Linking the central eastside: City narrows options for closing the ‘Green Loop’

green loop visualization

The vision for an all-ages bike loop linking the central city is slowly moving from sketch to blueprint. But where should it cross I-84, and which streets should it run on?
(Image: Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability)

City planners and stakeholders are looking closely at an unsolved problem of Portland’s central eastside: the route for a continuous north-south bikeway somewhere inland from the Eastbank Esplanade.

The leading options are, at this point, numerous and intriguing: Grand, 6th, 7th and 9th.

Planners are also looking, in closer detail than ever, at the possible options for a new biking-walking bridge over Interstate 84.

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Vision Zero coming into focus in Portland

BTA Annual meeting-2

BTA’s Rob Sadowsky sees a bright future for
Vision Zero in Portland.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Vision Zero (also known as Towards Zero Deaths) is a bold goal that’s also the name of a growing national movement to end the acceptance of fatalities and injuries on our roads as mere “accidents.” Advocates instead want to completely change our approach to street design and policy so that no one is hurt or killed while using them.

We’ve been talking about Vision Zero for years here in Portland, but there seems to finally be some tangible movement forward.

Tomorrow in New York City is the opening day of the Vision Zero for Cities Symposium and there will be several Portlanders making the trip. Rob Sadowsky, the leader of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Aaron Brown, a board member with Oregon Walks will be there. The City will send Gabriel Graff, the operations manager of the Active Transportation Division at the Portland Bureau of Transportation. (We’ve also heard that PPB Traffic Division Capt. Kelli Sheffer will also be at the symposium, but we’ve been unable to confirm her attendance.)

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National bike org launches ‘Travel With Care’ safety campaign

pfblead

National industry-funded bicycle advocacy group People for Bikes (formerly Bikes Belong) has launched a new PSA campaign dubbed “Travel With Care.” The campaign aims at “humanizing people on bikes and encouraging better behavior among drivers and bike riders.”

A series of posters has been launched and they’ll soon be appearing on billboards and other locations nationwide.

The campaign was modeled on the “Drive With Care” campaign launched (via a successful crowd-funding effort) by the non-profit Bike Pittsburgh this past spring.

The visuals include portraits of everyday people and their bikes, along with some clever taglines. For instance a chef’s posters reads: “Chef. Neighbor. Rides a bike. Don’t cut it close.”

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Car2go’s new bike racks have passed the Portland test

tallbike

Yes, Virginia, a seven-foot-tall tandem tallbike can be carried on one of car2go’s new rear racks.
(Photo: Carl Larson, Bicycle Transportation Alliance)

Last week, we reported that floating-fleet carsharing service Car2go was preparing to start testing a new feature in Portland: external bike racks.

Yesterday, Bicycle Transportation Alliance staffer Carl Larson helped the company test whether their product was up to the job of hauling the full diversity of our local bike fleet.

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Wind topples tree onto woman as she bikes up Naito Parkway

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

It’s windy out there. Very windy.

This afternoon there were reports of trees and branches falling all over the region. Before leaving the office for the day, Jonathan posted the following tweet:

Then, what he’d posted in jest actually happened to an unlucky woman riding downtown.

According to a Portland Police Bureau report, a woman who was biking in downtown Portland survived a tree falling on her in the bike lane. It happened just after 4 p.m., according to police. She received “traumatic but not life-threatening injuries.”

Check out a photo of the tree and the full PPB press release below the jump…

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Holiday profile: David Lewis of Veteran Bicycle Co. is trying to invent a cheaper bike

david lewis

David Lewis believes that bike
manufacturing is ripe for disruption.
(Photos courtesy Lewis)

Portland is thick with indie bike frame builders. But the most audacious bike-design entrepreneur in town is focused on everything except the frame.

Ringed on three and a half sides by his tiny metal fabrication studio — a sort of blue-collar cubicle inside ADX, Southeast Portland’s coworking facility for people who make stuff — David Lewis described the product he’s slowly trying to design from the gears out.

“It’s an American bicycle that’s affordable and ready to ride,” Lewis said. “I don’t know what that bike looks like yet.”

