Cycling News & Blog Articles

It only took 17 days for Tigard’s two new traffic enforcement cameras to rack up over 800 citations. And just a few minutes for that city’s mayor to draw a line between this rampant, normalized lawlessness and death.

The new cameras started issuing citations on July 14th at 72nd Avenue and at Hall Boulevard on Highway 99W in Tigard. By July 31st, the 72nd Ave location had snapped 662 potential violators.

At a Tigard City Council meeting on August 11th, Police Chief Kathy McAlpine recounted some of the dangerous behavior behind the numbers. McAlpine said the cameras caught one person doing 74 mph in a 35 mph zone and in more than one occasion drivers have been cited multiple times at the same intersection — including one person who was caught going one way and then caught again on their way back. Another driver was dinged four separate times in the 17 days.

https://twitter.com/TheRealCoryElia/status/1299908378810957825

Do Mayor Ted Wheeler and Police Chief Chuck Lovell think we’re just going to forget what happened over the weekend?

On Saturday afternoon, hundreds of people drove cars and trucks into downtown Portland with “Trump 2020” and USA flags flying high. As they powered through the streets, some of them sprayed bear mace and shot paintball guns indiscriminately on people in the street. In the clip above you can see drivers and huge trucks barreling through an intersection against a red light as people try to slow them down and/or scamper out of their way. Other clips showed a bicycle under the wheels of a car and a souped-up sedan driver who raced, full-throttle, through a busy street.

Amid this chaos a man was shot and killed on SW 3rd and Alder (and he might have survived if overly aggressive Portland Police officers didn’t shove away a medic who was administering first-aid).

The trucks were part of an un-permitted “Cruise Rally” whose organizers said it would be a parade to show support for Donald Trump. You have to be extremely naive and/or willfully ignorant to think this wouldn’t have ended like it did.

Welcome to the week. Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days.

Bad modeling: Vice takes a deep dive into the “broken algorithms” that create traffic models that dominate transportation politics — and why we should stop using them.

Racism in transit: An excellent overview of how transit agencies perpetuate systemic racism in everything from how they design their buses and trains to which routes the vehicles take.

Local retail climate: Bike shops are busier than ever in Portland but product shortages have made it hard for some to fully capitalize on the moment.

It’s a shame Bridger Elementary and Harrison Park Middle schools will be so quiet this year because its students and staff would be amazed at what the streets look like outside of them.

No more mud. No more puddles. And no more weaving cautiously around drivers and cars on the walk or bike ride to school.

“To watch my students come to school with wet shoes — knowing that those are their only shoes — because they have a journey to school that involves walking through water is heartbreaking to me,” Harrison Park Middle School Assistant Principal Michael Rowell said in a Portland Bureau of Transportation statement when the project broke ground back in February. “I think it’s an assault on their basic dignity to have to live like that.”
PBOT and the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services have finished the $2.6 million project that added new pavement, speed bumps, drainage, and sidewalks to a multi-block stretch of streets on SE 80th and Mill in the Montavilla neighborhood. The project was an example of collaboration that also included Portland Public Schools and 21 nearby residential property owners, who were so tired of the unsafe, unpaved streets and seasonal flooding on “Lake Millstreet” they agreed to form a local improvement district and chipped in $758,505 to help fund the project. (You might recall our story on Amy Wren’s Portland State University transportation class project that focused on this area.)

Northeast Portland resident Gerald Scrutchions says a white man used a racial epithet and threatened him with vehicular violence while he biked home from work in Irvington on Tuesday. Scrutchions, who is Black, claims the man drove his car into the crosswalk he was using and then purposely swerved towards him.

And he’s not going to stand for it.

After the confrontation on the street, Scrutchions recognized the car parked at a house around the block from his so he knocked on the man’s door to have a conversation with him. After a brief back-and-forth, Scrutchions claims the man called him “nigger”.

He then posted a video on Instagram to share what happened and warn his neighbors.

H/T Latisha Jenson, Willamette Week

In the first eight months of 2020, Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers made 20,990 traffic stops. According to police data, between New Year’s Day and August 1st, 17.7% of the people stopped were Black — a significant overrepresentation of Portland’s Black population which was 5.8% as of 2019. Over the same time period, 64.9% of those stopped were white, a number that underrepresents that demographic by by over 12% (whites make up about 77% of Portland’s population).

Between April 1st and August 1st, Black people accounted for 12 of the 57 people (21.2%) stopped by the PPB who weren’t driving.

These numbers come to light less than a week after police in Kenosha, Wisconsin shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back as he stood in the street outside his SUV and amid a tense public dialogue about systemic racism and nightly protests against racist polices and police brutality.

