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Joe Bike is looking for a friendly mechanic for a year-round, full-time position. You’ll work on a wide variety of bikes, talk with a wide variety of customers, and generally help keep the shop humming. We need a mature team player who communicates well. Best if your interests align with ours, so check out our offerings online or visit us in person and introduce yourself.
Benefits: good health insurance, paid vacation time, paid holidays, sick pay, and use of the shop’s winter retreat in Tucson, Arizona.
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(All graphics from PBOT’s 2017 Vision Zero Annual Report.)
We haven’t turned back the rising tide of deaths and injuries on our streets; but we’re getting better at analyzing it and we’ve laid the groundwork for future progress.
That’s the vibe from the Portland Bureau of Transportation as noted in their first annual Vision Zero Progress Report published yesterday. Stating that 2017 was, “A year of tragedy and foundation building,” the agency detailed their policy and project efforts and offered a sad recap of all the traffic deaths last year.
Here are our takeaways…
The clock is ticking
We’re almost three years into our Vision Zero era. The resolution passed by City Council in June 2015 committed us to achieving “zero deaths and injuries” by 2025. Don’t look now, but we’ve only got about seven years to turn this thing around.
As you can see in PBOT’s graph, the uptick in deaths began around 2010 and overall deaths have gone up each year since 2012. The 45 deaths PBOT counted in 2017 (there were six other deaths excluded because the person, “died of causes not directly attributable to a traffic crash”) were the most since 2003. To reach our goal Portland needs to take even more “aggressive measures” and have even more “courageous conversations” — to use the words of PBOT’s own Director Leah Treat from a Vision Zero Task Force meeting two years ago.
PBOT echoes that sentiment in the new progress report by stating that, “Eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2025, while achieveable, will require considerable continued effort by the City of Portland and residents.”
Deaths aren’t the only measure
The conversation around Vision Zero mostly revolves around how many people die; but let’s not forget all the survivors whose lives are changed forever by our dysfunctional relationship with motor vehicle use.
One stat that jumped out at me in the report was that 275 people suffered an incapacitating injury in 2016 (2017 numbers aren’t available yet, but given other trends it’s probably inching close to 300). That’s over five people per week. And that doesn’t even count all the stress and emotional trauma suffered by families and friends.
A good effort on speeding
New yard signs seen in Montavilla neighborhood near SE 92nd Avenue yesterday.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Yes it’s a photo-op, but it’s also really important.
(Photo: PBOT)
The biggest bright spot in PBOT’s Vision Zero efforts thus far has been in lowering speeds. They’ve wrested authority away from the State of Oregon to change speeds on local streets, they’ve passed a new residential speed limit law, they’ve installed speed cameras, and they’ve worked with the Portland Police Bureau on regular enforcement campaigns.
While not directly related to speed policies, PBOT’s continued work to install traffic calming infrastructure — primarily through the neighborhood greenway program — is having a very positive impact on making people slow down. On a related note, they’ve also ramped up their speed-related educational campaigns. Earlier this month PBOT began handing out free “20 is Plenty” yard signs and I’ve already seen dozens of them in people’s front yards throughout the city.
Another bit of news from this progress report is that the City is developing a “Safe Speeds Save Lives” campaign that will launch this spring. They’ve already outfitted 1,000 vehicles in their city fleet with bumper stickers.
The who, when, and where
People who died in traffic crashes in 2017.
I’m pleased to know that PBOT understands this is whole thing isn’t just about policy and projects and data — it’s about people. Who dies and where and when it happens matter just as much as the more wonky details. Throughout their Vision Zero efforts I’ve noticed PBOT staff have put an emphasis on the people who’ve died. You can see most clearly in the graphics and reports they produce.
In 2017, fall was the deadliest time of year with October and November both recording eight deaths each. The median age of a person who died was 43 and victims ranged from 12 to 87 years old. In our own unofficial tally of last year’s fatalities we found that 60 percent of them (28 out of 47) happened after 6:00 pm and before 3:00 am.
We frequently cover the fact that the vast majority of Portland’s traffic deaths happen on big arterials (many of which are still unfortunately controlled by ODOT). In 2017, 69 percent of all deaths occurred on streets PBOT has labeled part of the High Crash Network. That number, “Indicates that street design remains an important factor in preventing traffic deaths and serious injuries,” reads the report. Demographics matter too. One in three deaths last year happened in a place with lower-than average incomes and higher than average amount of people of color.
