For the Second Year in a Row, Sunday Parkways Won’t Operate as Normal

Starting May 1, Sunday Parkways will release biking and walking routes on its website and social media accounts.

Sunday Parkways Sunday Parkways in Southeast Portland, 2018. IMAGE: Greg Raisman/PBOT.

By Shannon Gormley

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has announced that Sunday Parkways won’t return to normal this year.

Founded in 2008, the annual event typically closes down streets for family-friendly group rides in neighborhoods around the city. Last year, the summer series moved online.

This week, PBOT made it official that Sunday Parkways will remain virtual, at least for 2021.

“Last year many of us missed gathering with our neighbors and enjoying the open streets of a traditional Sunday Parkways,” PBOT Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said in a press release. “This year, we have much to be hopeful about, but the pandemic isn’t over, and we need to continue being cautious.”

Starting May 1, Sunday Parkways will release self-guided routes on its website and social media accounts, as well as information on “sticker hunts” and transportation-related classes. Instead of blocking off roads to cars, the routes will make use of the low-traffic, orange barrel-marked “slow streets” already in place around the city.

The news comes the same week that Multnomah County was bumped up to “extreme risk” for COVID-19 spread, and days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines stating that fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks outdoors unless they’re in a crowd.

Pedalpalooza, another massively popular cycling event, is bringing back group events this year but will require all participants to wear masks.

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