State overrules its own committee, says raised bike lanes won’t work on outer Powell

A sidewalk-colored bike lane (described here as a “concrete shoulder”) set off by slightly raised striping is the state’s preferred alternative for bike lanes on a reconstructed Powell Boulevard east of Interstate 205. The state-run road carries about 20,000 motor vehicles daily.
(Image: ODOT)

After an advisory group agreed that it wanted an upcoming rebuild of outer Powell Boulevard to include raised bike lanes, the Oregon Department of Transportation says they’re not practical after all.

“[A raised bike lane] presents a long list of challenges.”
— Matt Freitag, ODOT project manager

Among the issues the agency has cited were difficulty getting water to run off the pavement and into drainage areas; the number of driveway crossings; and the difficulty of sweeping debris or snow from the bike lanes, which would be narrower than any of the equipment the agency currently owns.

“Each of their own wasn’t a dealbreaker, but taken in aggregate [a raised bike lane] presents a long list of challenges,” said Matt Freitag, an engineer and project manager for ODOT’s Portland regional office.

Instead, Freitag said, the agency’s “preferred alternative” for Powell between Interstate 205 and 172nd Avenue is what it calls a “buffered bike lane.” But Freitag and project manager Mike Mason said that the “buffer” along Powell might be built with a different-colored material from asphalt and/or might include some sort of non-curb vertical separators.

A February memo that summarized options for Powell illustrated the “buffered bike lane” option as including “durable profiled striping,” which ODOT has described elsewhere as thick enough to give “auditory signals” to people when they drive over it.

Another option for buffered bike lanes: durable profiled striping with no color change.

Freitag and Mason said Wednesday the project is mostly done discussing whether or not there will be a raised or buffered lane.

“What’s undecided is what gets in the buffer,” Mason said. “Is it profiled striping, that raised striping that creates a vibration when you go over it, or some other type of raised pavement markers?”

Potter and Grosjean: ODOT tried its best to make separation possible

A rendering of a raised bike lane on Powell, prepared by ODOT but rejected as an option.

In interviews, two members of the advisory committee who had previously expressed support for protected bike lanes on Powell said they’ve been persuaded that raised bike lanes aren’t worth the cost on the street, which gets unusually heavy runoff from nearby hills during rainstorms.

“They really went into it trying to figure out how to get enough drainage,” said Cora Potter, a frequent bike user who sits on the Outer Powell Safety Project’s Community Advisory Committee. “Anything that involves grade separation greatly increases, like quadruples, the cost. … If you have a curb, you basically get a puddle at the curb that then comes in and covers up the bike lane. If you don’t have a curb, it just flows off the bike lane in a sheet.”

Paul Grosjean, the committee’s co-chair and a member of the Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Association, said that “after thinking about it for several months,” he’d decided a buffered bike lane would be fine.

“I have driven the entire corridor with just that in mind, and kind of looked at as I drove and said ‘What is this going to be like?'” He said. “I think this is the best solution that is available.”

Potter said she thinks there’s still a chance for the street to get domes like those used in Houston, Washington DC and elsewhere.

“The turtle dome things are actually kind of good, I think, if they’re spaced close enough together,” Potter said.

Potter also said she expects the bike lane to be very visually distinct. If it isn’t, she said, more people will drive in the bike lane to jump the queue for right turns, etc.

“The asphalt would be a different color or they’d make it out of concrete,” she said. “If they don’t, then I’ll be really disappointed. Because it needs to be visually very very clear that the bike lane is not a place for cars on Powell.”

Protected intersections might yet be included

A rendering of a protected intersection included in ODOT’s memo for possible intersection treatments on Powell, for example at 122nd Avenue.
(Image: Nick Falbo)

Elizabeth Quiroz, a professional advocate for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance who sits on the advisory committee, said in a July 12 email she doesn’t like the new plan.

“Many community members are not happy with the final option presented by ODOT.”
— Elizabeth Quiroz, BTA

“Many community members are not happy with the final option presented by ODOT,” she said in an email. “Our understanding was that a raised bike lane was a top priority. … We expected better and safer infrastructure.”

Mason and Freitag said that none of the issues ODOT identified with a raised or otherwise protected bike lane were insurmountable.

The City of Portland might be able to get a narrower street sweeper. Higher-grade crossings and driveways might prevent the “up and down” bobbing that they fear a raised bike lane might give people biking. Even the drainage issues might be solved with enough money.

They and Potter, the advisory committee member, also said there’s still potential for greatly improving the signalized intersections at 122nd and 136th with Dutch-inspired elements like bend-out bike crossings and corner safety islands to force sharper turns.

