A SW Illinois Street piggyback ride,
brought to you in part by speed bumps.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

This post is part of our SW Portland Week.

Part of Portland’s big idea of renaming “bike boulevards” as “neighborhood greenways” was that they’re not just bikeways; they’re spaces for street play, sports and other fun. And they’re also, the line goes, good for walking.

It’s easy to laugh that last part off on the east side of Portland, where almost every greenway is lined with sidewalks.

Not so in Southwest Portland, where neighborhood greenways are few but sidewalks are nearly as rare.

[Read more…]

There are many major safety gaps in Washington County, including this one
on SW Barnes near Cedar Hills Blvd.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Well, this is more or less the question that any road user dreams of being asked.

The county to Portland’s west has $2 million to spend on street safety this year inside its Urban Road Maintenance District (part of the county’s urban areas outside city limits) and is looking for comments on where and how to spend it.
[Read more…]

Green for new sidewalks, yellow for neighborhood greenways, teal for protected bike lanes, red for painted bike lanes, blue dots for crossing improvements and purple for other improvements like lighting or frequent buses.
(Graphic by BikePortland using Transitmix.net. Click for an interactive version.)

So far, the public debate about a per-household and per-business street fee has been mostly about the costs: who would pay how much.

While that debate rages on, the city has finally floated some specifics about the possible benefits.

[Read more…]

Sidewalk rider.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Police Bureau plans to raise awareness of illegal sidewalk bicycling downtown on Thursday.

A statement released by the PPB today called the initiative a “Sidewalk Awareness and Enforcement Effort for Bicycle Riders and Skateboarders.” The action is scheduled for 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm and will focus specifically on sidewalks between West Burnside and SW Yamhill between 5th and 6th.

“During the Summer months,” reads the statement, “Downtown Portland sidewalks become very congested and collisions between pedestrians and those riding bicycles or skateboards become more likely.”[Read more…]

Walking on SE Powell Blvd is set to get easier thanks to funding recently approved by the Oregon Legislature.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

[Read more…]

In a show of political force, six state lawmakers
joined Mayor Hales at a press event for
the SE 136th sidewalk project yesterday.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Standing on a dirt and gravel shoulder and squeezed between two parked cars, Mayor Charlie Hales announced yesterday morning that he intends to move forward with the sidewalk project on SE 136th Avenue.

Back in February, Bureau of Transportation Interim Director Toby Widmer said he needed more money for paving and he wanted to take the $1.2 million already set aside for the sidewalk to do more of it. That decision set off an outcry from the community. Even though PBOT is technically under the Mayor’s purview and Widmer is his hand-picked director, Hales distanced himself from the decision almost immediately. Then, less than two weeks later Hales faced even greater pressure when five-year old Morgan Cook was tragically killed by someone driving on that same road just a few blocks away from where the sidewalk was planned. [Read more…]