Thursday, February 18, 2010

More Cycling Improvements in Portland

Portland is all about giving people transportation choice. On February 11th, Portland passed their 2030 Bike Network plan. As I blogged about earlier, the goals of the plan are:
-Plan and design for people who are not yet riding by developing safe and comfortable low-stress bikeways (such as bicycle boulevards and trails) that reduce conflicts between people riding bicycles and people driving. 25% of all trips by cycling in 2030.



-Adopt policy changes outlined in the Plan, including a new bicycle transportation policy of making bicycling more attractive than driving for short trips.


-Expand the network of bikeways in Portland to achieve a fine-grained system that offers riders an array of route choices. Up to 1,496km will be added.



-Implement measures to satisfy the growing demand for bike parking.

-Expand established programs, and develop new programs, to encourage and support bicycling.

-Pursue multiple strategies to increase funding for bicycle facilities and other green transportation modes.
The next step in Portland's continued transportation revolution is the formation of a Finance Task Force to ensure a sound funding strategy that will ensure achievement of the plan's objectives.

I find the next graphic the most powerful. It shows how much value you get when building cycling infrastructure. One mile of freeway costs the same as 300 miles of cycling improvement! I suggest that you check out the slide presentation and also the full report.

2 comments:

Jamoo said...

My wife and I were in Portland last month, and we took our bikes along. Neither of us are especially experienced commuters, but getting around Portland was a breeze. Streets without bike lanes are the exception, drivers frequently wave you through intersections and turns, there is parking everywhere.

I crossed the Hawthorne bridge on my morning run, and the stream of bike commuters was incredible - they just kept coming and coming. There's so much traffic on this bridge that there's even a bike passing lane.

There's no reason Langley couldn't be like this.

Bernadette said...

Lets get a bike route like the Lochside trail (vancouver island) from Hope to the Tsawwassen Ferries.