Cycling News & Blog Articles

PBOT Director Millicent Williams outside City Hall in August 2023. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is facing three of its most daunting challenges ever, and they’re all happening at the same time: the bureau’s budget is structurally unsound and they face major cuts and layoffs if nothing changes; their reputation (and resulting staff morale) is in the toilet as distrust of government continues to grow and PBOT has alienated many of its allies due to various avoidable controversies, and PBOT faces hard questions about the record number of people who continue to be killed on our roads year after year — despite a much-ballyhooed commitment to Vision Zero.

So when the current PBOT Director Millicent Williams gets interviewed on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud show, we should all pay attention.

Williams joined venerable host Dave Miller on Monday’s program and he asked her questions about all three of the aforementioned challenges. You can listen to the entire interview on OPB’s website, or check my edited version of the main takeaways:

Dave Miller, OPB:

Welcome to the week.

Here are the most notable stories our community came across in the past seven days…

Blazing a trail for US cycling: American crit racing owes a huge debt to teams like the Miami Blazers, who are adding excitement and fresh energy to the sport, and who also happen to be the most diverse team in professional cycling. (Rouleur)

Dead weight on cities: It gives me warm fuzzies to know that the elimination of minimum car parking rules has become a mainstream idea and now cities that don’t do it are the weird ones. (NPR)

It was a short comment, but it had the urgency of an epiphany. And it was thought-provoking.

I spent a lot of minutes wondering if the comment was just simple, or if it crossed over into being simplistic. I mean, did these stroads ever work well? Maybe when they were first built? I ask because the neighborhood I grew up in, in another city, half a century ago, is silly with four-lane roads, and they were safe for a kid to walk and even bike on. I walked to school on them, crossing at the light was not a problem. Drivers stopped at red lights, driving like an idiot was unusual.

Here’s the comment that sent me down memory lane. Fred wrote it, in response to another commenter, under last week’s comment of the week:

What you’re missing here is how the street design affords – and actually rewards – aggressive driving behavior.

Because four-lane urban highways are ubiquitous in Portland and the USA generally, many drivers today expect to be able to speed around cars that are obeying the speed limit – and there are absolutely no repercussions for bad behavior. In fact, there are rewards: drive dangerously, with no regard for anyone outside of your vehicle, and you get where you’re going faster.

Yes, it happens to kids on bikes too.

There was the usual anger and frustration when Rob Galanakis shared an incident of driver road rage with a group of bike advocates online last Wednesday. Portland bike riders have become numb to the bad behavior and disrespect shown to them by many drivers. But Rob’s story was different: He was not only raged at, but physically assaulted by a driver — and it happened as he led a weekly “bike bus” ride!

Bike buses are group bike rides to school where kids (and some parent leaders) meet at pre-determined spots and ride to school together. Rob leads the Glencoe Bike Bus, which swings by several schools in southeast Portland.

Last Wednesday Rob posted to the BikeLoud PDX Slack looking for advice. He wanted to know how best to follow up after experiencing road rage on his ride. “We had a driver tailing within a couple feet and honking… He was yelling he’s a special ed teacher and was late,” Rob wrote. “He got out of his car, grabbed my bike, threw it down, and tried to rush back into his car and drive past me.”

Rob, the kids, and a few other parents were riding north on SE 61st Avenue and were about to cross E Burnside when he first heard the honking from behind. He immediately swung into action and engaged the driver in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. Rob credits his experience doing “corking” (when riders stand in front of drivers at intersections to let large groups pass through intersections together) for giving him the training that led to a mostly positive outcome on Wednesday.

Ride graphic from Warpaint Mag on Instagram.

A ride in Portland on Saturday will be a show of support for Palestinians and their ongoing struggle against Israel. The Gaza Sunbirds Solidarity Ride will coincide with dozens of similar rides across America and the globe. The rides are being coordinated by Native Women Ride: Indigenous Cycling Collective and were inspired by Gaza Sunbirds, a team of para-cyclists based in the Gaza Strip who are raising money for war victims.

The local organizer of the ride is Ruandy Albisurez of Warpaint Mag, a Portlander we profiled in February last year.

Albisurez says the idea behind the ride is to, “Bring people together in a peaceful manner in solidarity with the Gaza Sunbirds and the Palestinian people, as we continue to advocate for a permanent ceasefire, and an end to the occupation.” The ride will also aim to raise funds for three Palestinians living in Portland who are helping families flee Gaza.

