A Nomad Cycles e-assist system on a Soma mixte.
(Photo: Nomad Cycles)
(Photo: Nomad Cycles)
In defense of neighborhood greenways, city will send police to Clinton Street
As promised last week, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is calling out the police to beef up enforcement on SE Clinton Street.
It’s just the latest tool in their arsenal in the battle to defend neighborhood greenways from rude and dangerous driving behaviors.
According to a statement just sent around by PBOT, the police will take part in an “education and enforcement action” on Clinton between 12th and 50th tomorrow (12/15) from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm and from 4:30 to 6:30 pm (it’s unclear why they’re avoiding the morning rush).
The aim of the increased enforcement is, “to enhance the Clinton Greenway and make it more inviting for people who are walking and biking.” It’s part of a multi-pronged effort to educate people who use Clinton that it was designed specifically for people to walk and bike. In addition to the enforcement, PBOT has placed 22 signs on the road to get the point across.
$1000 Scholarship to Attend National Bicycle Summit in Washington D.C.
Travel Oregon is awarding several $1000 scholarships to attend the 2016 National Bicycle Summit (March 7-9) with Oregon’s delegation.
Scholarships are allotted specifically for individuals working on rural bicycle tourism-related projects throughout the state, and who are able to attend the entire Summit in Washington D.C., including a special Lobby Day.
Deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on January 4, 2016.
If you have additional questions or comments about $1000 Scholarship to Attend National Bicycle Summit in Washington D.C., please contact Nastassja Pace, Destination Development Specialist at Staj (at) TravelOregon.com 971-717-6203.
After fatal crash, BTA calls for continuous bike lanes on Lombard
In the wake of a fatal crash that left one man dead, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is calling on the Oregon Department of Transportation to install bike lanes on NE Lombard Avenue.
The BTA has just released a petition that they plan to deliver to ODOT Region 1 Manager Rian Windsheimer. Here’s the text of the petition:
I, the undersigned, support immediate provision of continuous bike lanes on NE Lombard at 42nd Avenue. Vision Zero is the refusal to accept any fatalities or serious injury crashes on our roads. We must take a Vision Zero approach to this deadly bike lane gap by addressing it immediately. Please act now before anyone else is killed on this ODOT road.
The Monday Roundup: The failure-to-yield epidemic, the upside of cheap oil and more
Failure to yield is a far deadlier
problem than drunken driving.
(Image: TransAlt)
problem than drunken driving.
(Image: TransAlt)
This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Lancaster Engineering, a Portland-based traffic engineering and transportation planning firm.
Saturday’s successful finish to the Paris carbon-reduction commitments hovered over a lot of this week’s news, including the bike news. Here are the bike-related links, climatological and otherwise, that caught our eyes this week:
Failure to yield: It causes six times as many traffic injuries as drunk driving (PDF) but is prosecuted 99.6 percent less. (Numbers are from New York state.)
200 miles: That’s what Kurt Searvogel, 52, pedals every single day in his Pop-Tart-fueled campaign to set a world record for distance biked in a year.
Smart car: A Florida woman was arrested for an alleged hit-and-run after her car ratted her out by calling 911 itself.
Fatal hit-and-run at NE Lombard and 42nd Ave – Updated
The crash scene. (Looking east on Lombard from the westbound lanes toward 42nd)
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)
A man was killed while riding his bicycle on NE Lombard/Portland Highway tonight. According to the Portland Police the crash happened near NE 42nd Avenue. This is the same location we just wrote about on Friday as having a “scary pinch-point.”
The crash happened around 8:30 pm. Here’s the statement released by the PPB at 9:10 pm:
Comment of the Week: Eight simple tips for wet riding
Savor it.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)
For those of you who’ve moved to Oregon in the last year: yes, every winter is like this.
Just kidding. But this soggy, blustery week has certainly given us a reminder of what we do to pay for those long summer evenings. In Monday’s open thread about riding through the day’s downpour, BikePortland reader Pedal PT offered a list of simple suggestions for rainy riding. They’re a perfect introduction to a commute that can be surprisingly fun.
Advocates fear loss of dedicated biking and walking funds from Metro
A JPACT meeting at Metro.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
Regional leaders are hinting that it might be time to stop dedicating a key funding source to biking and walking projects. And advocates are not taking it lightly.
The discussion is centered around what is known as the regional flexible funding allocation, a pot of money Metro gets from the federal government and then hands out to cities and counties. In the next round of allocations for 2019-2021, $38 million (out of a total of $125 million) is set-aside specifically for infrastructure. (The rest goes to transit bond payments ($48 million) and region-wide planning and program investments ($28 million). There’s another $11 million that might be available for infrastructure but that’s not decided yet).
Unlike the vast majority of transportation dollars (gas tax and other mode-specific loan and grant programs), local governments can spend flexible funds however they want — which means something other than highway widening, rail transit or bridge upgrades. That makes flexible funds extremely competitive. In the past, Metro has chosen to invest these funds into two categories: freight and biking/walking (a.k.a. active transportation).
State and city fast-track closure of extra offramp near east end of Broadway Bridge
The extra “slip ramp” from
I-5 onto Broadway would close.
I-5 onto Broadway would close.
Here’s some good news about one of the most dangerous spots on one of Portland’s most popular bike routes.
The Oregon Department of Transportation and City of Portland are planning to break ground this spring on much-anticipated changes to the area where a southbound Interstate 5 offramp drops people fresh off the freeway into a slip lane that curves across the North Broadway bike lane.
This project had previously been scheduled to start next summer.
The changes planned will mean that when someone exits I-5 to head across the Broadway Bridge, instead of seeing this (a “slip lane” that is all but begging people to roll through it, right into a bike lane)…
Portland’s former urban bike farmer releases new book
If you’ve lived in Portland long enough you’ve probably caught site of someone on a bike hauling yard and home improvement tools around. We have organizations that plant trees by bike, businesses that do landscaping and carpentry by bike, and we even have farmers who’ve replaced the iconic work-truck with a work-bike.
One of those farmers, Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, has now written a book about it. Adventures in Urban Bike Farming from Macska Moksha Press is what Sonnenblume calls, “Equal parts historical document, confessional memoir and social critique.”
Don’t let the title of the book fool you, based on an excerpt made available by the publisher Sonnenblume has just as many insights to share about Portland’s cultural upheaval in the past decade as he does about how to increase potato yields. “If you’re looking for a message of ‘rah rah, look how sustainable we are!’,” he says, “you won’t find it here.”
Scary pinch-point on Lombard puts new ORcycle trouble-reporting app to the test
Where the bike lane ends.
(Image: Google Street View)
(Image: Google Street View)
After our report last month about the Oregon Department of Transportation’s new “ORcycle” app for reporting biking problems, BikePortland reader Hazel G. decided to try it out.
Hazel regularly bikes on NE Lombard Street, a U.S. highway managed by the state, under the overpass of 42nd Avenue. This is one of those overpasses where it suddenly becomes less important to separate people biking from 50 mph motor traffic than to ensure that both lanes of motor traffic don’t have to merge into a single lane. (This is a strange American approach to street design that we compared with European practices in 2013.)
Jobs of the Week: SCRAP, Castelli, Rack Attack, HGNR Inc.
Looking for a job? Or maybe just a change of pace? We’ve got four fresh opportunities for you to peruse. Learn more about each job via the links below…
- Production Artist – Castelli USA
- Busines Donations & Retail Specialist – SCRAP PDX
- Sales/Installer – Rack Attack
- National Inside Sales and Customer Service – HGNR Inc.