Northwest 13th Avenue during Sunday Parkways, 2011.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Curb-protected bike lanes are cool and all, but they’ve got nothing on building-protected bike lanes.

That’s roughly the position from BikePortland reader Andrew, who added the first comment to Tuesday’s post about possible downtown protected bike lanes with a very different vision for one of Portland’s most unique streets: Northwest 13th Avenue.

Here’s what Andrew had to say:

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A quick, cheap crosswalk enhancement on 3rd Street in Austin, Tex.
(Photos: M.Andersen)

Austin, where I spent a few days this week, is not yet a great city to bike in. But some of the ideas it’s developed in its bid to become one are useful, and here’s one.

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Time for Oregon to stop “Share the Road”? (This sign is on NW West Union in North Plains, a small city in Washington County.)
(Photo J. Maus/BikePortland)

Over the last week or so, a bunch of great ideas from other cities have been washing up on our digital shorelines. Let’s take a look at a few.

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Concept drawing of a new urban loop of public spaces, parks and bikeways as envisioned by the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability .

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Here’s an interesting and persuasive idea that could turn Northwest Johnson into the most pleasant crossing of Interstate 405 between Northwest Portland and downtown.

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Portland’s bike wonk crowd turned out in force.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Dozens of curious Portlanders visited bike-culture hub Velo Cult Wednesday night to pore over a series of ideas for how to transform our city in the way the Dutch people decided to start reshaping theirs forty years ago.

“Though we remain America’s best city for bicycling, Portland has stagnated something fierce at a time when many other cities are recognizing the value of bike-friendliness,” event contributor Brian Davis wrote yesterday in a preview for PortlandTransport.com. That perspective captured the attitude of many who attended.
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Typical conditions on one of Portland’s busiest bikeways.
We can and should do better.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

I won’t be satisfied with Portland’s progress as a bicycling city until our transportation system provides the same level of safety, efficiency, and respect to people on bicycles as it does to people who drive or take transit.

I can walk to my car and drive to my office downtown in a few minutes, enjoying comfort and safety on streets made just for me. Or, I can walk a few blocks to a bus or a light rail train and have a similar experience. But on my bike, my experience is vastly different.

Contrary to popular belief, bicycling in Portland isn’t all unicorns and rainbows. Cars still dominate the streetscape. In fact, there isn’t a single A-to-B route in this city that has the type of dedicated, connected, safe, easy-to-use facilities like we provide for motor vehicles and transit.

Is it really any wonder that well over 60 percent of Portlanders still drive alone to work everyday? (Or that a mayoral candidate saw fit to do it in an election ad?)

This is the place I started from when GOOD asked me to come up with an urban challenge for Portland as part of their GOOD Ideas for Cities project.[Read more…]

Just ‘Mo’ and go. (Note the mo tag on the seatpost.)
(Photo: Mo)

A reader tipped me off to a new urban mobility concept recently launched in Munich that is really blowing my mind… Or should I say “mo”-ing my mind?

Introducing “mo” (short for mobility); a system that hopes to someday integrate bike-sharing, car-sharing, and transit access into a seamless network that just might be the future of how cities tackle mobility challenges. The video below explains how it works…
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