Saturday’s ride is billed as an easy, family friendly event open to everyone. The route will leave from Irving Park in northeast Portland and take participants on a 5-6 mile loop. The ride meets up at the south end of Irving Park at 1:00 pm and rolls out at 1:40 pm. Expect about an hour ride at a family pace where no one gets dropped. For more information, see Warpaint’s post on Instagram or the Shift Calendar listing.

Better bike lanes coming soon! (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The much-anticipated North Willamette Boulevard Active Transportation Corridor project  won’t be finished until 2026. While it’s a buzzkill to wait a few more years for three new miles of physically-protected bike lane between North Rosa Parks Way and Richmond Ave, we don’t have to wait much longer to realize many of its benefits.

The reason for the long timeframe between public outreach (summer 2021) and completion (2026) of this project is because it was mostly funded ($4.5 of its $6.1 million price tag) from federal grants. All that US DOT red tape takes a long time to cut through. But the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) often tries advance projects like this as quickly as possible, and in this case their opportunism means we’ll actually be riding on new, safer bike lanes before the end of this year!

PBOT says they’ll take advantage of a repaving project slated for this spring on Willamette from Portsmouth (at the Chiles Center) to N Carey (entrance to Peninsula Crossing Trail at “the cut”) to re-stripe the road in the way that mimics the dimensions for the 2025 project. In other words, instead of the narrow, door-zone bike lane we have now, they’ll replace the striping with a 10-foot wide bike lane (seven-feet and a three-foot buffer) and two, 10-foot wide general lanes. Doing this now means they won’t have to grind off paint and damage the new pavement later on.

The first day of the new year following a regular Oregon legislative session is always fun because that’s typically when new laws go into effect. In 2023, several notable transportation-related laws were passed and are now laws of the land. I’d been meaning to round them up when, lo and behold, the Oregon Department of Transportation sent out a press release today with a handy summary.

ODOT framed the new laws as important progress for road safety. And I agree with them! Three of them in particular are safety-related laws you should be aware of. And a fourth is more of a technical policy change that will have safety implications down the road.

Below (via the ODOT press release) are four noteworthy new laws now in effect in Oregon that will impact our streets:

I really like the bicycling under the influence law changes. Whenever the legislature recognizes the vast difference between cars and bicycles in terms of their respective ability to do harm to others, it’s a win for everyone. A similar line of thinking applied to the fight to change the stop sign law for bicycles (a.k.a. “Idaho Stop”). Since bicycle riders have such a different vehicle and operational context, the thinking went, why should they be required to do the same behavior as car drivers at stop signs?

(Photo: BikePortland)

By Matt Kalinowski. Matt is a writer and publicist who lives in Portland. He bikes for fun, exercise and convenience — very slowly and safely — on a hulking, 1965 Sears Spaceliner.  

Over a dozen European countries require pedestrians wear reflectors at night. When implemented, statistics universally show a 30–50% reduction in pedestrian fatalities.

There are certain statistical constants in human behavior. Worldwide, pretty much 75% of pedestrian traffic deaths occur at night, for obvious reasons — people are difficult to see at night. Of course, that 75% rate will vary depending on how many pedestrians are typically out at night, how many streetlights are installed, speed limits, area of sampling, etc. In Portland, a notoriously early town with low speed limits, around 50% of pedestrian fatalities happen at night or low-light conditions (and every Portlander knows “low light conditions” can mean high noon).

Another key Portland statistic is that — according to advocacy group BikeLoud PDX which analyzed Portland Police Bureau data — 38% of pedestrians killed by a car are intoxicated, crossing mid-block, ignoring do-not walk lights, or not yielding to cars as required by law. In other words — drivers were not necessarily at fault. “The top causes of pedestrian deaths are mistakes made by sober, everyday drivers,” said Vivek Jeevan, co-founder of BikeLoud PDX. No matter how experienced, careful and aware a driver is, they can’t avoid pedestrians they can’t see.

(Photos via Nextdoor)

Portland’s motor vehicle menace spread to someone’s living room in the Lents neighborhood in the early morning hours of December 30th. According to a post on Nextdoor shared by Portlander Lucy Dao yesterday, her family is now homeless because a driver piloted their Mercedes SUV into the front of their home.

“A drunk driver and three passengers drove their SUV through our fence and a tree into our living room, bathroom and barely missing my brother’s bedroom right where the head of his bed lay. Luckily no one was injured and no one was in the living room when it happened,” states a post on GoFundMe where the family has raised over $3,200 so far.

Photos show that the car came to rest inside the home and did extensive damage to several walls. The driver and passengers allegedly fled the scene and the family faces thousands of dollars in repairs and months of alternative housing.