“The intersections are what really scare me,” Potter said. “As a bike rider, my honest opinion is if they can do the treatment that makes it obvious it’s a bike lane, like a different surface, and then plow as much money as they can into the intersection treatment, as someone who will probably ride a bike there, that’s what I would do.”

Freitag said protected intersection designs are possible at the signalized intersections.

“We’re certainly looking at options that include those elements,” he said.

Mason said that whatever happens on Powell, it’s going to be settled quickly — at least for the stretch from 122nd to 136th where reconstruction was already funded by the state legislature.

“The discussions with the city should happen over the next couple of months if not sooner,” he said. “We’re on a fast track to get this designed and built, so we need to be making decisions.”

— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org

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Mayor Hales has advice for bike advocates: Get louder and get organized

Hales spoke in the new public plaza on SW 3rd yesterday.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales offered a very unexpected admonition during an informal, invite-only meeting yesterday. It was a veiled criticism of Portland’s transportation advocates — and bike advocates in particular. Yes, you read that right, bike advocates: the group many Portlanders (mistakenly) assume wields unlimited power in City Hall.

Hales’ comments came at the end of a brief speech he gave while standing in the new Ankeny Plaza on SW 3rd in front of about two dozen advocates, city staffers, and other local leaders. His remarks were mostly about his support for Better Naito, the importance of great public spaces and the city’s new “livable streets strategy.” But then he ended with a plea for more support from advocates — many of whom were standing right in front of him.

I happened to have my recorder on. Here’s the transcript (with my emphasis added):

“Let me make a brief political announcement for those of you who are advocates. And that is, when you have a progressive city government with progressive city bureaus, that doesn’t mean that the good things will always happen on auto-pilot. Advocacy is still necessary. The enemy of this kind of progress generally is not loud opposition. I mean, everything we do has some backlash; we do get some phone calls to my office complaining about Better Naito. But that will happen whether we do something or we don’t do something. So the problem isn’t opposition, the problem is just inertia and taking things for granted. So for those of you who are advocates, even though this is Portland, remember that a lot of the success we’ve had as a city is because bike advocates have been loud and clear about where we should go.

So my political advice to all of you as bike advocates is keep being loud and keep being clear because that will empower a council that already wants to do the right thing, to do so. And don’t just assume it will happen without advocacy because drift is the enemy. That’s my poltiical admonition and good advice to my friends.”

I caught up with Hales afterward and asked for clarification. He offered affordable housing advocates as a model to follow:

“Complacency is the enemy. Just because we’re Portland, just because we have a progressive city council and progressive transportation bureau doesn’t mean we’ll go at the pace that we should. So advocates need to advocate.

And if you need an example of how spectacularly successful that can be, take a look at our housing agenda. We just committed 45 percent of all available urban renewal money to afforable housing. We did that because we do have a housing crisis and everyone recognizes it; but the housing advocacy coalition has been very loud and very clear about what the city needs to do and that has helped advance that agenda. And I think the transportation advocacy community needs to be similarly vocal.”

And have you seen this playing out during your time in office? I asked.

“Yes. Again, I don’t want to be critical of my friends and allies; but it’s easy to get complacent… ‘Oh it’s Portland, of course they’ll do the right thing.’ Well, we should [do the right thing].”

He said that last part as we walked away, smiling, as if to say council will do the wrong thing unless advocates step up and speak up. And in my book, when someone says, “I don’t want to be critical of…” that means they do in fact want to be critical and they’re just trying to soften the blow.

“I don’t want to be critical of my friends and allies; but it’s easy to get complacent.”
— Charlie Hales, Portland mayor

It was a fascinating glimpse into the mind of Portland’s most powerful elected official. Three and-a-half years into his four-year term he’s imploring transportation reformers to do better so he and his council colleagues can move more quickly in their efforts to remake Portland’s streets.

Hales’ comments reminded me of similar remarks made by his predecessor Sam Adams. In June 2010 at the annual fundraising event for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Adams also tried to light a fire under bike advocates’ feet after not feeling enough love when he needed it. “What got us to the dance, won’t keep us dancing,” he told the crowd, who surely expected to hear nothing but effusive praise for the BTA on their big night. “Our success has not come without pushback,” he added.

Adams asked bike advocates to be louder and more supportive of city council, who were getting clobbered with negative feedback about the mayor’s proposal to spend $20 million from the city’s water bureau to help jump-start the Bike Master Plan. The BTA had just hired a new leader (Rob Sadowsky), and Adams sensed the time was right for a bit of prodding. “The new leadership of this organization combined with the existing advocacy can take us there,” he said. “City government cannot do it on our own.”