Here’s a list of the 51 people who died on our streets last year (I’m including the six unofficial ones too):
There’s no hiding from this list. To say it will take, “Considerable continued effort” to make it disappear is a huge understatement.
Keep track of the City’s Vision Zero progress here.
When complete, the route will connect the forthcoming Sullivan’s Crossing bridge (cross I-84) to Dekum Street in Woodlawn with a low-stress street where people can feel walking and biking.
Billed as a “listening session,” the Bureau of Transportation was careful at last night’s jam-packed event to let residents know they haven’t made any concrete decisions about the designs or the alignment yet. As we reported earlier this month, PBOT has looked at both NE 7th and NE 9th and both streets are still technically on the table. The poster boards shown to attendees at the event were mostly about greenways in general. However, there were some design concepts shown and we learned a few new details about what’s in the works.
In addition to getting our first glimpse at what the future greenway could look like, we also began to see what a future debate about 7th or 9th might look like. Keep in mind that PBOT won’t put the route completely on either street. The two options — as presented last night in the graphic below — include a mix of 7th and 9th or what they’re calling, “NE 7th & Area Mitigation” where PBOT would focus mostly on 7th and heavily monitor adjacent streets to mitigate for any diverted traffic.
Two options on the table.
NE 7th & Area Mitigation
In a posterboard, PBOT claimed that after they finish this project NE 7th would, “Be transformed into a calm, local street.” That would be a major lift given that the average daily traffic volume between Broadway and Alberta averages about 5,000 drivers in the bottom half (to Fremont) and about 2,500 per day in the upper half. Those numbers, “far exceed” PBOT’s own guidelines for neighborhood greenways. They aim to create routes with an average of 1,000 drivers a day with 2,000 being the very upper limit. Not only are there a ton of cars being used, people are driving them way too fast. PBOT numbers shared last night revealed that a whopping 26 percent of all auto users on NE 7th between Broadway and Prescott were driving over the posted speed limit (25 mph).
One reason for the volume and speed of drivers on 7th is that it’s a cut-through for Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd a few blocks west. Another PBOT graphic shared last night revealed that only 14 percent of the people driving on 7th are considered “local traffic”. “Long distance neighborhood traffic” and “non-neighborhood traffic” made up 37 percent of the total.
As for what the design might look like, PBOT shared a before/after image of NE 7th north of Fremont. Today that 34-foot cross section includes two standard lanes and an on-street parking in one direction (northbound). The new cross-section would add parking to the west side of the street, remove the centerline, and add speed bumps and sharrows to calm things down. PBOT would also add “frequent and well-placed” diverters along 7th to “dramatically lower cut-through volumes.”
Yes we noticed that PBOT chose a “before” image that included an illegal and dangerous driver swerving around a bicycle rider.
Note the added on-street auto parking on the left side and removal of the centerline.
To calm residents who fear such changes to 7th will lead to chaos on other streets, PBOT is being proactive with promises about how they’ll handle that issue. They were eager to tell people they already have funding to update traffic signal equipment on MLK Blvd in order to improve driver flow and capacity on that arterial street. They would also look at operational and signal updates on NE 15th, the other major traffic street to the east.
NE 9th and NE 7th
Design concept for NE 9th at Fremont where the route would go into Irving Park.
This is the option that seems much less feasible. In this scenario, PBOT would make the greenway on 9th and do some less robust traffic calming on 7th. Community volunteers working with Bike Loud PDX strongly oppose using 9th for a variety of reasons: It doesn’t connect as well with existing bikeways, it has much more elevation gain, and it would require either going up-and-over a big hill in Irving Park or going around the park altogether.
Ironically, PBOT showed a before/after image of the potential design of 9th just south Fremont were the route would essentially dead-end into the park. To get through the park a new path would have to be built and it would likely eat up a huge portion of the project’s $522,000 budget. This option would also not allow PBOT to spend as much on traffic calming for 7th, which they admit would lead to, “Volumes lower than today, but not enough to meet neighborhood greenway guidelines.”
Feedback
With the changes that are likely to come to NE 7th, there will undoubtedly be strong reactions from residents. But from my observation of post-it notes and conversations at the open house, a majority of people prefer 7th. Here are some of those comments:
It should be on 7th. Put lots of diverters!
7th is more direct, less hills, no park in the way.
9th has obvious attributes sought for a bikeway. Solve traffic problems on 7th some other way.
