BikePortland

The Monday Roundup: A crash-proof human body, a San Jose bike bridge & more

The head of “Graham,” a lifelike model of what humans might look like if they’d evolved to use cars.
(Image: Towards Zero)

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by The Portland Century, a one or two-day bicycle tour coming August 6-7th.

Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Crash-proof human: An Australian artist collaborated with a trauma surgeon to create “Graham,” a full-body silicone model of what humans might look like if they evolved to survive car crashes.

Bike bridge: San Jose’s proposed biking-walking bridge over a freeway would certainly be spectacular.

Getting there.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Of all the wonderful ideas in Portland’s Bicycle Plan for 2030, the one I personally hope is never forgotten is its audacious use of a numeral: 25 percent.

That’s the target it set for the share of trips that could happen by bicycle in Portland. Today, the figure is something like 7 percent. Only several dozen cities in eastern Asia and northern Europe, probably, can currently boast 25 percent or more.

But 25 percent is possible and even imaginable, as BikePortland reader Alex Reedin spelled out in a Thursday morning comment estimating the payoff for each step that’ll be required to get us there.

New public plaza on SW 3rd and Ankeny-7.jpg

Looking ~~south~~ north at Burnside from SW 3rd near Ankeny.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

You know Portland is getting its groove back when the Bureau of Transportation creates a large new public plaza and it takes us nearly a week to get it up on the front page.

Nonprofit newspaper director Israel Bayer.
(Photo: Street Roots)

As the day approaches for a so-called “sweep” of everyone camping along the Springwater Corridor, one of Portland’s leading housing advocates is offering a counterproposal.

Instead of pushing everyone in these informal camps “back into the neighborhoods and downtown,” Street Roots Executive Director Israel Bayer wrote in a column Thursday, the city should (a) increase “organized camping” and (b) “surgically” target only people who are causing problems, not everyone else around them.

“If there are bad actors, get them out of there,” Bayer wrote. “If people are having an environmental impact, give them an ultimatum. Clean your camps up, or be swept.”

Last month’s inaugural U-lock? U-Rock! exchange was so popular that the Portland Police Bureau’s Bike Theft Task Force (BTTF) ran out of locks within the first hour.

“Before we even got set up, there was a line. We could not keep up with the demand,” Portland Police Bureau Officer Dave Sanders wrote in a debrief. “At one point, there was a line of cyclists a block long and so many people congregating around our tents, that it was interfering with other organizations.”

Officer Sanders and a crew of volunteers (more are needed!) and city partners will be prepared for the onslaught this Sunday when the program returns for Sunday Parkways Northeast.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Looks like there’s a bee theme to this Sunday Parkways. Check out all the details below…

Northeast Portland Sunday Parkways will be BEE-utiful this Weekend

PBOT, BES and City Repair activities at Sunday Parkways to highlight a Pollinator-friendly Portland
Portland, OR, July 21, 2016 — This summer’s third City of Portland Sunday Parkways presented by Kaiser Permanente is coming to Northeast Portland this Sunday, July 24. Walkers, cyclists and rollers of all kinds will have the opportunity to enjoy a 7.6 mile loop of traffic-free streets from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. This weekend’s route will connect Northeast Portland neighborhoods from Woodlawn Park to Khunamokwst Park. The route will also showcase neighborhood greenways like Going Street. Neighborhood greenways are residential streets with low speeds that are marked with bicycle symbols on the pavement.

As an added bonus, this weekend’s event will give Portlanders an opportunity to explore the benefits of a healthy and bee-friendly city when the Pollinator Project debuts. A partnership between the City Repair Project and Sunday Parkways, the multi-year Pollinator Project will focus on increasing pollinator habitat in Portland through community engagement, educational awareness, and a series of neighborhood projects. Sunday Parkways participants will be able to take part in a variety of activities highlighting the important role that pollinators play in Portland’s environment. The Pollinator Project is partially funded through the Community Watershed Stewardship Program (CWSP) grant facilitated by the Bureau of Environmental Services.

The event’s detailed Sunday Parkways route map shows the route as well as bus and light rail options to help area residents get to Sunday Parkways via bike and transit. A schedule and listing of event highlights are available on the Sunday Parkways Northeast Portland brochure.

Sunday Parkways is a series of five free community events opening the city’s largest public space – its streets – for people to walk, bike, roll and discover active transportation. The event series, held in a different neighborhood once a month from May to September, is hugely popular; total attendance topped 119,000 last year.
For maps and more information, visit www.PortlandSundayParkways.org or call 503-823-7599. Follow us on Facebook at PortlandSundayParkways and on Twitter @SundayParkways.

Jobs of the Week: 3 openings at Velotech

Velotech, the company behind two local Western Bikeworks retail stores and BikeTiresDirect.com, has three fresh openings for you to choose from.

Learn more about each one via the links below…

–> Customer Experience Specialist – Velotech

–> Shipping Specialist – Velotech

–> Buyer – Velotech

Five years ago today Portland resident Michelle DePass stood up at a meeting for a transportation project on North Williams Avenue and changed the course of local and national cycling politics forever:

“We have an issue of racism and of the history of this neighborhood,” DePass said. “Until we address that history and… the cultural differences we have in terms of respect, we are not going to move very far.”

(Image: NACTO)

While Portland celebrates a strong first day for Biketown, a new report about the factors that drive growth in bike sharing shows how Portland has fallen behind the leading U.S. cities in new infrastructure.

Minneapolis, New York City and San Francisco now have about 50, 20 and 15 percent more bikeways per square mile than Portland respectively, the report found. All three of those cities has seen faster bikeway growth than Portland since 2010, the year Portland passed its ambitious Bike Plan for 2030. In Minneapolis, bike infrastructure has grown three times faster.

These new figures were released Wednesday as part of a report by the National Association for City Transportation Officials, which examined the role quality bike networks play in making bike sharing safe and popular.

Stephanie Noll.(Photo: BTA) — Stephanie Noll
(Photo: Tanja Olson Images)

Stephanie Noll plans to leave the staff of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance this Friday.

Noll is the organization’s No. 2 employee and has been on the staff since 2007, longer than all but one other employee. She began her tenure as part of what was then a fairly new Safe Routes to School team and is currently serving as the BTA’s deputy director.

Noll’s departure comes a few weeks before the BTA announces a new name at its Aug. 10 members meeting that will mark a new, broader focus on walking and mass transit as well as bike transportation.

“Steph has had an amazing impact on the BTA,” Executive Director Rob Sadowsky said in an interview today. “She has expanded our support base with foundations, allowing us to expand our staff. She launched our Women Bike program, took the Bike More Challenge and Vision Zero to new levels and helped launch Families for Safe Streets.” Sadowsky added that the BTA will evaluate all staffing needs after their strategic planning reboot and big fundraising event in the fall.

Here’s the email Noll sent out to friends and colleagues this morning:

The Monday Roundup: A crash-proof human body, a San Jose bike bridge & more

Comment of the Week: Portland’s five-step recipe for 25 percent biking

First look: The new public plaza on SW 3rd

Street Roots’ Israel Bayer on moving Springwater camps: ‘Do it surgically’

Bike Theft Task Force returns with popular u-lock exchange program

Sunday Parkways coming to Northeast Portland this Sunday (7/24)

Jobs of the Week: 3 openings at Velotech

Five years after Williams Avenue project controversy, ride will trace history of gentrification

New report shows Portland falling further behind peers on bikeway growth

BTA deputy director will leave organization at the end of this week

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From the Archives

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