The 37-year-old founder of Veteran Bicycle Co. just got his machine manufacturing certificate this fall. But he’s about to head into his second year of trying to come up with completely new and lower-cost ways to design and manufacture any and every part of the bicycle.

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TriMet project at Gateway Transit Center will impact bicycle access to I-205 path

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

A project to upgrade a rail crossing at the south end of the Gateway Transit Center will close bicycle access to the I-205 path from November 16th through the 26th. See more info from TriMet below:

TriMet will be making improvements to a rail crossing at Gateway Transit Center November 16 and November 23, 2014. The work will provide a smoother ride for MAX and bus riders, as well as create an improved crossing for pedestrians and bicyclists, but it will require a one-day disruption for MAX trains on Sunday, Nov. 16.

Crews will replace rubber panels with a more durable concrete structure. The improvements will cost about $261,000 and are part of TriMet’s ongoing investments to ensure our system remains safe and efficient for years to come.
Sunday, Nov. 16 through Wednesday, Nov. 26, access to and from the I-205 multi-use path at NE Pacific Street will be closed. Signs will direct pedestrians and bicyclists to the NE Multnomah Street access path. Please walk bikes in the transit center.
…
We will be placing detour signs for those on bicycle and walking/rolling to use the northern crossing during this time (that lines up with NE Multnomah) and try to catch riders closer to the NE 99th Ave and NE Pacific intersection, to encourage them to use the northern crossing. If riders come further west on NE Pacific, towards the crossing, they will be directed to walk their bikes northward through the Transit Center to use the northern crossing.

We know that this will be a inconvenience to some riders, but the northern crossing of the tracks (that lines up with NE Multnomah) will remain open to access the I-205 path.

Proposed changes to Lloyd Center Mall entrance will face protected bike lane

lloyd center entrance rendering

Plans for the new south-facing mall entrance also include a row of sidewalk-facing storefronts and 34 covered bike parking spaces just inside the garage.
(Images: Waterleaf Architecture via City of Portland. Click to enlarge.)

After decades of keeping its shops (and Portland’s most famous skating rink) behind the bars of its parking garage, the Lloyd Center is planning a change.

As we reported last winter, the new owners of the mall have planned a new “grand entrance” that will slice away part of the rarely crowded garage in order to welcome foot and bike traffic from Multnomah Street, Holladay Park and the Lloyd Center MAX station.

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The Monday Roundup: Beautiful bike parking, Magliozzi’s car freedom and more

planphilly

Nice corral, Philadelphia.
(Photo: PlanPhilly)

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by North St Bags, celebrating their fifth anniversary of making great panniers and backpacks right here in Portland.

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

Beautiful parking: When businesses pay for their own bike corrals, they tend to look really nice.

Car-free mechanic: Tom Magliozzi, the late “Car Talk” host, didn’t own a car and said he preferred bikes and public transit.

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City’s new ‘Street Fund’ proposal would raise $46 million a year

streets-lead

PBOT Director Leah Treat, Mayor Hales, and Commissioner Novick at this morning’s press conference.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

At City Hall this morning Mayor Charlie Hales, Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick and PBOT Director Leah Treat unveiled their latest proposal to raise new revenue for transportation. The “Portland Street Fund” would raise $46 million for maintenance and safety projects through a mix of business fees and personal income taxes.

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Car, freight, bike and transit advocates agree to back Oregon gas tax or fee hike in 2015

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The Oregon Trucking Association, AAA and petroleum industry agreed last week not only to back a possible gas tax hike but to support indexing the tax for future automatic increases.
(Photo: C.M. Keiner)

Oregon’s 2015 legislative session is sure to include lots of plot twists for transportation policy. But at least among the key lobbyists, a grand bargain has been struck.

A group of advocates for biking, driving, urban density, public health, the gasoline industry, truck freight, rail fright, cities and public transit agencies — Oregon’s broadest-based organization of transportation interest groups — voted unanimously Thursday on the basic terms of a proposed transportation bill.

The deal brokered by members of the Oregon Transportation Forum would use a gas tax and/or auto fee hike to raise hundreds of millions of dollars over two years for infrastructure around the state.

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike