What Portland Residents Have To Say About The Bicycle Master Plan

As promised, opposing views on the city's proposed Bicycle Master Plan for 2030 surfaced last night at the Portland Planning Commission.

About 50 people packed the hearing room and heard Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves urge adoption of the plan. Portland resident Randy Miller added that the plan would bring a “young, new, and highly educated community” to the city.

But not everyone was so optimistic. Don Arambula of urban design firm Crandall Arambula commended project manager Ellen Vanderslice and city bicycle coordinator Roger Geller for their work on the plan. But Arambula said the proposal wasn't bold or aggressive and should not be adopted until “fundamental changes” were made.

Arambula said the plan's proposal to add bike lanes doesn't address the issue of getting people into city centers, which he described as populated streets like Hawthorne or in the Lloyd District. He said the plan does a poor job at tackling the issue of a “20-minute neighborhood,” where a biker's commute to get to businesses and "where they need to go" is less than 20 minutes. He gave a recommendation to start bike lane development in the city centers and then extend into or connect neighborhoods.

Additionally, Arambula said bikers would not want to use the bike boulevards if they weren't in designated protected lanes. “Studies have shown that people will not ride their bikes," he said, "even with lanes available, if they don't feel safe."

“We can only adopt a plan that is successful,” said Arambula. “As of right now, we do not have that plan.”

If you want to comment on the plan, you have until Nov. 8. Comments can be sent by email to bicyclemasterplan@pdxtrans.org or by snail mail to Ellen Vanderslice, PBP Project Manager, Portland Bureau of Transportation, 1120 SW 5TH Avenue, Suite 800, Portland, Ore. 97204