2019 rendering of skate park and plaza as seen from NW Everett.
(Image: DAO Architecture)

“The skatepark near the Steel Bridge will be a world class attraction.”

The Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) bureau will use $15 million in Parks System Development Charges (fees paid by developers) to build a skatepark near the Steel Bridge just west of Waterfront Park. The news was announced this morning by Parks Commissioner Dan Ryan, who said the investment will be enough to “fully fund” the Steel Bridge Skatepark.

The site has been eyed by advocates since 2001 when Portland’s first skatepark was built at Pier Park in St. Johns. The idea for a park in the 35,000 square-foot parcel bound by NW 1st, Everett, and Naito Parkway was first formalized as the “crown jewel” of 19 facilities in Portland’s 2008 Skatepark System Plan. In 2011, Portland-based DAO Architecture developed a plan for the site (available here) under the guidance of the City of Portland and an advisory committee. BikePortland has covered this project several times since an effort to re-launch the idea was first announced in early 2019.

At least two previous attempts to build this park fell through, but it seems the urgency around downtown revitalization — combined with growing popularity in skating since the pandemic — was enough to finally get it over the hump this time around. Beyond the need for funding, the project is additionally complex because of overlapping jurisdictional boundaries. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) manages the city streets, TriMet light rail vehicles use one of the overpasses, Union Pacific Railroad operates a line nearby, PP&R is in charge of the riverfront paths, and the Oregon Department of Transportation owns the ramps on and off of the Steel Bridge.

I’m trying really hard to look back at 2023 with a smile, like this person did on the Cat Ride during Pedalpalooza on June 29th. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Turmoil and turnover at the transportation bureau, a change in Portland’s bike-friendly narrative, advocacy to be reckoned with, a stronger community — these are just some of the phrases that describe 2023 from my perspective.

After going through the past 12 months of Front Page stories (all 750 of them), I’ve got a pretty good sense of where we were. Where we’re going? That’s anyone’s guess; but this recap of the big stories and ideas should at least make your guess an educated one.

So settle cozy up and settle in for a look back at my big takeaways from 2023…

Just three months into the year we received data from the Portland Bureau of Transportation that validated hunches: bike traffic counts were down significantly in 2022 compared to previous years. Even though the decline mirrored other cities and reflected historic shifts in work commutes, it was no easier to stomach. It was also not easy to explain. I had my explanation, PBOT’s chief bike planner had his, and we heard from hundreds of readers. There’s simply no simple explanation, and we can only hope the changes needed for a riding rebound aren’t nearly as complicated.

The detour means bike riders will need to merge across these lanes on Highway 30 into that left turn lane to get up to the St. Johns Bridge.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) plans to close NW Bridge Avenue for six months starting Monday, January 8th. The closure will impact bicycling and other vehicle access to the St. Johns Bridge and will increase freight truck traffic on N Lombard between Kenton and St. Johns.

The closure of the southern section of NW Bridge between the west end of the St. Johns Bridge and Highway 30 will allow ODOT crews to address a persistent problem of landslides on the hillside above the road. We covered a rockfall that closed the street for a few months back in 2022. ODOT says there’s been about one major rockfall a year for the past five years.

The planned detours (see maps below) will impact bicycle riders in two major ways.

First, if you are riding north on Hwy 30 and want to get up onto the St. Johns Bridge, instead of using the signal south of the bridge to get onto the southern section of NW Bridge Ave, you’ll have to bike one additional mile north. The detour will take you under the St. Johns Bridge and then you’ll need to merge over two lanes of Hwy 30 (and its 45 mph speed limit) to use the left-turn signal that will get you onto the northern side of NW Bridge. (And similarly, if you’re on the St. Johns Bridge and want to go south (toward downtown) on Highway 30, you’ll be routed north on NW Bridge Ave and will need to ride an additional mile.)

The new year is a time for reflection and vision, and several commenters this week described the Portland they would like to see. They could all envision, or remember, a city which felt vibrant, appealing, alive with possibility, a little collection of poignant letters about a city a lot of people love.

One commenter always gets points for punchy writing and passion, here’s what SD would like to see, and what it would take to get there:

Real transportation reform that could provide safe, affordable, efficient transportation for the Portland region will require a leap forward championed by a coalition of state and local leaders rather than incremental prodding and piecemeal projects; a clear coordinated message where the political heat is absorbed across multiple agencies. They should go big to get people excited and bring out the strong grass roots support for a livable vibrant city. Nobody should die on Portland streets, but more importantly every Portlander should feel alive on Portland streets.