7th is better. Straight, safe route to school. Eyes on school street.
2-sided parking on 7th would be safer for pedestrians and improve livability.
People already use 7th as a N-S bikeway. Keeping it would promote more biking.
As for next steps, PBOT host a series of “community design discussions” in spring and then we’ll see the final proposed designs in June or July. Construction is scheduled to start in 2019. Stay tuned for more coverage and get on the project’s email list on PBOT’s website.
“If you had told me at that time that those tracks would one day be a bike path with 250,000 riders annually, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
The Salmonberry Trail is a project that will make use of a derelict rail line from the current end of the Banks-Vernonia Trail all the way to the Oregon coast. The trail has been in the planning stages for a long time, but if Virginia’s experience with the state’s 34-mile Creeper Trail is any indication, Oregon would do well to complete the Salmonberry sooner rather than later.
Back in the 1980s, the Virginia Creeper was itself an abandoned rail line that the US Forest Service decided to make into a recreation trail. Given the very rural nature of the area, this idea was met with some skepticism, but the trail has become wildly successful beyond anyone’s expectations. The trail holds special significance to me, as I once lived in Abingdon just a few blocks from the abandoned rail line. As neighborhood kids, we’d go over to the tracks and walk over the high trestles as a foolish/daring/scary thing to do. The only thing I ever saw on the tracks was a Drasine – a motorized vehicle about the size of an automobile.
If you had told me at that time that those tracks would one day be a bike path with 250,000 riders annually, I wouldn’t have believed it. That figure is over 25 times the combined populations of the two towns along the trail – Abingdon and Damascus. Trail-related tourism is estimated at $25 million per year, and each overnight visitor spends about $700 in the area.
Green Cove station.
Businesses have flourished along the trail.
The Creeper Trail has transformed the economy of Damascus. Back in the day, my mother liked to drive over there to visit “The Damascus Junkman” – an antique and local curiosity shop. My memory of the main drag through Damascus is that it consisted of this antique shop, a convenience store, and a gas station. Today the town has a variety of restaurants and lodging options, and incredibly, seven bike shops all within a few blocks of each other.
So how do all these bike shops stay in business? Well, it’s not via sales, but through bike rentals and bike shuttle service. Part of the attraction of the Creeper Trial is that for 18 miles it gradually descends from 3,600 feet at Whitetop Station to about 2,000 feet in Damascus. This makes for a relaxed ride going in the downhill direction, so many visitors opt to have a Damascus bike shop drive them to the top in a passenger van with a large bike trailer in tow. Whitetop Station is named for the adjacent Whitetop Mountain, which at 5,520 feet is the second highest peak in Virginia. The remaining 16 miles of the trail from Damascus to Abingdon is fairly flat with some minor ups and downs.
The trail has mix of surfaces, primarily hard-packed gravel.
Another thing to note about the Creeper Trail is that it is entirely gravel except for the wooden decks of the 47 trestles along the route. This gravel is a finely-ground type called Compact Aggregate that is easy to ride on, even with narrow tires. The fact that the trail is unpaved seems to have done nothing to quell enthusiasm, and it might have even increased its popularity, as tourists riding the trail feel it is more akin to mountain biking. This type of surface is one of the possible choices for the Salmonberry and deserves serious consideration with its ease of maintenance compared to asphalt.
So could the Salmonberry become as popular as the Creeper Trail with the more challenging terrain of the Oregon Coast range? I believe it could, given the increasing popularity of e-bikes, if a means is developed to rent e-bikes along the Salmonberry just like regular mountain bikes have been rented in Damascus, Virginia for the past 30 years. Once the trail is built there will undoubtedly be additional opportunities for tourism in the Oregon towns the trail will pass through like Buxton, Timber, Batterson, Mohler, and Wheeler. There was nothing along the Virginia Creeper when it was an abandoned rail line, but today the old train stations have been converted to businesses, and enterprising landowners adjacent to the trail have opened up additional shops.
I know the Salmonberry is a challenging project and there are already a lot of great people working hard to make it a reality. Hopefully this peek at the Creeper Trail offers some inspiration.
