The Portland Office of Transportation hosted monthly Bicycle Master Plan Rides from February through October of 2007.The rides, held on the first Tuesday of the month, used the following format :
Ride at 5:30.
Ride for 1 hour or so along predetermined route with several stops.
Convene afterward for as long as needed to discuss what we saw, how we felt about it, ideas we have, etc.
(
Click here to see the route map for the next ride [when available] , as well as maps of previous rides.)
There are multiple goals for these rides :
1) Education. To have Portlanders understand the standard tools the City uses to create bikeways; how we use them and why we use them. Most importantly, people need to experience them and get a feel for how they work and begin to think about what might work better.
2) Vision. Can we create--even if only for a little while and in a limited area--the feeling one gets when riding in world class cycling cities? Can we give people a vision and perhaps the sensation of how Portland can be a world-class cycling city?
3) Discussion Forum. I want to create a regular forum in which people interested in bicycling can meet regularly, look at conditions in the field, and hold discussions about them that range as far as the group wishes to take them. What works, what doesn't work, how do we improve?
These rides are an initial part of an overall outreach strategy for the update to the Bicycle Master Plan . As PDOT is currently working on an existing conditions report for the Bike Master Plan, the rides for the first few months will focus primarily on existing bikeways. As our focus expands to how to change the network and develop new routes, the rides will change to reflect the search for new ways to ride.
We started in the inner eastside, mostly on established bicycle boulevards because these roads are among the most bikeable in the city. Subsequent rides took us to every section of the city--wherever we've developed bikeways.
Please attend.
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
