Portland used to be America’s self-styled “Bicycle Capital.” Then city code enforcers killed the enormous downtown mural proclaiming as much.
We used to be a reliable pick for “Bike City USA,” as ordained by the lycra-clad editors of Bicycling magazine. Then we plummeted, losing out to New York. And Chicago. And Minneapolis.
Now, there’s a new threat to Portland’s cycling smugness, and it’s not coming from bureaucrats or East Coast editors. It’s coming from inside the house.
Moved by what he says is a lack of inspired projects and continually unsafe streets, Portland cycling advocate Will Vanlue is asking the League of American Bicyclists to rescind a coveted “platinum” rating it bestowed on the Rose City in 2008.
The designation may be the most substantial validation Portland’s ever received—signaling the city’s gone above and beyond its peers in terms of bicycle inclusion. To date, we’re the only major city to have secured a platinum rating.
But Vanlue—a former staffer at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance—says it’s fraudulent. In a change.org petition he launched earlier today, he makes a case that the League should downgrade Portland, and he uses the organization’s own criteria to make the case we’re no paragon. The petition was first reported by bikeportland.org.
Among Vanlue’s arguments:
•”City officials frequently adapt street designs to fit pro-motor vehicle, anti-bike opinions.”
•”Tourism campaigns often over-sell the promise of a safe, comfortable experience, setting up visitors for a shock when they try to travel by bicycle in Portland.”
•Portland, after years of delay, still doesn’t have a bike share system.
•”Portland Police Bureau officers, as a matter of policy, do not report or cite people in motor vehicle crashes that result in minor injuries.”
The platinum rating has been a point of contention among cyclists in recent years. There’s a notion that Portland’s formerly staggering success in luring residents to their bikes has stalled out, and that maybe it’s because everyone’s been made complacent by all the outside approval.
Vanlue tells the Mercury his petition—it’s got 151 “signatures” as I write this—is more about having an honest discussion about where we stand.
“We cant be going around saying look at this great job we’re doing,” he says. “We need to talk about what’s working in Portland, what’s not, and where we need to be.”
Portland crushes other big cities in one important category: An estimated 6 percent of residents commute by bike. But it’s proven impossible, so far, to move past that number, and the city’s stated goal is to get 25 percent of commuters biking by 2030.
At the same time, Portland’s watching other cities build ambitious bike-centered infrastructure while less lofty projects here cause intractable fights over parking spaces.
Vanlue’s especially critical—along with many others—of one of Portland’s latest high-profile bike lane projects: the North Williams Traffic Safety Project. A left-side bike lane installed as part of a facelift on N Williams eliminates conflict with TriMet buses, but throws bikes and cars together in the same lane on a busy commercial stretch.
“There are a million and one ways you could have done that project differently,” Vanlue says.
There’s no telling, of course, whether this petition will hold any actual sway. Vanlue says he’s e-mailed back and forth with the League of American Bicyclists about it.
And by the way, it’s added 22 signatures in the last 15 minutes.
Not to mention that amanda fritz has lied about and subverted the public process around mountain biking in the cities parks.
The city and the consultants have misstated numbers for over ten years to promote this bullshit. Fucking dorks.
I see confused tourists trying to navigate downtown by riding on the sidewalks almost every day. Sometimes I try to help them by explaining about the rules against doing so and the resulting heavy fine. Mostly they give me a bunch of attitude.
the north williams safety project is a nightmare. as a bike commuter, i feel significantly less safe on williams now.
Wow, this is such a IMPORTANT THING too. I think Hales should be weighing in shortly on a 10 point plan to restore our ranking.
I can’t tell what’s more ridiculous, this listing in the first place, or Vanlues self-importance on it.
There’s been enough accommodation for cyclists in Portland.jamming up car traffic for the accommodations probably doesn’t help the safety concerns for riders.Drivers are more stressed out and more likely to drive aggressively putting riders, foot traffic and other drivers at an increased risk for accidents and or injuries. Between bikes and trimet the streets of this city are pretty much a huge mess. My opinion anyhow.
North Williams is a nightmare.
I noticed they used extra shitty paint to paint all the fancy bike lanes here in Southeast. They just painted them a short while ago (6 mos?) and many are already fading and difficult to see on rainy nights. You would think if you were adding thousands of miles of extra paint stripes to the local streets that you would have researched buying the best paint possible but then again Morrison Bridge.
I can’t imagine how much money was spent designing and then painting these bike lanes all over town but I’m sure it was significant. It seems the local trend for bloated public works projects requires enormous amounts of studies, consultants, designers, and engineers to write reports and make artists renderings before anybody is contracted to do any work so I imagine this was the same (for reference see: the tram, the water house, the sewer building, the I-5 bridge, the East-side Esplanade, the Sellwood Bridge, any other bridge within a 30 mile radius, Cover Oregon, the street cars, The Heroic Effort to Create Downtown Lents, etc., etc.).
All of these counter-intuitive and poorly explained specialty lanes for traffic control that have been put in everywhere will become useless or even more dangerous if they are not continually kept repainted. The city needs to put in extra signage to explain to drivers in advance where all the lanes go as well. The crazy lanes everywhere really feel like a poor attempt at a temporary solution. I would be interested to see if they actually improve safety and traffic flow or if all of the money is wasted up front in the computer modeling stage and nobody is actually paying attention to their efficacy.
Many drivers and cyclists seem confused about exactly how to use them and they lack consistency in different parts of town. It feels like the system for them was invented on the fly in different locations, with some of the newest locations being the worst such as North Williams or the five corners area on Division. I can’t wait to see how all of this lane narrowing (some permanently built into place) affects traffic flow in 5 years with the steady influx of newcomers that shows no sign of slowing. It seems like possibly creating dedicated bike routes would be better than turning the whole city into one lane roads and one way streets. Every time a dedicated turn lane is taken out it creates a traffic choke point and a possible safety hazard for bikes and cars with people trying to get around the traffic blockage.
Fwiw, the N. Williams changes are kind of growing on me, with the exception of the stupid right turn boxes, a couple transition points, and points where the bike lanes narrow without much warning. I feel more safe while cycling just because a) the cycling lanes are huge and well-marked, b) there is room to ride without worrying about getting doored, and c) during peak hours the cars are moving slowly enough that I can reliably react. There are still dangers, but less overall than before. There is still a lot of room for improvement. The biggest improvement is simply taking a lane away from cars and thereby limiting what Williams used to be: almost a quasi expressway with a thin bike lane squeezed in.
A juvenile action.
“Hey: do what I want or I will punish you by taking away something only I want.”
At least the BTA would make horrible muggers. “Give me your wallet or I will shoot myself.”
Very, very few people care about the BTA’s incessant self-regard. These contests for best bike cities reminds of Toddlers and Tiaras where white trash pursue a worthless crown
and spend money they don’t have in the process.
Having said that, I will sign any petition that contradicts the cartoon utopia bs. of the transplant.
Where are these adapted anti-bike streets at? I legitimately can’t think of a single one, at least anywhere west of 82nd.
As for Williams, blame a 100 years of institutional racism for that one. I’m not sure that the League of American Bicyclists has any pull on that one, Will,