(Photo by J.Maus/BikePortland)

This morning, we looked back at the stories that made it big. Before we turn the page to 2014, let’s look at four stories that can fall through the cracks at the end of a day, but are too big to ignore at the end of a year.

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Overlooking the Gorge at the Policymakers Ride in August.

Like building a better city, making a good news website these days is a lesson in the fact that it’s the quality of the traffic, not just the quantity, that matters.

A few years ago, the news stories that drew a lot of readers were the ones people wanted to read. Now, things have changed: the biggest stories are the ones people want other people to read. Sometimes that’s because they’re funny, sometimes because they’re shocking and sometimes because they’re awesome.

As we look back on this year, we’ll let you add the categories yourself. (Click on the headline or photo for the original stories.)

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Southeast Division and 148th Avenue, where Renee Bates was killed while crossing the street with her husband.
(Image: Google Street View)

Portland has some of the safest streets in the country, and in general, they’ve been getting safer as our use of cars has continued to decline — not just for people on bikes but those on feet and cars, too.

But as a string of street deaths and a vigil Friday remind us, that safety isn’t evenly distributed across the city.

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Photo from New Year’s Day ride on
January 1, 2010.
(Photos © J. Maus)

I know we’re already getting down to business in 2011, but I can’t let 2010 slip away without reflecting on it a bit more. After all, 2010 gave us a lot to get excited about. Here are just some of the big ideas, projects, and events that defined the year.
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