This is an entry level position responsible for assisting consumers via phone and email with their requests for service and product information for the Yakima Products family of racks. The position supports Yakima Products end users by following through on their requests for technical product information, product / vehicle fit information, and warranty support and evaluation. Responsibilities include processing a high number of phone calls, emails and sales orders with the quality and positive attitude that our customers have come to expect in our over 35 years in the rack business. Further, this position will execute and support projects with teammates to deliver against initiatives in Yakima’s strategic and annual plans which will contribute to achieving and sustaining the Yakima Strategic Business Plan and Initiatives, global competitive advantage, and profitable market growth strategy.
Qualifications:
AA degree from an accredited college, or equivalent experience preferred
One (1) year customer service experience in outdoor retail sales, and experience selling Yakima racks preferred
Intermediate level with PC’s: Microsoft Office Suite; Outlook
Ability to effectively develop work systems to manage workload, work independently and efficiently, have a keen ability to prioritize, and ability to identify and address needs in advance
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal/external customers and consumers
Professional level communicator ~ both oral and written correspondence
Data base experience preferred
Mechanical aptitude
Able to visualize and understand geometric and spatial relationships
How to Apply *
Visit our Careers Page for additional information and submit your application.
Years ago, I was with a group of friends talking about the dishes that our mothers made all the time and that became our idea of comfort food. One of the women said that her Italian-American mom made broccoli rabe and cooked it with lots of lemon and white beans.
We all quizzed her like crazy: Was this a dish her grandmother had made, too? (Yes!) Was it a weeknight dish? (Yes!) Did her mom make it for holidays? (Yes!)
We were so intrigued that something bitter, tart, and garlicky would be considered comfort food—the rest of us had been thinking about creamy, toasty, cheese-y things!
The Oregon Legislature is considering dozens of changes to the major transportation bill they passed last year. Among them are two substantive changes to the $15 bike tax.
The Oregon Department of Revenue (DOR) thinks the existing tax is too complicated and they want to make sure it captures as many bicycles as possible.
In a nutshell, if House Bill 4059 is signed by Governor Brown, the tax will apply to more bicycles than before. The proposal has caught the ire of national bike industry leaders who have written a letter to lawmakers opposing the idea.
As currently written, “taxable bicycle” is defined as a bicycle with a wheel diameter of 26-inches or larger (so as not to tax children’s bikes) and a retail price of $200 or more. DOR’s proposal would drop the wheel-size stipulation from the definition and the tax would then apply to all bikes over $200.
“There are a whole bunch of adult and kids bikes you can buy for under $200.” — Senator Lee Beyer, committee co-chair
DOR has also requested that the definition of “bicycle” explicitly includes electric assisted bicycles (by striking the phrase “propelled exclusively by human power”) so that e-bikes can be charged the tax as well. The change to the e-bike definition would also fix the confusion with the vehicle privilege tax. (Because of a quirk in the existing bike tax law, buyers of electric-assist bikes must pay the “vehicle privilege tax” of 0.5 percent of the purchase price. However the law only applies to e-bikes sold at certified automobile dealers — and since most e-bikes are sold at bike shops, they are currently exempt.)
The Joint Committee on Transportation is debating these changes in House Bill 4059. Committee Administrator Patrick Brennan addressed the confusion over the bicycle wheel sizes at a public hearing on February 12th.
“The tax was designed to exclude children’s bicycles,” he said. “However, bicycles come in all sorts of shapes and sizes… Some bicycles have one big wheel and one small wheel and the existing law says ‘two wheels’ of a certain size.” To clear this up, Brennan explained to committee members that the “simplest solution” would be to just remove all references to wheel size entirely. “Just say the excise tax applies to all bicycles over $200. Period. Regardless of wheel size.”
Examples of bikes currently exempt from the tax that would be taxed under the new law.
Senator Betsy Johnson then asked the committee what kids bikes cost these days. “About $100 bucks” committee Co-Chair Lee Beyer replied. “There are a whole bunch of adult and kids bikes you can buy for under $200,” he added. “That seems to be a benchmark.”
Xann Culver with the Department of Revenue testified that, “Limiting it to just the dollar amount would be much more clear to the bicycle retailers as to which bicycles would be subject to the tax.”
The bike industry supports the change in how e-bikes are handled; but they oppose the expansion of the bike tax to all wheel sizes.
In a letter dated February 21st, the Director of State and Local Policy for the PeopleForBikes Coalition Alex Logemann, National Bicycle Dealers Association Board Chair Brandee Lepak, and Bicycle Product Suppliers Association President Adam Micklin urged Committee members to maintain the 26-inch wheel diameter requirement.
