Cycling in Portland, Oregon
Encyclopedia
Bicycle use in Portland, Oregon
has been growing rapidly, having nearly tripled since 2001; for example, bicycle traffic on four of the Willamette River bridges has increased from 2,855 before 1992 to over 16,000 in 2008, partly due to improved facilities. Approximately 8% of commuters bike to work
in Portland, the highest proportion of any major U.S. city and about 10 times the national average.
Due to its urban bicycling efforts, Portland has earned multiple "bicycle-friendly city" awards, including being awarded platinum status by the League of American Bicyclists
, and it ranks highly among the most bicycle friendly cities in the world.
O'Keefe enrolled fellow environmental activists Joe Keating and Steve Gunther along with the Community Cycling Center (led then by Brian Lacy) into promoting and supporting the project. Project launch: On a weekday in East Portland, in front of a local radio station, a press conference was arranged by United Community Action Network (UCAN) Directors O'Keefe & Keating. They presented about a dozen bright yellow bicycles for free distribution. Local media showed up and that night's evening news featured what looked like scores of bright yellow bikes ridden by a variety of Portland characters. All of the Bikes were affixed with labels that read: "FREE COMMUNITY BIKE - For Pickup or Repair Call (503)....A local Earl Scheib franchise painted the bikes at no charge. The bikes' tires, spokes, pedals, chains, and even the handlebars were all painted mustard yellow.
The project was one of the first community bicycle programs in the United States. The Yellow Bike Project was reported in The New York Times
, received editorial condemnation from the Wall Street Journal (an affront to private property rights) and culminated in a nationally broadcast Yellow Bike story on the CBS News
magazine 48 Hours
. The Yellow Bike Project provided nearly 400 free bicycles available for unrestricted use in downtown Portland in its first six months.
The Yellow Bike Project inevitably did suffer from theft and vandalism. In a broader sense the Yellow Bike Project was an amazingly successful publicity generator for Portland, Community Bicycling Programs and The Community Cycling Center. The Community Cycling Center, which helped to operate the Yellow Bike Project, has since developed its Create-a-Commuter program, which provides 375 free bicycles per year to individuals.
passed comprehensive state land use laws with the city of Portland drafting its first 'Bicycle Master Plan' in 1973.
from the current 7-8% to 25% by 2030. With only about 300 miles of bicycle infrastructure built by the end of 2009, the plan sets a target of building 662 miles of new bicycle infrastructure in the city over the next 20 years.
Portland is developing a network of bicycle boulevard
s to make cycling easier and safer. The east side of Portland is particularly well-suited for this technique due to its consistent grid of north/south and east/west streets. The boulevards are defined with a combination of street markings, signs, and better signals for crossing busy intersections.
Another route is the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade
.
In order to try to prevent car-bike crashes the city has painted sections of hazardous bike lanes blue.
More recently, the city has installed experimental bike box
es that allow bicyclists to wait ahead of motorized traffic at red lights.
An important milestone in Portland's utility cycling
infrastructure was the expansion of the sidewalks of Hawthorne Bridge
in 1997, which significantly improved the safety and ease of bicycle commuting
across the Willamette River
.
In 2004, a bike path along the Sunset Highway
between Sylvan
and Cedar Hills
was completed, helping to link Beaverton and downtown Portland.
Bicycle access to the Morrison Bridge opened to mixed reviews in March 2010.
to the popular southeast Hawthorne Boulevard shopping district.
sponsors an annual Bike Commute Challenge, in which thousands of commuters compete for prizes and recognition based on the length and frequency of their commutes.
in the downtown area. Portland Pedicabs operates 35 pedicabs, and PDX operates 8 pedicabs in 2008. Pedicabs offer safe, fun, and environmental transportation.
Pedicabs are also used for special events and weddings.
Pedicabs also collaborate with local public agencies such as the Portland office of Transportation, the Portland Old Town Arts & Culture Foundation, and the Old Town Chinatown
Neighborhood Association to provide pedicab-led audio tours.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
has been growing rapidly, having nearly tripled since 2001; for example, bicycle traffic on four of the Willamette River bridges has increased from 2,855 before 1992 to over 16,000 in 2008, partly due to improved facilities. Approximately 8% of commuters bike to work
Bicycle commuting
Bicycle commuting is the use of a bicycle to travel from home to a place of work or study — in contrast to the use of a bicycle for sport, recreation or touring....
in Portland, the highest proportion of any major U.S. city and about 10 times the national average.
