Support the Portland Bicycle Plan

A hearing before City Council to adopt the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 has been set for Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 2:00 p.m., time certain. The public is welcome to attend, and to testify if you wish. The Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 provides a blueprint for making Portland a world-class bicycling city, reducing the causes of climate change, improving public health, promoting prosperity, and building close-knit communities.

VOICE YOUR SUPPORT:
Below are two ways you may express your support for the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030:

1. The quick and easy way:
Express your support for the six key principles of the plan listed on our web page by just clicking “yes!” on the Portland Bicycle Plan support form!

OR

2. Write a letter to City Council.
Address your letter to “Dear Mayor Adams and members of City Council:”
You can e-mail your letter to bicyclemasterplan@pdxtrans.org
or mail your paper letter to:
Portland City Council
c/o Ellen Vanderslice, Project Manager
Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030
1120 SW 5th Ave, Suite 800
Portland, OR 97204
Either way, we’ll make sure your letter is distributed to the Mayor and Commissioners before the February 4 hearing.
The project team is hard at work putting the finishing touches on the final draft plan. We’ll send you another message when the draft is posted on our website along with our report on the changes made since the public comment draft. For more information, visit the plan website: http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/BicycleMasterPlan

2030 Bicycle Plan Final Draft Available

Portland’s Bicycle Plan for 2030 is now available for download online on the Bicycle Plan website, http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/bicyclemasterplan/. Included on the download page is a report on how the final draft differs from the public comment draft released last October.

A hearing before City Council to consider adopting the plan is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 4, 2010. The hearing is “time certain,” which means it won’t begin before 2:00 p.m. Testimony at the hearing is welcome, but there are other ways to express your support, including a simple support form on the Bicycle Plan website.

N/NE: A Bike Infrasructure Hole

At the next KNA meeting on October 14th, Roger Geller, Bicycle Coordinator for the City of Portland will present his proposal in coordination with Metro for a Bicycle Demonstration Project in North and Northeast Portland.

The attached proposal calls for creating an urban demonstration project in a 13 square mile area of North and Northeast Portland. Metro sent a grant application to the federal government that, if successful, will fund this project.

N/NE Demonstration Project Proposal

For more information on Metro’s Active Transportation Partnership, please see this web site: http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=30078
To see the report “The case for an active transportation strategy”, please see this pdf: http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files/brc_final_report.pdf

CITY SEEKS INPUT ON PROPOSED PORTLAND BICYCLE PLAN FOR 2030

bicyclistFrom October 5, 2009 through November 8, 2009, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is inviting public input on the Public Comment Draft of the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. During this public comment period, Portland residents are invited to review the plan, confirm that it includes the elements that are most important to them, and submit comments on the plan. The Portland Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the plan at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, in Room 2500A, 1900 SW 4th Avenue. A hearing before City Council is tentatively scheduled for the evening of January 20, 2010.

Portland’s first Bicycle Master Plan was adopted in 1996. Since that time the bicycle network doubled to more than 300 miles, the City developed innovative programs to promote bicycling, and Portland experienced an exponential rise in the number of people bicycling. In 2008 the League of American Bicyclists recognized these efforts, granting Portland platinum-level status as a Bicycle Friendly Community.

The Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 grew out of a project to update the 1996 plan. Guided by a distinguished Steering Committee and assisted by a broad-based Technical Advisory Committee drawn from partner bureaus and agencies, the Bureau of Transportation has developed a new plan that positions Portland to support climate action goals and address many of the 21st-century challenges we face by further growing bicycle transportation. The new plan proposes fundamental changes to city policy, implementation of new street designs, a much expanded bicycle transportation network, and an array of supporting actions and programs.

The Public Comment Draft of the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 is available for review at:
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/BicycleMasterPlan .

North Northeast Portland Bicycle Demonstration Project

bicyclistSince the spring of 2008, Metro has been working with local business leaders, elected officials, public health professionals and mobility advocates to determine if they were satisfied with the pace of development of our regional trails and network of off-street paths and walkways. This group, identified as the “Blue Ribbon Committee for Trails” decided to expand their scope to include all on-street bikeways. They did so in the course of studying all that is necessary to address this issue–including a trip to see comprehensive “active transportation” systems in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The committee published their report last year. That report, titled “The case for an active transportation strategy,” calls for hastening the development of active transportation systems and to create projects to demonstrate the potential of bicycling and walking–“active transportation”–in three different environments: urban, suburban and rural. The regional call for active transportation proposals was a direct result of their report to Metro.

The proposal calls for creating an urban demonstration project in a 13 square mile area of North and Northeast Portland. All selected roadways are either currently identified as bikeways in the City’s Transportation System Plan or are slated to be included as such with the update of that plan. Metro is currently assembling a grant application to the federal government that, if successful, will fund this project. View the proposal at: http://kingneighborhood.org/Reference_Files/NNE Demonstration Project final.pdf.

For more information on Metro’s Active Transportation Partnership, please see this web site: http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=30078
To see the report “The case for an active transportation strategy”, please see this pdf: http://library.oregonmetro.gov/files/brc_final_report.pdf

I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have about this project or about Metro’s effort (though I may steer you to Metro for detailed information).

Thanks and respectfully yours,

Roger Geller
Bicycle Coordinator

City of Portland Office of Transportation
1120 SW 5th Avenue, Room 800
Portland, OR 97204

voice: (503) 823-7671
fax: (503) 823-7609
TDD: (503) 823-6868

email: roger.geller@pdxtrans.org
web: http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=34772

Bicycle Master Plan web site (updated regularly): http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=44597