“Our objection to altering the minimum wheel size requirement is premised on two issues,” they wrote, “1) the new bicycles that will be subject to taxation will primarily be children’s bikes; and 2) it will place an additional burden on bicycle shops that have already invested resources to comply with the tax.”
These bicycle industry experts say the existing tax leaves out only some children’s bikes, folding bikes, BMX bikes, and some recumbents. In total, these, “make up an exceedingly small portion of the bicycle market” and have a much larger impact on bikes ridden by children and teens. “Eliminating the minimum wheel diameter requirement will subject very few bicycles used by adults to taxation, and many more bicycles used by children to taxation,” they wrote.
Here’s a longer excerpt from their letter:
The elimination of the 26 inch wheel diameter requirement in the existing statute will undermine the Committee’s objective of ensuring that bicycles ridden by kids are not subject to the bicycle excise tax. Discussion at the February 11th hearing indicated that many members believe that children’s bicycles rarely meet or exceed a $200 retail price. This is simply not true. We have included examples of children’s bicycles that retail for more than $200 from some of the most popular brands on the market to demonstrate that children’s bicycles are commonly priced between $200 and $350. These bicycles all have wheel diameters between 12 inches and 24 inches, and they only avoid being subject to the bicycle excise tax due to the minimum wheel diameter requirement in existing law. If the statute is amended to remove the minimum wheel diameter requirement, the primary effect will be to tax more of these children’s bicycles.
Beyond the issue of which bicycles would be subject to the tax if the minimum wheel size requirement were to be eliminated, we question amending the tax after bicycle retailers have diligently worked to align their inventory and point of sale systems to the requirements of the bicycle tax. Relying on the statute, retailers have made substantial investments in efforts to comply with requirements of tax. Mandating that these businesses go back and make changes to these procedures, only two months after the tax has been implemented, will be a burden.
The bike tax is expected to raise about $1.2 million per year with funds going into the Connect Oregon grant program where they’ll be spent on “off-highway” paths.
The Joint Committee has still not taken a formal vote on the amendments and no further public meetings have been scheduled. You can find contact information for committee members here.
There’s no debate about helmet use for kids (heck, even most kids in Copenhagen wear them!). Opinions aside, it’s an Oregon law that everyone 15 years or younger has to wear one. But that doesn’t mean it’s as easy as snapping a buckle.
Getting a helmet on a kid is one of the toughest parts of family biking.
Over the years I’ve developed my own collection of tricks to take the hassle out of helmets. Today we’ll talk about where to buy them, choosing the right one, how to fit them — and of course, how to have fun while doing it.
Fit
Helmet fit isn’t exactly the same as helmet comfort, but they’re related. And since they’re going to wear a helmet anyways, it should fit them well. I’m partial to the eyes/ears/mouth helmet fit test and have demonstrated it to hundreds of kids before Kidical Mass rides and bike rodeos:
Covered in yellow puppy stickers and comfortable enough to sleep in
➤ Eyes: When you look up you should see the brim of your helmet. This lets you know it’s positioned level on your head.
➤ Ears: Your helmet straps should form a V right under your ear.
➤ Mouth: When you open your mouth, you should feel the straps against your chin. You can also check proper chin strap tightness by being able to fit only two fingers between your chin and strap when your mouth is closed.
I like the additional step on the City of Portland’s How to Fit a Helmet web page: “When the helmet is sitting on your head (even when it’s not buckled) it shouldn’t move very much when shaking your head ‘yes’ or ‘no.'”
If you’re more of a video learner, here’s a 27-second helmet fit video from Safe Kids Worldwide:
Choosing a helmet
Helmets fit differently, so the best way to ensure a good fit is to bring your kiddo along when you shop. Comfort is important in finding a helmet your tot will want to wear, but depending on age and personality the look of the helmet might also dictate the one you go home with.
Comfy helmet = happy kids.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Here are a few other variables that might steer you to specific brands or styles:
➤ Clasp: all Nutcase (based here in Portland) models and some Lazer helmets have magnetic clasps that won’t pinch skin.
➤ Adjustability: helmet straps will routinely work their way loose. Without fail, I discover my own are loose when conducting my helmet-fit spiel to a group of kids and make tightening my straps part of my fit demonstration. Sometimes dials and buckles bother (or conversely, intrigue) some kids, so keep that mind when choosing. The Autofit® system used on some Lazer helmets hugs the head, avoiding the need to make adjustments.
