michelle poyourow

As big bike investments loom, the debate goes on: Which neighborhoods need most?

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Southwest Portland’s bikeways need huge work. But is that work more important than improving areas that have immediate ridership potential?
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The debate is familiar. But lately, we’ve been hearing an interesting twist to this story: there might actually be a way to resolve it.

Portland is getting ready for a burst of its biggest biking investments in years, and it’s prompted a creative proposal for confronting one of the stickiest issues in local politics.

The city is preparing to put $6 million toward its first high-quality downtown bike lane network. Next year, a $5.2 million upgrade of Foster Road will make that highway-style street much safer to walk, bike and drive on between SE 52nd and SE 90th. Another $4.2 million will create a 130s Greenway; another greenway running east from Gateway Transit Center; and bike facilities on Division Street as far east as 130th. The $2.4 million 20s Bikeway Project is being built piece by piece.

Michelle Poyourow at the Tweed Ride.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Confirming a rumor first published by the Portland Mecury on Wednesday, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance has announced that Advocacy Manager Michelle Poyourow is leaving the organization.

In a blog post published today, the BTA wrote:

Poyourow at Build It launch.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland Mercury News Editor Matt Davis reported last night that Michelle Poyourow of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is rumored to be leaving the organization soon.

Here’s the opening of that story:

“Rumors are swirling that the lead local advocate for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance will soon announce her resignation—possibly over the next week.”

When asked about the rumor, BTA Communications Coordinator Margaux Mennesson said, “We are really focusing on the [Build It] rally right now and so I have no comment on the Michelle Poyourow rumor… We’ll be happy to talk to you Friday about it.”

The current I-5 bridge over
the Columbia.
(Photo © J. Maus)

We reported last week that the Bicycle Transportation Alliance has decided to resign from the the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for the Columbia River Crossing project.

A new post to the BTA blog by advocate Michelle Poyourow goes into detail about this decision. The post particularly outlines the BTA’s concerns about the project’s direction, its process, and their disappointment in the evolution of was once touted as a “world class” bicycle and pedestrian facility.

The ghost bike for Austin Miller.
(Photos: Jim “K’Tesh” Parsons)

On February 11, 2008, 15-year old Beaverton high school student Austin Miller was collided with a TriMet bus when he merged from a sidepath on Murray Road into a bus stop on SW Farmington Road.

The tragedy sent shockwaves through the region. It raised questions about the legality of sidepaths, riding conditions in Beaverton, and more.

The crash (and perhaps the resulting lawsuit filed by Miller’s family in June) also spurred TriMet to take a serious look at they train bus operators and at where other other potential bus/bike conflict areas might exist.

Advocate Michelle Poyourow of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) was one of over 70 people that testified in front of City Council at last week’s public hearing on the Columbia River Crossing project (CRC).

After the hearing, several people mentioned her testimony to me and I also noticed it referenced in a recap of the hearing in the Daily Journal of Commerce*. In the interest of sharing the perspective of the BTA on this massive project (both in size and importance to our region), I asked if we could reprint her testimony.

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation and TriMet are discussing the idea of installing shared lane markings (a.k.a. sharrows) on the entire length of the new downtown transit mall.

Sharrows are a type of pavement marking that are placed on streets with relatively heavy and/or high motor vehicle speeds, where there is not sufficient space to put a bike lane, and where bikes and cars share the same travel lane (for more on sharrows, see this fact sheet published by PBOT).

As big bike investments loom, the debate goes on: Which neighborhoods need most?

It’s official: Poyourow is leaving the BTA

BTA: No comment on Poyourow resignation rumor

BTA takes new direction with CRC strategy after walking away from advisory committee

One year after Austin died: What has the BTA done?

It’s not about bikes: BTA testimony on the CRC (updated)

City discussing sharrows on new transit mall

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