TriMet is working with an affordable housing nonprofit to turn the Hollywood Transit Center into a, “mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-oriented development that embraces the site, its history, and the Hollywood District as a hub for transit, equity, and community.”

Dubbed “HollywoodHub” the project’s first phase would build 110-120 housing units and ground floor retail on what is now a bus loop and platform adjacent to I-84 and the MAX light rail station on Northeast Hasley Street and 42nd Avenue. This is the location where a memorial has been created to remember victims of the racism-fueled stabbing that happened on a MAX train in May 2017.

There’s also a carfree highway overpass at this location that serves as a key cycling route over I-84 between the Laurelhurst and Hollywood neighborhoods. Given the scale of redevelopment planned, the bikeway and transportation access in general is likely to be significantly altered by this project.

As part of an ongoing, “commitment to transportation justice and equity,” the Portland Bureau of Transportation is nearing completion of paving and other changes on a key section of SE 136th Avenue in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood.

Using funds from the Fixing Our Streets program and System Development Charges, PBOT has undertaken a major upgrade to 136th between Division and Foster. The project includes: new pavement, nearly two miles of new sidewalk, 3.6 miles of protected bike lanes (1.8 miles in each direction), 48 new or upgraded ADA curb ramps, over 50 street trees, bioswales, an upgraded traffic signal and improve street lighting.

On Monday I checked out the nearly-completed section from Division to Powell.

Thanks to outside pressure, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) now says a major repaving project on U.S. Highway 30 will include several elements that should lead to better cycling conditions.

As we shared back in February 2019, ODOT’s $8.5 million U.S. 30 NW Industrial Area Repavement Project will impact a key, 2.5 mile section of what local riders call “Dirty 30” — from the St. Johns Bridge to NW Saltzman Road (and perhaps further south to Kittridge depending on budget).

Hwy 30 is a very popular route for cycling because it’s the only direct and flat connection from northwest Portland to St. Johns, Sauvie Island, and all the great cycling roads in the West Hills and beyond. Unfortunately it also has very fast (50+ mph) auto and truck traffic, and the bike lane conditions are usually always terrible (hence its nickname). The lane is unprotected and narrow and often strewn with gravel and other debris. Dirty 30 has probably caused more flats than any roadway in the region.

Two sections of major roads in Washington County have been striped and painted for the exclusive use of bus and bicycle operators.

In a first for the County, they’ve used red and green coloring to designate transit and bike priority lanes. The new striping was installed this week on Cornell Road and 185th Avenue. I haven’t been out there yet (if anyone can snap a pic and share it that’d be great!), but here’s the planning graphic from the County:

And here’s more from a County statement:

The Springwater Corridor path is vital infrastructure — especially for people who live in southeast Portland neighborhoods where there are precious few safe places to ride and most of the through streets are wide and dangerous arterials. That’s why any project that makes it easier for people to connect to the Springwater should be a high priority.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation knows this and is investing $2.1 million to make safer connections between the Springwater and the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood. I rolled out to Flavel Park yesterday to take a closer look at the Springwater Connector Neighborhood Greenway project, which just broke ground last month.

The project has two main elements: Low-stress north-south bike routes between SE Flavel St and the Springwater on SE 75th/77th and at 87th. Here’s how PBOT lays it out:

Welcome to the week. Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…

Power of presence: Brooke Goudy tells Singletracks.com how difficult it is to be the only Black woman in mountain biking groups and how representation is crucial if the bike industry wants to see more Black women take up the sport.

Kids and cops: A program in Santa Barbara gets police officers and kids on bikes together to help build relationships and understanding.

Air quality politics: Five automakers have now joined a lawsuit in California that binds them to emissions rules that are stricter than what the Trump Admin requires.

Discussions of how gentrification and displacement are tied to transportation is something we’ve covered at length here on BikePortland over the years. But what’s missing from our understanding of these issues are perspectives from Black Portlanders who’ve been directly impacted by being uprooted from their close-in neighborhoods and living in a place that’s far less easy to get around in.

Research just published by former Portland resident Steven Howland gives us new insights about how severe demographic changes in north Portland have taken a toll on Black lives. Howland’s research was done as part of his pursuit of a Ph.D. of Philosophy in Urban Studies from Portland State University. His dissertation, ‘I Should Have Moved Somewhere Else’: The Impacts of Gentrification on Transportation and Social Support for Black Working-Poor Families in Portland, OR, was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities and has been published by the Transportation Research and Education Center at PSU.

With sales and service requests booming due to the pandemic, now is a great time to get into the bike business.