There was a similar context to both remarks. So, do they have a point? Or are they just scapegoating advocates for their own mistakes and lack of accomplishments in the area of bike infrastructure and innovative street designs?

I often think of a chicken-and-egg scenario as I watch this interplay between electeds and advocates:

ADVOCATE: Please do more!
POLITICIAN: No, you do more first, then we’ll do more!
ADVOCATE: No, you do more first then we’ll do more!
POLITICIAN: Ugh. I’ll go work a different issue then.

In the end, this might be a case of unrealistic expecations — on both sides of the equation.

As citizens (and especially as passionate activists) we want everything right away and we expect politicians to make it happen. That’s not a realistic expectation, but some of us still get frustrated with the pace of change. And mayors probably have unrealistic expecations of advocates — especially in a city like Portland where the reputation of a “bike lobby” is much more myth than reality. If I had a nickle for every time I heard a politician say, “We are really going to need the bike community’s support on this!” I wouldn’t have to worry about paying the bills.

From my experience, absent a major tragedy or funding/project opportunity to rally around, it’s very rare for advocates (regardless of the issue) to coalesce around a single demand. This is especially true in today’s world where community activism has become disintermediated and democratized away from the traditional, institutional advocacy groups and toward individuals and the grassroots. In other words, if you wait around for unanimity from “the bike community,” you’ll never get anything done.

I’ve been very critical of Hales in the past, but I’m glad he spoke up about this. It’s an important discussion to have, especially as we welcome a new mayor to town, PBOT seems to have gotten its groove back, and the BTA is in the midst of a major re-structuring.

Stay tuned for details about an upcoming Wonk Night where we’ll discuss how we can all work together to move forward faster.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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One-third of biking injuries in Toronto involve streetcar tracks, study finds

Left turns from NW 9th Avenue onto Lovejoy Street toward the Broadway Bridge.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

In the city with North America’s largest streetcar system, on-street rails almost rival automobiles as a factor in collisions that injure people on bikes.

That’s one major finding in the first academic study in North America dedicated specifically to the danger of streetcar tracks to people biking.

Among bike-related injuries in Toronto that resulted in emergency-room trips, the study found, 32 percent directly involved streetcar tracks and more than half happened on streets with streetcar tracks. And in what lead author Kay Teschke described as “a surprise to us,” 67 percent of track-related injuries happen away from intersections.

“Streetcar tracks and people on bicycles are a bad mix; they need to be separated.”
— Dan Bower, Portland Streetcar

Teschke is a professor at the University of British Columbia. Her team’s previous work with this data set (gathered from interviews with people injured at Toronto and Vancouver BC hospitals) has been a major force behind the spread of protected bike lanes in North America.

“There are so many cities building streetcar and light rail these days,” Teschke said in an email Wednesday. “It is important to learn from the Toronto situation.”

Portland is among those cities. Today, its current 7-mile system has only one-eighth the length of Toronto’s. But The Oregonian reported last month on its continuing plans to expand the streetcar system on Northeast Sandy, Northeast MLK, Northeast Broadway or Southwest Macadam, competing with bus lines there.

Dan Bower, executive director of Portland Streetcar and the former head of Portland’s active transportation division, said in an email Wednesday that the study confirms his conviction that “streetcar tracks and people on bicycles are a bad mix; they need to be separated.”

When new streetcar spurs include good bike infrastructure like the raised protected bike lane on Southwest Moody, Bower said, streetcar projects improve biking safety.

“I think you would be hard pressed to find anything designed after 2001 to be fundamentally flawed from a cycling perspective, with one major exception of NW 10th/Lovejoy, which, importantly, led to the building of the NW Johnson and NW Marshall St. Greenways,” Bower wrote.

Bike lanes cut track-injury odds by 66 to 85 percent

Descent from the Broadway Bridge.

Other findings from the UBC study, which was published Friday as an “open peer review” piece in Bio Med Central Public Health:

• The more often you bike, the less susceptible you are to tracks. Every additional 100 bike trips per year cut the odds of a track-related injury by one-third.

• Virtually all injuries of people who are making left turns on bikes were track-related.

• Painted bike lanes greatly reduce the odds of streetcar track injuries. Having a painted bike lane on a major street with parked cars cut the odds of a track-related injury by 85 percent; having one on a street without parked cars does so by 66 percent.

• Independently of biking frequency, women biking have double the odds of a track-related injury compared to men.

