BikePortland

Man riding motorcycle dies after collision with delivery truck at Williams and Monroe (updated)

A man died early Tuesday, Portland police said, two days after a collision between a motorcycle he was riding and a Red Cross blood delivery truck turning left off of North Williams Avenue at Monroe Street.

It happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday on the corner just outside Urban Nest Realty, one block south of the Waypost and immediately west of Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. According to a police statement on Tuesday, the man in the motorcycle had been trying to overtake the truck on the left, presumably by entering the bike lane, when the truck made a legal left turn.

This is to my knowledge the first traffic fatality on Williams since its late 2014 redesign that created a wide left-side bike lane and various crosswalk improvements, and restricted auto traffic on many blocks to a single lane.

Michelle Kunec-North is managing
the process for the city.
(Photo courtesy Kunec-North)

A year after hundreds of people attended a rally in support of in-town mountain biking trails, the City of Portland is starting its project to decide where such trails should go.

“It’s a way for people to get outside, to get in nature, to be active, to spend time with their families,” said Michelle Kunec-North, the city planning bureau staffer (and longtime recreational mountain biker) managing the process. “It’s the city’s goal to have active transportation, and it’s kind of an entry point, for kids in particular but for adults in some cases, to learning how to ride a bike.”

In an interview last week, Kunec-North added that off-road cycling options in Portland would also help build a generation of stewards of the city’s natural areas and boost the local tourism and bike economies.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

What do we really want?
(Photo J.Maus/BikePortland

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

Traffic overloads: Here’s the problem with thinking of congested city streets as a backlogged garden hose that needs widening: “cities aren’t the hoses, they’re the gardens.”

Footballer cyclist: Former Pro Bowl tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. wants to be the first NFL player to become a professional biker.

An estimated 40,000 people crossed Tilikum Crossing Sunday on foot, bike, skateboard, scooter or wheelchair.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

With walkers and in strollers, on hopalongs and (in the case of quite a few happily panting dogs) on leashes, Portlanders packed a series of previews Sunday of Tilikum Crossing, the first bridge in the United States to carry buses, bikes, trains, streetcars and people walking but no private cars.

Jim Parsons in a 2011 photo.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

For at least one last time, the squeaky wheel known as Jim Parsons has gotten some grease onto the gears of government.

After the veteran Portland-area bike advocate’s unsanctioned paint job of two sunken grates in Barbur Boulevard’s bike lanes landed them on TV news for two consecutive days, the Oregon Department of Transportation said Friday that it’ll follow his recommendations for addressing the problem within the next week or two.

An agency spokesman added that ODOT owes thanks to Parsons, who recently finished a degree at Portland State University and is planning a move to China.

Not currently a spot for
low-stress rolls.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Southeast Foster Road feels a long way from the heart of Portland’s transportation conversation at the moment. But that’s not going to last long.

Next year, right in the middle of Portland’s mayoral election, Foster is scheduled to be the site of the city’s most ambitious road diet yet, a conversion of passing lanes to bike and turn lanes that’s widely expected to create auto spillover onto other streets even as it dramatically improves the safety of driving or crossing Foster, which is currently one of the city’s 10 high-crash corridors.

The new bike lanes will be nothing more than paint, but six-foot-wide or buffered. And in a comment beneath Tuesday’s story exploring how to divvy up Portland’s bike-infrastructure budgets, BikePortland reader Gutterbunnybikes made an interesting case that those bike lanes will be more important than you think.

Why? Because unlike almost every other bike lane in Portland, they’re going to run right through commercial districts.

Come on down.
(Photo J.Maus/BikePortland)

The annual Hood to Coast running relay is understandably celebrated as a signature Northwest event. But if you’ve ever participated, you know that it involves a lot of motor vehicles.

What a hassle!

Two weeks from today, a squad of Portlanders is inviting a few people to join a trial run of an interesting experiment: a Hood-to-Coast style running relay that relies on bikes, not vans, for support. Here’s the description of the “Peak to Rising Tide” relay from organizer Jamey Harris:

A Grill by Bike rig in action.
(Photo © M.Andersen/BikePortland)

This menu of delicious rides and events is brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery. Their support makes BikePortland possible.

Highs around 80, lows in the 60s and partly cloudy — now that’s what I call Portland summer. Which makes it extra perfect for an event like Bridge Pedal. Whatever we’re up to, let’s enjoy it.

