Turns out it was a rare treat.
(Photo: M. Andersen/BikePortland)

If you were one of the 20,000 or so people who crossed the Tilikum Bridge during Bridge Pedal last year you are now a part of history.

That’s because it won’t be included in the 2016 version.

After years of construction and anticipation, TriMet’s Tilikum Bridge opened to the public on Sunday, August 9th 2015. It was sweet timing for Bridge Pedal participants, who earned bragging rights for being part of the first wave of people to ever go across it. The bridge was the marquee attraction for last yeart’s event and it featured prominently on all four routes. But the Bridge Pedal/Tilikum relationship might have been nothing more than a torrid a one-day stand.
[Read more…]

Image from TriMet video of serious injury collision

TriMet has just released a statement about the collision on the Tilikum Bridge on October 11th that left Carole Barkley with serious injuries.

Read the statement and watch the video below:
[Read more…]

Carole Barkley (before the collision).
(Photo: David Loftus)

It has happened. And I hate to say that I’m not surprised.

On Sunday October 11th, Carole Barkley was hit by a man riding a bike near the Tilikum Bridge. The woman was walking her dog (the dog was not injured) near the west end of the new bridge when the collision occurred.

We received the email below last week from David Loftus, Carol’s husband (emphases mine):

“My wife was hit, hard, by a cyclist near the west end of Tilikum Crossing bridge on Sunday morning about 9 a.m. The collision knocked her down and put her in the hospital for more than two days with four broken ribs, a separated shoulder, a chipped vertebra, lots of cuts and abrasions, and attacks of vertigo.

She was walking our six-pound dog (who was fortunately unhurt), and specifically waited for the pedestrian crossing signal at the east end of the Orange Line MAX platform. Presumably the cyclist had a red light, but my suspicion is that he wasn’t looking for a signal under the presumption that he’d passed the big intersection at Moody and Meade and was free to climb the bridge heading east.[Read more…]

Metro volunteer Randi Wexler passes out a survey card at the west end of the Tilikum Bridge.
(Photo by M. Andersen/BikePortland)

Have you been wondering why someone shouted questions to you as you rode across the Tilikum Bridge today?
[Read more…]

Today is the Big Day. TriMet’s new Orange Line MAX and the Tilikum Crossing Bridge opens for regular service.
[Read more…]

It won’t look like this much longer.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

[Read more…]

Looking west toward South Waterfront from the eastern end of the new bridge.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

There are just 179 days until the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge opens. This exciting new piece of infrastructure will grab a ton of headlines not just because it’s the first new bridge to be built across the Willamette in over 40 years — but because it’s one of the only spans in America where every mode will be allowed except for private cars.
[Read more…]