• 54 percent of the bike types “commonly sold” in Toronto bike shops have tires narrower than the 34.5 mm flangeways in that city’s streetcar tracks. (Portland’s flangeways are 44.45 mm, Bower said. Based on Teschke’s data, the overwhelming majority of common bike types likely have tires narrower than flangeways here.)

I asked Teschke if she had any thoughts on the gender disparity.

“Data from other studies show that women on average ride slower than men,” she said. “Usually that is a safety benefit, but perhaps a detriment when riding over tracks.”

Streetcar director: ‘Fundamental issue’ is lack of good bike lanes, not presence of tracks

Portland Streetcar Executive Director Dan Bower cited SW Moody Avenue, rebuilt for biking with streetcar-associated funds, as a model of bike-streetcar harmony.
(Photo: M.Andersen)

As for the left-turn issue and the huge percentage of track-related injuries that happen mid-block, Teschke sees them as signs that streets with streetcars need clearly separated lanes and paths for bikes.

“Tracks don’t seem like a good place to perform ‘vehicular cycling’ left turns,” Teschke said, adding: “We didn’t see any non-intersection crashes on streets with dedicated streetcar rights of way.”

Bower said he’s taken two spills on streetcar tracks on his own bicycle, but noted that Toronto’s tracks were built “many, many years ago.” The “fundamental issue” with North American streetcars, he argued, is “the lack of proper bicycle facilities.”

“Streetcar has been a very active partner in trying to make the situation better here in Portland and we are constantly being asked by our peers across the country about lessons learned, which you will see applied,” Bower said. “In my role as executive director I try to be as active as possible in moving important bike projects forward because in my mind that is the best long-term solution for this issue.”

— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org

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A well-travelled home

     
I just created this “Well-traveled-home” vignette in our studio because we recently received some samples in studio from our Selamat collection. (The fabric wrapped ottoman, the copper pyramid planter and the sun mirror with the face on it are all pieces from the collection that we’re showing at Vegas Market this weekend and will be available to the public in September!!) I used one of Jen’s Moroccan pouf covers for my sofa cushions. It was a bit of a revelation. I love the idea of just getting the two seat cushions of a sofa upholstered to totally change the look of a sofa.

Then our Loloi pillows really rounded out the look of the contrasting textiles. I put one of my favorite pillows from my homegirls over at Blockshop in the center on the sofa and then just pulled some random pieces: a tassel from Afghanistan, a vintage sunburst mirror, a Jim Flora print and a Mexican coconut mask on the wall as a gallery. Love the collected/well-traveled vibe and it’s so easy to do with a lot of textiles and just a few key pieces on a wall. Add a few planties and you’re done!

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Zucchini-Feta Frittata

There aren’t enough dishes in anyone’s repertoire to use up all the zucchini from the garden and at farm stands this time of year. Add this hearty frittata to your list.

With its bright green flecks of grated zucchini, this dish can go from brunch table to picnic table to dinner table with ease.

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Shh! Community college uses cargo trikes instead of trucks to keep campus quiet

PCC groundskeeper Eric Roberts and his new work truck.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Human brains tend to work more efficiently in quiet places. For college campuses with many acres of foliage and greenspace to maintain, the use of power tools and motorized vehicles is often at odds with a serene learning environment.

Portland Community College thinks they have an answer: bikes. Or, more specifically, three-wheeled cargo trikes.

On a recent walk past PCC’s Cascade campus in north Portland (on my way to their Biketown bike share station) I met Eric Roberts, one of the school’s groundskeepers. Admittedly it was the bike next to him that first caught my eye: A gorgeous green utility trike made in the USA by Worksman Cycles. “It’s really practical,” Roberts said, as he dug around some weeds. “We’re trying to keep the campus quiet.”

The trike can be pedaled or pushed by hand. Eric says he plans to add a tool rack soon.

The trike that carried a trash barrel and Roberts’ tools was made possible by PCC’s Green Initiative Fund, a grant program created through a 10-cent charge attached to each student’s activity fee. The same fund helped start PCC’s student bike loan program.

PCC Groundskeeper Nate Scott wrote the grant for the trikes. He shared via email that he’s been carfree since 2009 and wanted to find a way to reduce the school’s impact on the environment. “Prior to owning the utility trike our primary mode of transportation was a diesel-powered Kubota RTV [a small tractor],” he wrote. In addition to finding a non-motorized alternative, Scott said he also sees the new trikes as a way to educate students and the public that human-powered vehicles are a viable option and they have more benefits for the community.

Given the success of the trike at the Cascade Campus, Scott reports that PCC has decided to purchase to additional trikes for use at their Southeast and Rock Creek campuses.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Blazers star CJ McCollum rolls on Biketown (and so have thousands of other people)