The current transportation ecosystem in many ways is like a garden where PBOT has been trying to create conditions for beneficial plants to grow that provide beauty and sustenance. However, they are too timid to remove the toxic invasive weeds that will never let the desirable plants thrive. All of the water, compost and flexi-posts in the universe are not going to shift the equilibrium to create a Portland where someone can walk a couple miles and feel energized by being in a city rather than threatened by noise, pollution and the selfishness of drivers. There needs to be a city-wide vision that is clearly communicated to the public.

PBOT can’t make a transformative change on their own. They need a full-throated, coordinated campaign from all public agencies as if they are starting from square one. They need to get leaders of the business community that don’t suck to endorse the plan. They need to put ODOT’s 100 million dollar PR budget toward something useful and life affirming. All the pieces are here, Portland just needs leaders that want Portland to lead the US into a rational future. Portland doesn’t need second-career discards that want Portland to be an incubator for mediocre politicians.

Happy 2024 everyone!

To kick off the new year, I’ve decided to share only positive, uplifting stories in this week’s roundup. Here goes…

The thought that counts: A basketball superstar who plays for the Dallas Mavericks gave all his teammates new e-bikes for Christmas. Let’s hope they make riding a habit! (Dallas Morning News)

US cycling hopes: Rising professional racing star Sepp Kuss is the hero American cycling deserves a decade after Lance Armstrong ripped all of our hearts out. Can he spark a return to glory for the US on the world stage? (Cycling Weekly)

At just 27 years old and with no prior experience in elected office, southeast Portland resident Angelita Morillo is currently leading the entire field of 2024 council and mayoral candidates in total number of campaign contributions. And it’s not even close.

That fact alone should pique your interest in this rising political star who wants to represent District 3 on Portland’s City Council.

I started following Morillo on her popular social media channels long before she declared her candidacy. I appreciated how she deftly described detailed city policies, educated her (mostly young) followers about local government, and then encouraged them to vote and get involved. I didn’t know at the time she immigrated to Portland from Paraguay at a young age, or that she attended Lincoln High School. When I saw a photo of her, on her campaign website, standing in the middle of the school’s national title-winning Constitution Team in 2014, it all began to make sense.

I’ve since watched Morillo build a huge following on TikTok, and when she announced her city council run, I knew it was just a matter of time until we sat down for a chat. In the past few months, I’ve talked with her several times and have come away impressed. Her combination of smarts, life and work experience, communication skills and work ethic should make her someone to watch in local political circles for years to come.

When she recently asked to do a bike ride of her district and visit Bike Happy Hour, I happily obliged.

Rolling across the Burnside Bridge on The Street Trust’s New Year’s Day ride on January 1st, 2022. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

It’s almost the end of the year and I’ve got just two more posts coming your way before we meet again in 2024. First, I want to share details on two rides that will help you ring in the new year on your bike.

New to the calendar this year is the Nostalgic Yesteryear Excursion that will embark (as its acronym implies) New Year’s Eve on a “last orbit around Portland with the friends that give meaning to an otherwise arbitrary timeframe we’ve called ‘2023’.” The ride is organized and led by John Russell, an interesting character who you might have met at other social rides or at Bike Happy Hour. The NYE ride meets somewhere in inner southeast at 8:08 pm and shoves off at 9:09. RSVP on Facebook for all the details.

And keeping to the annual tradition, The Street Trust will host a New Year’s Day Ride that meets at their headquarters office in Lloyd Center Mall. New this year, the org will require a $40 donation for all riders over 18 years of age to take part (no one will be turned away for lack of funds). The entry fee will come with an annual membership that supports The Street Trust’s important advocacy work. If you can’t make the ride (it meets at 12:00 pm), you can show up at their office around 2:30 or so for hot drinks and food for the after-ride party. Required RSVP and more details here.

Whatever you do for New Year’s, please have fun! And remember that if you can’t safely get yourself home the City of Portland and their partners at TriMet, C-Tran and Portland Streetcar offer free transit and a $10 taxi discount. Learn more at the Safe Ride Home website.

Bike buses funded by PCEF? Why not! (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) announced the third round of its Community Responsive Grants (CRG) last month. This will be the first year with a Transportation Decarbonization category, and bicycle projects appear to have a large role to play.

Sam Baraso, PCEF’s Program Manager, called Transportation Decarbonization “our newest and most exciting funding area,” with this cycle expected to fund between $10 and $20 million in projects.

Readers might recall that PCEF funded a $20 million e-bike rebate program earlier this year, but, as many have pointed out, owning a bike is not the same as using it, and that’s where the grants come in. The Transportation Decarbonization category will fund projects that support “mode shifting to active transportation” and also “transportation electrification.”