➤ Venting: Some styles have more vents for better air flow. I’m miserable in the summer with my heavy bike and heavy hair if I’m not in the most vented helmet on the market, but my kids have never complained of hot heads whether in a trailer or pedaling their own bikes. However, if you have a sweaty baby it’s something to consider.
➤ Shape: If your kid will spend any time in a trailer, some brands are flatter in the back (Nutcase and Bern to name a couple) and will be more comfortable. Some trailers boast recessed areas for helmets, but many of us use trailers before the kids are tall enough to reach the recessed area and even so, a pointy aerodynamic shaped helmet won’t recess as comfortably as a smooth one. Related, if you’ve got a tall kid in a front seat with a pointy helmet, you’ll get jabbed in the chest occasionally.
➤ MIPS:Multi-Directional Impact Protection System is available in some helmets. If this is a feature you want, it will help narrow down your choices. When I browsed kid helmets at Clever Cycles last week, shop owner Eva Frazier tipped me off that Nutcase will introduce a MIPS helmet for the 2018 season. Clever currently carries Lazer helmets with MIPS and non-MIPS versions.
Practice practice practice
Skip this section if your kid is happy to wear a helmet (and then color me jealous). In our family, we did a lot of preemptive helmet wearing — that is, putting one on before we started to ride — just to make it a non-issue when it came time to buckle into the bike seat. It made all the difference.
Before getting on the bike, I helped him associate the helmet with his favorite ride-along toy.
➤ Practice with a ride-on toy. I didn’t start biking with my first baby until he was one, but when he was eight months old we got a helmet and a horribly loud ride-on toy. He adored everything about that little truck–beeping, blinking, dials, buttons — so much so that he didn’t object to donning his helmet to play with it.
➤ Practice together in the house. Wearing helmets together in the house is a wonderful way to get used to feeling the weight of a helmet on your head and get proficient at adjusting straps when you’re not in a rush to get out the door and on the bike. There’s a chance this practice might start with only you wearing your helmet around the house before your tot is ready to join you.
➤ Practice with toys. I’ve made helmets, balaclavas, and mittens for my kids’ stuffed animals just to help get them in the mood. I’m not very crafty and have found paper and tape or cut-up mateless socks do the trick.
Decorate
Art-loving toddlers and older kids might enjoy personalizing their helmets.
Pipe cleaner helmet antennas are weatherproof and long lasting
➤ Stickers! I first saw Fun Reflector reflective sticker sets (based in Beaverton) years ago at Clever Cycles and have purchased several there and ordered even more. Even regular stickers will do the trick for making a helmet fun, but these bike-specific stickers are strong and stand up to the weather. Other sticker operations can make custom vinyl stickers (I order these each time the kids go up a bike size to ensure they will use the new, bigger bike). If you’ve used a local print shop for this, I’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments.
➤ Pipe cleaners! I’ve run a lot of helmet decorating stations at street fairs and love making helmet antennas out of pipe cleaners. Simple antennas are pretty fun, but flowers and coils are great, too.
Especially decorative helmets
I’m sure I don’t know all the cute helmet options out there, but here are some I’ve come across:
Another brand you’ll find at big-box stores are Raskullz which feature mohawks and amazing animal looks. (Note that as of today they are among the bike brands owned by Vista Outdoor, a company that has come under scrutiny for their support of the National Rifle Association.)
Two models of Lazer helmets (P’Nut and Nut’Z) have an optional Crazy Nutshell snap on cover. I know several little fire fighters who rarely take off their helmets they love them so much.
This one is probably more for the adults as I know a few fashion-conscious grown ups who have ordered YAKKAY helmets and covers, but since their small is listed as 51-54cm (the same size as Nutcase youth small) they seem worth mentioning here.
I’m giving up!
So what happens when you’ve tried every trick in the book and nothing seems to work? There’s a very good chance that as soon as you start moving, the uncomfortable helmet will be forgotten.
There are also times when you’re far from home and the helmet suddenly becomes unbearable. If you’re also a baby-wearer and bring your carrier with you everywhere, it might be easiest to remove the helmet and strap the fussy toddler to your back and walk the bike a bit. Or, leave the toddler seated on the bike without the helmet and walk the bike (I don’t know if this follows the letter of the law, but I’ve done this many times). Just know we’ve all been there and it won’t last forever and you’ll both be helmeted and rolling again soon.
