The Monday Roundup: Phil’s bills, infra update, truck-free streets, and more

Infrastructure update: Lots of action with federal transportation legislation. All eyes are on the Senate as advocates fight to boost transit funding. Get the latest from Politico and check Streetsblog for a good rundown of where things stand. One major bummer so far: The “Reconnecting Communities” initiative that would have subsidized freeway removal has been nearly wiped out.

Truck-free streets: In the name of safety and livability, Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance that outlaws parking large tractor-trailer rigs on residential streets.

Hollywood’s influence: One of the major barriers for cycling in America is how it has been portrayed in movies. Slate breaks down the damage done by ill-fated and uncoll bike-riding characters on the silver screen across the decades.

Eugene outlook: UO’s school newspaper says the university town is riding a wave of increased cycling since the pandemic hit and local experts hope the City of Eugene can keep pace with quality cycling infrastructure.

Strong greenways matter: New research on “low traffic neighborhoods” (similar to our neighborhood greenways) from London shows that diverters and other traffic-calming measures have a significant safety benefit that far outweighs lower speed limits.

Phil’s bills: Lovable online personality and retired pro cyclist Phil Gaimon was subject of a deep dive from NPR on his medical bills following a bike crash.

Open up the highway fund: This article is mostly about how Oregon House Rep Khanh Pham put together a coalition to pass massive clean energy legislation; but don’t miss the part where she says it’s time for us to “open up” the highway trust fund to uses beyond just car-centric road and bridge projects.

The other core: The hot new training trend for competitive cyclists — and Olympic gold medal winners — is to measure core temperature while riding.

Step-throughs rule: Far from just “girls bikes”, Eben “BikeSnob” Weiss explains why bikes with very low top tubes are so useful and why the industry should embrace them.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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