Friday, Aug. 7

Portland Bicycle Studio Mountain Bike Demo – noon-5 p.m. at Skibowl on Mount Hood
Test ride new Giant-brand mountain bikes on the mountain Friday and Saturday. Includes trail access and a $20 all-day lift ticket. (Also see below.) Shuttle available. More info here.

Grill by Bike – 5 p.m. at Laurelhurst Park (3700 SE Ankeny St)
The fire-fueled bike-fun club meets for a ride to a live taping of the Sprocket Podcast’s 250th episode. Meet with grillables at the north-central corner of the park and get ready to ride on fire. More info here.

We’ve had one new job listed this week. Learn more about it here…

Bike Warehouse Person – Midwest Bicycle Supply

Job Title *
Bike Warehouse Person

Company/Organization *
Midwest Bicycle Supply

Job Description *
Shipping, Receiving, Inventory, work up New catalog. (it needs it bad). Let your imagination go wild, we need you.
Our pay is $10.00 per hour. If you stay with us we will pay for 1 week next winter. Plus 7 days ie, Jan 1, Pres. day July 4th, Memorial day, Labor day. Thanksgiving. and Christmas. General cleaning of office , warehouse
It would be nice if you know basic computer language,

call for more info or if you have questions
Thanks for reading this.

How to Apply *
To apply you can either call or e-Mail }@ mbs@midwestbicycle.com} us here. Our phone is #651-646-9716. We are located at 809 Carleton Street. one block north of university ave and one block East of Raymond Ave.

King Creamery adds ice cream to Portland’s bevy of bike-delivery businesses

The King Creamery ice cream trike with menu.
(Photos courtesy Jason King)

Portlanders on cargo bikes and trikes will deliver soup, fresh produce, food cart meals, beer and (of course) tamales to your door.

This summer, add another item to the menu: fancy ice cream.

For $24 a month, you can now be a member of King Creamery’s Ice Cream Club and get a bike delivery of three pints of the Northeast Portland-based King family’s latest ice cream concoction. This month’s flavors: “Banana Stand,” “Peaches & Cream” and “Mint Cookies.”

One-month purchases are also available for $25.

“I’ve been making ice cream for, gosh, it’s been eight years or so,” said Jason King, who co-founded the company this spring with his wife, Yvonne. “My wife wanted to have an ice cream party for her birthday one year, so I bought an ice cream machine, and I really got kind of obsessed with making it.”

morehead with centers corridors committee

Portland Bureau of Transportation planner Grant Morehead discusses parking policies with the city’s Centers and Corridors parking stakeholder committee.
(Photos: M.Andersen and J.Maus/BikePortland)

Central-city apartment dwellers might want to start looking into that whole car-free thing pretty soon.

An advisory committee composed almost entirely of residents of residential zones gave a general thumbs-up Wednesday night to a city proposal that could let residents of residential zones vote to prevent people who live on commercial streets from buying overnight parking permits in their neighborhoods.

Because most of Portland’s commercial main streets are zoned for mixed-use or employment, the proposed parking permit system — which would also charge residential permit holders a yet-to-be determined monthly or annual fee for curbside parking — would effectively let residents just off of commercial corridors remove curbside parking rights from residents of most nearby multifamily buildings.

The city’s idea is that such a system would lead developers of buildings on commercial corridors to include more on-site auto parking in their new buildings, or else to market their buildings more successfully to car-free residents.

Man riding motorcycle dies after collision with delivery truck at Williams and Monroe (updated)

Hope for mountain bikers? Off-Road Cycling Master Plan starts rolling

The Monday Roundup: Rethinking congestion, from the NFL to pro cycling & more

By the tens of thousands, Portlanders preview their new car-free bridge (photos)

After media reports, state says it will smooth sunken grates on Barbur

Comment of the Week: SE Foster, the heart of Portland’s coming bike grid

DIY relay event this month will echo Hood to Coast – with bikes instead of vans

Weekend Event Guide: Sprocket Podcast live, Tilikum Bridge Pedal & more

Friday, Aug. 7

Job of the Week: Midwest Bicycle Supply

Job: Bike Warehouse Person – Midwest Bicycle Supply

King Creamery adds ice cream to Portland’s bevy of bike-delivery businesses

Task force likes proposal to restrict main-street residents’ curbside parking rights

Latest Headlines

Reminder: No riding through River View Cemetery during Memorial Day Weekend

Guest Article: Demand a pause on PBOT’s SW Alder decision

Guest Opinion: The bike beat lives on in all of us

Our 20th Anniversary Party is this Wednesday

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland