Brown: Helping pay for bike, ped, and rail projects. As promised by Mayor Sam Adams during a compromise powwow last fall, the Portland City Council this morning has tentatively agreed to spend up to $55 million in city money to bail out TriMet’s $1.5 billion light-rail extension to Milwaukie. Last year, the council had pledged […]
Transportation
Posted inBikes
Who Bikes?
Andrew Sullivan links to a study that found, among other things, that “the lowest-earning quarter of Americans make nearly one-third of all bike trips.” He adds: I have a bike and no car. And cars are the primary reason we are so indebted to foreign autocracies sitting on sand and oil. But Americans, as usual, […]
Posted inTransportation
Overheard on American Airlines Flight 1919
Nattily dressed business woman sitting next to me: “You fucking tell them they’re not to fucking change any of those fucking purchase agreements until they hear from me, you got it?” Turning to me: “Forgive my language.”
Posted inTransportation
What are the Worst Oregon Bridges?
So… ever wonder which Oregon bridges are most likely to collapse, killing us all? Transportation advocacy group Transportation for America released a report yesterday on the state of the nation’s bridges, including a run down of Oregon’s crossings in most need of repair. The good news? According to the report, Oregon is making smarter choices […]
Posted inSex
“Savage Lovecast”/”Car Talk” Mashup
Questions from the “Savage Lovecast,” answers from “Car Talk,” here.
Posted inTransportation
What Are Bike-Ped-Transit Advocates Pushing in Salem?
Today is the Active Transportation Summit at the state capitol—basically all the non-car transportation advocates have teamed up and are descending on our state representatives all in one day. This used to be called the Oregon Bike Summit, but this year it’s open to transit and pedestrian groups, too. I’m not down there, but you […]
Posted inTransportation
TriMet Driver Talks Woman Out of Suicide
Hero of the week! Route 77 bus driver Rick Sound has probably seen his fair share of insanity during his 24 years in the TriMet system, but on Tuesday he did something incredible: Stopped a woman from throwing herself off the Streel Bridge. According to reports, he was driving over the bridge when he saw […]
Posted inEvents
Motorcycle Weekend!
After the last several months of cold wind and slippery, wet streets, all but the most hardcore of all-weather motorcycle riders are starting to get squirrely about getting back on their bikes. Just in time, Portland’s easiest-to-introduce-to-mom motorcycle club, the Sang-Froid Riding Club, are hosting two events to get you back in the saddle for […]
Posted inTransportation
Ray LaHood Stumps for Safer Streets in Portland
Obama’s Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is in town yesterday and today visiting America’s Made-in-the-fuckin’-US-of-A streetcar and meeting with bike advocates. In front of a small, invite-only crowd at a Bicycle Transportation Alliance event in the Pearl District, the jowly Republican applauded the work of Oregon’s sustainability-loving congressmen (Earl Blumenauer and Pete “only former bike mechanic […]
Posted inTransportation
CRC Video: A Boatload of Questions
Local animator and transit nerd Spencer Boomhower recently put together this great little video about the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) Project. If you think the CRC has been an overwhelmingly large and confusing project that seems important but you don’t really understand why, this video is a good place to start. Boomhower showed it last […]
Posted inTransportation
Dead Freeways Across America
Just a half century ago, they cost million of dollars to build. Now a handful of cities across America are tearing down their urban freeways. Hey! That’s what Portland did! According to this article, Baltimore, New Haven, and Providence are all in the process of tearing down freeways that fifty years ago razed neighborhoods and […]
Posted inTransportation
CRC: Highway Departments Want The Cheap but Ugly Design
After the Columbia River Crossing’s expert review panel tossed out the bridge design after years of planning work, there was the possibility that the bridge would be reworked with a more graceful look. Of the three designs on the table, the bridge’s design advisory group said, please don’t go for the ugly one. Today, a […]