Learn more about the latest local bike jobs via the links below…

– Experienced Bicycle Mechanic – Kenton Cycle Repair

– Product Assembler – Efficient Velo Tools

– Full Time Mechanic – The eBike Store, Inc

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is looking for people to serve on the 2040 Freight Plan Advisory Committee.

Large freight trucks have a major impact on biking in Portland. Trucks and their drivers are the source of many collisions that have killed and injured bike riders and trucking advocates and lobbyists have a substantial influence on transportation policies and projects.

As we reported back in May, the City of Portland is about to embark on its first update to the Freight Master Plan since 2006 and we have the opportunity to make sure it includes policies that do not negatively impact bicycle riders and other vulnerable road users.

A street that currently has no dedicated space for cycling is poised to become one of the most important bikeways in Portland.

New concept plans revealed last week by the Portland Bureau of Transportation show bike lanes separated with concrete medians, protected intersections, new bike-only signals, and more.

Southwest 4th Avenue is already one of the most high-profile and important streets in the city. Its southern end connects directly to Barbur Boulevard with a bridge over I-405, then it runs adjacent to City Hall and the Multnomah County Courthouse before crossing Burnside under the Old Town gates en route to a relatively easy connection to the Broadway Bridge.

For an agency that once made traffic safety their number one priority, recent protests in support of Black Lives Matter have exposed a hard truth: Initiatives like Vision Zero are meaningless if they don’t address the root causes of racism, harassment and discrimination people of color face on our streets every day.

To their credit, the Portland Bureau of Transportation was working on this issue long before protests flared up in the wake of George Floyd’s death. In 2011 PBOT did an about face on the North Williams Avenue project when local residents raised concerns about gentrification and legacy of racism. They also changed course on a neighborhood greenway project in the King Neighborhood when some Black residents raised similar concerns, ultimately leaving it up to them to decide whether or not a diverter should be installed.

Back in June PBOT Director Chris Warner vowed to steer the agency to becoming an “antiracist organization”. But as we saw with the rollout of the Safe Streets Healthy Business permit program, this organizational shift is a work in progress.

So what exactly will it entail? Details were slim until a July 30th meeting of the Central City in Motion Working Group where a PBOT staffer shared a bit more about what we can expect.

Electric bike sales are skyrocketing nationwide and Portland is doing its part to stoke the boom. Now a new partnership between local bike shops, Oregon’s electric vehicle advocacy group, and Portland’s largest employer will make it even easier for people to purchase one.

According to market research firm NPD Group, e-bike sales were up 84% in March, 92% in April, and 137% in May. It’s no surprise given how the bikes have evolved in recent years. When they first arrived on the scene they were clunky and mostly the realm of early adopters and garage-tinkerers. Then they trickled into local bike shops, but there were only a few brands, battery technology was subpar, and prices were relatively high for what you got. Lately the bikes have made massive leaps in quality and affordability and there are tons of great brands and models available.

Now the nearly 13,000 people who work at OHSU are eligible for a $200 subsidy and there’s even a convenient place to take one for a test ride.

OHSU has teamed up with Go By Bike (the repair shop that also runs the bike valet under the Portland Aerial Tram) to offer test rides. The new Go By Bike showroom currently has five models to choose from and will rotate the selection every few months. When you’re ready to buy, OHSU’s transportation department will give up to 50 people $200 that can be used as credit off a purchase at The eBike Store (809 N Rosa Parks Way) or Cynergy E-Bikes (3838 SE Powell Blvd).

Today’s questions comes from reader Chris C.

Chris was surprised when a TriMet operator told him he couldn’t put his Biketown bike on the bus rack. Here’s his question:

“I learned from first-hand experience today that a TriMet bus will not allow a Biketown rental bike to be transported, because it is a Biketown bike. (I don’t believe there’s a similar restriction on the MAX trains, but I may be wrong.) Do you happen to know the public policy reason for that rule?”

I first reached out to TriMet and they pointed me to Biketown’s terms of service which state bikes, “cannot be taken on a car, ferry, bus, streetcar, MAX or train…”

Sidewalk obstructions are to walkers what bike lane blockages are to bike riders. That is, always annoying and often downright dangerous.

Portland nonprofit advocacy group Oregon Walks has a new tool that to report these hazards. And they’ve turned it into a game.

Sidewalk Obstruction Bingo, a website that also works great on mobile devices, comes with 24 squares labeled with some of the most common things that get in your way including: low branches, cars, garbage bins, a-frame signs, trash, work zones, and so on. There are even squares for missing lights and sidewalk gaps. (I was a bit disappointed to see that they included “Bike riding on sidewalk,” because that’s legal (except for a section of downtown) and often necessary for many people.)