Due to its urban bicycling efforts, Portland has earned multiple "bicycle-friendly city" awards, including being awarded platinum status by the League of American Bicyclists
League of American Bicyclists
The League of American Bicyclists is a non-profit membership organization which promotes cycling for fun, fitness and transportation through advocacy and education....
, and it ranks highly among the most bicycle friendly cities in the world.
The Yellow Bike Project
Portland's reputation as a bike-friendly City was enhanced by The Yellow Bike Project, a 1994 civic engagement action and the brainchild of Portland, Oregon activist Tom O'Keefe. After watching the documentary "Sex Drugs & Democracy", O'Keefe proposed painting donated bikes – repaired by at-risk-youth served by the Portland based Community Cycling Center – bright yellow, and deploying them for free use around Portland. "Gratis Pedalis Feralvus" was a tongue-in-cheek slogan for the quirky eco-transportation project.O'Keefe enrolled fellow environmental activists Joe Keating and Steve Gunther along with the Community Cycling Center (led then by Brian Lacy) into promoting and supporting the project. Project launch: On a weekday in East Portland, in front of a local radio station, a press conference was arranged by United Community Action Network (UCAN) Directors O'Keefe & Keating. They presented about a dozen bright yellow bicycles for free distribution. Local media showed up and that night's evening news featured what looked like scores of bright yellow bikes ridden by a variety of Portland characters. All of the Bikes were affixed with labels that read: "FREE COMMUNITY BIKE - For Pickup or Repair Call (503)....A local Earl Scheib franchise painted the bikes at no charge. The bikes' tires, spokes, pedals, chains, and even the handlebars were all painted mustard yellow.
The project was one of the first community bicycle programs in the United States. The Yellow Bike Project was reported in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, received editorial condemnation from the Wall Street Journal (an affront to private property rights) and culminated in a nationally broadcast Yellow Bike story on the CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
magazine 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
. The Yellow Bike Project provided nearly 400 free bicycles available for unrestricted use in downtown Portland in its first six months.
The Yellow Bike Project inevitably did suffer from theft and vandalism. In a broader sense the Yellow Bike Project was an amazingly successful publicity generator for Portland, Community Bicycling Programs and The Community Cycling Center. The Community Cycling Center, which helped to operate the Yellow Bike Project, has since developed its Create-a-Commuter program, which provides 375 free bicycles per year to individuals.
Portland Bike Plan
Interest in city transportation planning began in the early 1970s after the state of OregonOregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
passed comprehensive state land use laws with the city of Portland drafting its first 'Bicycle Master Plan' in 1973.
1973
The city's first bike plan that was adopted in 1973, titled the '1973 Portland Bike Plan', called for nearly 190 miles of bicycle infrastructure to be built in the city and created a citizen's Bicycle Advisory Committee along with a Bicycle Program within the city’s Transportation Bureau.1996
By 1996, after the city had created the nearly 190 miles of initial bicycle infrastructure from the first plan, the city adopted its second bike plan in 1996, titled the 'Portland Bicycle Master Plan', which called for an additional 445 miles of bicycle infrastructure to be built over the next 20 years (cumulative of 630 miles by 2016).2010
The city revised its bicycle plan again in February 2010 when the Portland City Council unanimously adopted its third bike plan, titled the 'Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030', which called for $613 million of spending on bicycle infrastructure over the next 20 years to expand the bicycle infrastructure target from 630 miles by 2016 to 962 miles by 2030 and increase the daily bicycle modal shareModal share
Modal share, Mode split or Modal split, is a traffic / transport term that describes the number of trips or percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation....
from the current 7-8% to 25% by 2030. With only about 300 miles of bicycle infrastructure built by the end of 2009, the plan sets a target of building 662 miles of new bicycle infrastructure in the city over the next 20 years.