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Safety Center
700 SW Campus Drive Portland, OR 97239
Monday – Friday; 9:30am-3:30pm (or by appointment)
503-418-5666
safety@ohsu.edu
Randall Children’s Hospital Safety Center
501 N Graham St. Portland, OR 97227
Monday – Thursday 9:00am-12:00pm (or by appointment)
503-413-4600 – please call before visiting to ensure they are open
Bikes for Humanity PDX
3354 SE Powell Blvd. Portland, OR 97202
503-496-6941
b4hpdx@gmail.com
And coming up Saturday, March 24th you can get free bike helmets for low-income children at the Brian Duncan Bicycle Helmet Giveaway hosted by Portland Police Bureau: Youth Services Division and Alberta Abbey.
The legal stuff
Per Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 814.485 anyone under 16 is required to wear a helmet on a bike. Helmets generally fit babies starting around age one. For advice on whether you should ride with kids younger than that, see this 2009 BikePortland.org post by Marion Rice, Carrying your infant by bike: How young is too young? (I plan to revisit that topic soon!)
Thanks for reading. We’ve had a great response to this column! Feel free ask questions in the comments below or email me your story ideas and insights at madidotcom [at] gmail [dot] com.
Ah, children. They can be our biggest fans and also our biggest challengers when it comes to cooking. Getting a meal on the table that they will eat sometimes feels like a Herculean task.
This photo was taken by reader Tanja Olson on Thursday, February 23rd.
Portland is still getting used to snowy winters — so too are the City’s snowplow operators.
On Thursday, a Portland Bureau of Transportation employee set the scooper on their plow a bit too wide and uprooted 30 plastic bollards that demarcate the bike lanes on the 28th Avenue overpass of I-84. The bollards were installed last summer and are part of the Twenties Bikeway route.
By Saturday only one bollard remained.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)
With a bike rider for context.
Here’s a view from further away. Note how the destruction began right at the bridge deck.
It’s not as though these things are just glued to the ground willy-nilly.
Reader Tanja Olson shared that lead image above with us on Friday. Before confirming the snowplow assault with PBOT today, we weren’t sure exactly what uprooted all the bollards. So we had a bit of fun with our friends on Instagram and asked them for their ideas:
terry.d.m.bikes: I’m from Wisconsin originally, I know what it looks like. I’m sure the plow did it.
carmusmeathole: they were all laying down perfectly. i work around the corner. i figured a plow would have heard and swerved out of the way?
brandyschwandy: i blame fat bikes…
ogtothe503: Bigfoot.
nedholbrook: Thanks, Obama.
dangit.holly: crop circle aliens
rumpshaker71: Global Warming
All kidding aside, PBOT Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera told us today that it was indeed a snowplow operator. The incident was reported by the plow crew on Thursday and PBOT has already replaced 24 of the 30 bollards. They plan to install the final six tomorrow. “In the meantime,” Rivera added, “we took the opportunity to sweep the bike lane.”
Rivera also wanted to pass along this tip: “Whenever anyone sees damaged infrastructure on our streets or public right-of-way, the best thing to do is call our 24 hour dispatch hotline 503-823-1700, or use the PDXReporter.org web site.”
Millikan looking east toward Hocken and City Hall.
(Photos by Naomi Fast)
A former Portlander who now lives on the West Side, Naomi Fast is our Washington County correspondent.
In Beaverton, Millikan Way is a useful route to be acquainted with for visits to — or through — the city on a bike. If you’re new to this area of Washington County, or if you haven’t ventured out on a bike much yet, here are a few things to know.
The geographic and planning context
Millikan is mostly thought of as an east-west passage. However, at the western end, where SW 160th Ave becomes Millikan at Tualatin Valley (TV) Hwy, the route first heads north through the Tualatin Valley Nature park, then curves past a trail that leads to Merlo MAX before straightening eastbound to Murray.
There’s a bike lane gap in this segment, between Murray and the Beaverton Creek bridge closest to TV Hwy. Motor vehicles users have two full lanes in each direction. Going east, after Millikan intersects Murray, the bike lanes resume and drivers have one lane each. The road veers east-southeast between the MAX tracks and Canyon Rd, passing Beaverton’s Round and two Hall Blvd bike shops before going through the Ford Truck Ranch. Millikan ends at SW Lombard Ave, next to Richi’s Taco truck and across the street from the Beaverton Transit Center.
Richi’s Tacos on Lombard with new wayfinding signage and Beaverton Transit Center to the right.
