
The City of Portland and Multnomah County Library (with an assist from Metro) have teamed up on a novel way to promote National Bike Month: They’re hosting an art contest with a grand prize of having the winners’ design installed as a bike lane character.
Ever notice how some of the bike lane symbols around town have extra special flair? Some are subtle little twists and others are nothing short than a work of art. It’s a tradition that the Portland Bureau of Transportation started back in 1999. And now four lucky young Portlanders will get a chance to have their vision turned into a piece of infrastructure.
The “Bike to Books” program kicked off this morning at the Hillsdale Library. With the library’s book bike (more on that later) parked in the entrance, over a dozen pre-schoolers were treated to a special, bike-themed storytime. Youth Librarian Barbara Head kept the kids entertained (no easy task at that age) with bike books and bike-themed songs. It’s all part of an effort to get people of all ages to bike to the library during the month of May.
Any Multnomah County resident in kindergarten to 12th grade can grab a coloring contest flyer from a library or online and give it your best shot. The contest is open all month long and entrants must return the finished art to a library branch. Four grand prize winners (one for each age category) will get their bike lane art installed. The second place prize is four passes to The Lumberyard Indoor Bike Park and third place gets a Nutcase helmet.