(UPDATE, 12:36 pm: We know now the victim is Merritt Raitt, a well-known local rider. Read more about him in a note at the end of this post.)
This morning a man riding a bicycle was hit by a car driver while trying to cross over lanes of Highway 30 just north of the St. Johns Bridge.
The collision hasn’t been reported by authorities or on other media outlets, but we received details about it from a reader who was driving nearby and pulled up a few minutes after it happened.
According to our source (who pulled over to help the rider) the bicycle rider was riding northbound on Highway 30 and had just gone under the St. Johns Bridge. He then tried to merge across two lanes in order to enter the left turn lane that would take up onto NW Bridge Avenue to access NW Germantown Road (or the bridge). [Read more…]
The proposal calls for a reduction of driving access to make room for a curbside bike lane separated from moving traffic by a parking lane. (Illustration by Scott Mason)
The driver of this car seen sliding around on the Fremont Bridge was ultimately arrested and charged with 2 counts of reckless driving, 2 counts of reckless endangering and 2 counts of disorderly conduct. (Photo: YouTube)
Whether it’s the Coronavirus Effect, a general sense of lawlessness, lack of concern about consequences, or all of the above — the Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division has been very busy with dangerous drivers recently.
You’ve likely seen the headlines about a spike in speeding. This is happening for the aforementioned reasons and because the pandemic has opened up more space on the roads. Any armchair traffic engineer will tell you that when people have more space to operate a vehicle they will use it to go faster (like 107 mph in a 45 mph zone) and take more chances.
Now we have hard data from the PPB about how this phenomenon is playing out locally. [Read more…]
Seen in north Portland. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
While some Portlanders ride bikes and walk around their neighborhoods with relative ease, that ostensibly simple act isn’t so easy for many others. Local nonprofit leaders who work with immigrants, people of color, and families that rely on social services, paint a much different picture of neighborhood mobility.
In the case of Oregon Walks, Executive Director Jess Thompson said in a recent member newsletter that many people they serve, “Are not feeling safe leaving home during the pandemic.” “Too many folks do not have enough (or any) access to face coverings or reliable information about how to walk ‘Covid-aware’ and more safely when they walk out the door.”[Read more…]
Business owners can now fill out a short online application to request that space on their block be repurposed from parking to a “temporary 5-minute pickup/drop-off parking space.”
This part of the program was hinted at when it was launched on April 28th. It’s part of a three-pronged approach that aims to change how we use neighborhood greenways, busy streets, and main streets in an era of increased social distancing.[Read more…]
I’ve been holding back on this announcement because I didn’t want to waste your time if they didn’t pan out. But after launching quietly at the end of March, today we’ve passed the 100-user mark on the new BikePortland Forums and that gives me the confidence to officially announce them here on the Front Page.
BikePortland has always been about fostering good conversations, sharing information, and inspiring people to go out and use it. It’s why we invest so much in our comment section and maintain daily discussions here on the blog as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (not to mention old-fashioned emails and all those private messages).
So why add forums into that mix? Let me count the ways…[Read more…]
“If we want Portland to be taken seriously as a pedestrian and bike-friendly city, we need people to feel safe walking and biking, wherever they may be.”
Riders navigate around a person’s tent on the I-205 multi-use path. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Scene from the memorial for Kathryn Rickson in 2012 where some people called on Portland to ban large commercial trucks. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
The Portland Bureau of Transportation has launched an update to the Freight Master Plan and the first place they stopped to ask for feedback was the bicycle advisory committee.
That makes sense given the tragiclegacyofdeath and injury left behind by drivers of big trucks on Portland’s central city streets.
For years we’ve failed to mitigate the immense risks posed by trucks. With a massive boom in e-commerce and new ideas around how we use streets and curb space, the freight plan just might be a perfect opportunity to finally make progress.[Read more…]
“We request that the City of Portland clear campsites located in parks, waterways and public paths.” — from a statement signed by four north Portland neighborhoods
Four north Portland neighborhood associations have issued a joint statement about homelessness. Among their requests is that government agencies work harder to clear campsites located in parks and on public paths.
Throughout the city, vital parts of the transportation network are blocked and/or dominated by peoples’ homes, belongings, and trash. Without enough places to live or social services to help them get off the streets, thousands of Portlanders sleep along streets — often directly adjacent to bike lanes and carfree paths. These paths are often in places where surface streets are unsafe, unconnected, or for some other reason not a safe alternative for bicycle users and walkers. This has led to a sad, complicated and frustrating problem for everyone.
In the joint statement posted yesterday, the neighborhoods of Bridgeton, Arbor Lodge, Overlook and University Park say Covid-19 has made a bad problem worse and that it’s time to respond. [Read more…]
Bike sales are through the roof — in Portland and across the country. Isn’t that great? Only downside is basic bikes can be hard to come by. And then there’s the need for repairs and maintenance.
An old mom-group friend posted this photo of the bike wall in an Evansville, Indiana Target. That’s pretty amazing. There was recently even a BikePortland Forums post asking about where to buy right now. I also just started following Portland Bicycle Emporium on Instagram. The owner of that shop is pulling 12-plus hour days and can’t keep low-priced, starter bikes in stock (his posts crack me up, so worth a follow).
It’s sort of weird but I’m suddenly a veteran now in comparison to all the new cyclists. JK. I still have no idea what I’m doing, so I’m going to ask you: [Read more…]