Millikan and Murray looking north toward Jenkins Road and Nike World HQ.
Millikan at Murray looking south down Murray toward TV Highway.
Millikan is part of a Beaverton capital project known as the Canyon Road Alternate Bike Network. Technically, this project only goes as far west as Hocken. Of course, we may be on our way further west than that, or arrive to the bikeway from the west, via north-south arterials like Murray. This spotlight takes that into consideration.
The Good—no, the GREAT!
Millikan to Lombard before. (Taken April 2017.)
Millikan to Lombard after.
For a long time, Millikan’s pavement didn’t quite reach Lombard. But Millikan received a big dose of active transportation love from the city last year. This improvement is less than a year old, so anyone who’s still accustomed to avoiding this formerly muddy spot is in for a welcome treat. Check it out: there’s even a wayfinding sign!
The Bad
Millikan at SW Rose Biggi Ave. Cross traffic does not stop.
The bike lane seen here ends at Edge Coffee.
At City Hall, where the new BG’s Food Cartel is, Millikan intersects with Rose Biggi. Millikan narrows even more, and bike lanes are swapped for sharrows. To me, sharrows here aren’t the “bad” thing—not after riding the western segment that’s four lanes across, none of which are bike lanes. Notice the stop signs, though, alerting to the fact that this is a two-way stop. People riding on the bicycle route must stop, while people crossing the bikeway in cars do not stop.
I might not have instantly found this counterintuitive if I hadn’t ridden Portland’s neighborhood greenways, like NE Going St. That bikeway also has two-way stops. But on Going, I remember those stops being for people crossing the bikeway. It not only makes riding easier, but safer.
It doesn’t make sense for the best-known bike network in Beaverton to have an intersection where drivers are not required to stop before crossing the bikeway. I brought that up at a Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting. The hearsay is, various train tracks are the reason for this unfortunate tricky spot. But the food carts are receiving lots of visitors now, with many coming on foot. Maybe the solution is to close northbound Rose Biggi to cars at Millikan, such that Rose Biggi is open only to people using active modes between the MAX tracks and Millikan? I’m not a traffic safety engineer, so I really don’t know. I can, however, report how it feels to cross a street on my bicycle where motored cross-traffic doesn’t stop: bad.
The Bumpy
Eastbound Millikan tree root and mud pooling area.
I love big trees like the ones along Millikan. My preference as a bike-commuter is that they be cared for, not cut down, not even for roads. It takes years for trees to grow large, and biking on streets shaded by rows of healthy trees is one of summer’s most pleasant travel options. Trees also make good snack or lunch meeting places, as well as landmarks, like this historic grove of oak trees preserved in Washington County. In fact, the neighborhood Millikan enters west of Murray, Five Oaks, is name for that grove.
So—instead of cutting down established trees living next to roads, I love when engineers seek alternate ways to tackle and work with roots that might bulge into the bike lane. But tackle the problem they should.
I recall one dark, rainy, winter rush hour when I turned to head east on Millikan from southbound Murray. After that ride, Millikan became stuck in my mind as a “bad” place to bike, associated with unexpected bumps, mud, debris and flooding, and darkness contrasted with hundreds of glaring car headlights. I didn’t want to end up always avoiding that stretch, so I went back for a closer look in daylight to see more of the logic behind my negative feelings.
Here’s what I found on Millikan between Murray and Hocken: at least two significant root bulges, resulting in mud and debris pooling in the eastbound bike lane. A utility cut-out, growing grass in a perfect circle. Drivers racing the speed limit. The stretch is sandwiched between two very large intersections, where turning left can be a stressful or cumbersome event.
On westbound Millikan at SW Schottky the bike lane ends just before Murray intersection.
Westbound, the bike lane disappears just before the enormous intersection with Murray. Finally, there’s a sidewalk on only one side of the street, despite the every-30-minutes 62 bus line on this stretch. Sometimes it’s necessary to state the obvious: the solution to people being forced to walk in the bike lane to is to give them a sidewalk — not reduce or remove a much relied-upon bus line.
In Beaverton, the Traffic Commission is the committee that tends to handle these sorts of street concerns; they can be contacted via email jkhasho@beavertonoregon.gov. With the addition of more walk-to and bike-to destinations along Millikan, it makes sense for the city to prioritize making Millikan a bike route to feel good riding on year round, and as far west as possible.