Bicycle infrastructure
Bicycle boulevard
A bicycle boulevard is a low speed street which has been optimized for bicycle traffic. Bicycle boulevards discourage cut-through motor vehicle traffic but allow local motor vehicle traffic. They are designed to give priority to cyclists as through-going traffic...
s to make cycling easier and safer. The east side of Portland is particularly well-suited for this technique due to its consistent grid of north/south and east/west streets. The boulevards are defined with a combination of street markings, signs, and better signals for crossing busy intersections.
Another route is the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade
Eastbank Esplanade
The Eastbank Esplanade is a pedestrian and bicycle path along the east shore of the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States...
.
In order to try to prevent car-bike crashes the city has painted sections of hazardous bike lanes blue.
More recently, the city has installed experimental bike box
Advanced stop line
An advanced stop line , also called advanced stop box or bike box, these are road markings at signalised road junctions allowing certain types of vehicle a head start when the traffic signal changes from red to green.-Description:...
es that allow bicyclists to wait ahead of motorized traffic at red lights.
An important milestone in Portland's utility cycling
Utility cycling
Utility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for fitness, recreation such as cycle touring, or sport such as cycle racing, but simply as a means of transport...
infrastructure was the expansion of the sidewalks of Hawthorne Bridge
Hawthorne Bridge
The Hawthorne Bridge is a truss bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, joining Hawthorne Boulevard and Madison Street. It is the oldest vertical-lift bridge in operation in the United States and the oldest highway bridge in Portland...
in 1997, which significantly improved the safety and ease of bicycle commuting
Bicycle commuting
Bicycle commuting is the use of a bicycle to travel from home to a place of work or study — in contrast to the use of a bicycle for sport, recreation or touring....
across the Willamette River
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
.
In 2004, a bike path along the Sunset Highway
Sunset Highway (Oregon)
The Sunset Highway No. 47 , in the state of Oregon, is an official designation for the portion of U.S. Route 26 between its western terminus, south of Seaside, and the interchange with Interstate 405 in downtown Portland...
between Sylvan
West Haven-Sylvan, Oregon
West Haven-Sylvan is a census-designated place in Washington County, Oregon, north of U.S. Route 26. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 7,147.-Geography:...
and Cedar Hills
Cedar Hills, Oregon
Cedar Hills is a census-designated place and neighborhood in Washington County, Oregon, near the intersection of highways Oregon Route 217 and U.S. 26...
was completed, helping to link Beaverton and downtown Portland.
Bicycle access to the Morrison Bridge opened to mixed reviews in March 2010.
Bicycle parking
A recent project will bring covered bicycle parkingBicycle parking
Bicycle parking involves the infrastructure and equipment to enable secure and convenient parking of bicycles...
to the popular southeast Hawthorne Boulevard shopping district.
Events
The Bicycle Transportation AllianceBicycle Transportation Alliance
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance is a 501 non-profit bicycle advocacy organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The BTA promotes bicycling and the improvement of bicycling conditions in Oregon and southwest Washington through advocacy, programs and events. The BTA has a membership...
sponsors an annual Bike Commute Challenge, in which thousands of commuters compete for prizes and recognition based on the length and frequency of their commutes.
Pedicabs
Portland Pedicab, and PDX Pedicab, operate pedicabsCycle rickshaw
The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport; it is also known by a variety of other names such as velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, becak, trisikad, or trishaw or, simply, rickshaw which also refers to auto rickshaws, and the, now uncommon, rickshaws pulled by a person on foot...
in the downtown area. Portland Pedicabs operates 35 pedicabs, and PDX operates 8 pedicabs in 2008. Pedicabs offer safe, fun, and environmental transportation.
Pedicabs are also used for special events and weddings.
Pedicabs also collaborate with local public agencies such as the Portland office of Transportation, the Portland Old Town Arts & Culture Foundation, and the Old Town Chinatown
Old Town Chinatown, Portland, Oregon
Old Town Chinatown is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of Portland, Oregon. The Willamette River forms its eastern boundary, separating it from the Lloyd District and the Kerns and Buckman neighborhoods...
Neighborhood Association to provide pedicab-led audio tours.