By Seamus Roddy
Wealth of Geeks

Most Americans navigate their city by car, public transportation, or their own two feet, but they need to take advantage of a healthy, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly travel method.

Riding a bicycle — an activity primarily associated with childhood — is now a common form of transportation in major American cities. Cycling has grown in popularity across the United States, but efforts to accommodate cyclists haven’t spread evenly across all cities.

The East and West coasts are some of the best places to ride a bike, with many bikeways and trails for cyclists to cruise, according to a new Clever Real Estate survey ranking the 50 best bike cities in the U.S.

In other cities, particularly those in the South, cyclists try to avoid being clipped by oncoming traffic.

Top 10 Bike-Friendly Cities in The U.S.

1. Minneapolis, Minnesota
2. Portland, Oregon
3. San Francisco, California
4. Boston, Massachusetts
5. Washington, D.C.
6. Salt Lake City, Utah
7. San Jose, California
8. Denver, Colorado
9. Seattle, Washington
10. Providence, Rhode Island

In Minneapolis, Miles of Bike Paths and Ample Bike Share Docking Stations

America’s top cycling city is cold, snowy Minneapolis. Minneapolis might not have year-round sunshine, but residents willing to bundle up can enjoy 2.6 bike trails per 100,000 residents — a whopping 42% more than the average city.

“Over the years, the city has been embracing better, safer bicycling infrastructure and gradually transitioning streets from faded sharrows to buffered bike lanes to protected lanes,” said Natalie Wagner, vice chair of the Minneapolis Bicycle Advisory Committee. It’s not only easy to get around by bike in Minneapolis but also to find a bike. Minneapolis is blessed with nearly four times the number of bike share docking stations and 37% more bike shops than the average city.

Even in a cyclist’s paradise, there’s room for improvement. Wagner said she hopes infrastructure for safe bicycle parking increases in commercial and residential neighborhoods. “I want biking to be an easy option for new cyclists,” she said.

In addition to protected bike lanes and trails, the City of Lakes has lowered its speed limit from 30 mph to 20 mph to reduce the threat to cyclists, said Casper Hill, a spokesman for the City of Minneapolis.

In the future, Hill said Minneapolis plans to extend its network of neighborhood greenways further and improve winter maintenance practices for year-round usability in a wintry climate.

“The best bike city recognition is great,” Hill said, “but we aren’t done yet.”

Portland Loses Top Spot — Despite Bike Shops, Bike Commuters

For cyclists who want to move to another bicycle-friendly city with a less frigid climate, Portland is the second-best bike city in America — falling from the No. 1 spot in 2022.

Portland may have ceded the top spot, but it still has the country’s highest percentage of bicycle commuters, with 1.1% of employees biking to work every morning.

Compared to the average American city, Portland has 61% fewer fatal crashes involving cyclists. It’s no wonder the people of Portland are more likely to commute to work by bike.

Portland also has three times more bike shops than the average city, with 3.5 per 100,000 residents, and three times more bike share docking stations, with 9 per 100,000 residents.

This article was produced by Clever Real Estate and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

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The Bicycle Transportation Alliance this month will host in Portland a featuring trainings for design and planning professionals on how to develop projects that encourage people to walk and bike more.

The Oregon Active Transportation Summit will take place March 30 and 31 at the Sentinel hotel, 614 S.W. 11th Ave. It will include “mobile workshops” – walking and biking tours starting at the hotel and highlighting active transportation efforts throughout Portland, said Stephanie Noll, deputy director of the BTA. The Portland-based nonprofit promotes bicycling and improving cycling conditions in Oregon.

The summit will be a great professional training opportunity for planners, engineers and architects, Noll said. Conference attendees can earn educational credits through the American Institute of Certified Planners and the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Summit workshop topics include achieving successful community engagement in active transportation projects and meeting the priorities of underserved communities, Noll said.

“Big themes are designing for healthy, vibrant communities and also increasing safety and access,” she said.

Conference registration is open through March 23. The cost is $130 for one day or $240 for both days.

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The regional powers that be are moving ahead with a plan to divvy out nearly $38 million on transportation improvement projects that spur job growth.

The Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation last week voted to follow a September staff recommendation to spend $37.8 million in additional federal money on projects that would maximize job creation. With extra dollars on the line, numerous community organizations and municipalities are taking a seat at the table; however, some are not happy with the hand they’ve been dealt.

The was advocating that the committee continue to allocate the money based on a traditional split of 25 percent for green economy/freight initiatives and 75 percent for active transportation/complete streets projects.

Two other allocation options were considered by the committee. One would have created a new ratio for splitting the money. The other, which the committee ultimately chose, is called the Regional Economic Opportunity Fund. It leaves the door open for money to go to projects prioritized according to job creation.

Green economy and active transportation projects already stand to receive $8.7 million and $26 million, respectively, in regional flexible funds. But Rob Sadowsky, the BTA’s executive director, said dedicated funds for education programs and things like Safe Routes to School have dried up as a result of the same federal legislation that created the $37.8 million surplus.

“We are now in a situation where we have to compete openly for that extra $38 million, where we normally had a chunk of that,” Sadowsky said. “So we were hoping that chunk would have some split to help offset the changes in the federal transportation bill.”

The additional $38 million comes from the recent Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century federal transportation bill and a decision by Congress to issue money over three years instead of two. Those federal transportation dollars, called regional flexible funds, are issued by the government to metropolitan planning organizations like Metro.

Metro has $146 million in flexible funds to use during fiscal years 2016-18. $48 million has been committed to high-capacity transit and $60.7 million has been dedicated to other regional programs – including aforementioned green economy and active transportation projects. The $37.8 million is what Metro has left to address transportation needs in the short term.

During the meeting last week, Oregon Department of Transportation representatives suggested dividing $27 million of the money evenly among three local projects seeking federal TIGER grants: the Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park, the Brookwood interchange in Washington County and the Sunrise industrial area in Clackamas County.

The idea was quickly shot down. It was called premature and unfair to other parties interested in making their cases. Carlotta Collette, a Metro councilor and chairwoman of JPACT, said the task now is to develop criteria for selecting projects. Ultimately, she would like to see the money be leveraged to generate private-sector investment.

“All of these (projects) usually have public-sector matches so that cities and counties submit, but we’ve never really had a case where we can ask the private and philanthropic community to come to the table as well,” Collette said. “That gives us an opportunity to build a much bigger pot of money and to use this as a precedent.”

In terms of job creation, Sadowsky said active transportation projects are best. He pointed to a study by the Political Economy Research Center, which found that for every $1 million spent, cycling projects created 11.4 jobs while road-only projects created just 7.8.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Ostar, executive director for , a Portland-based organization that seeks environmental justice, thinks more work needs to be done to craft criteria for money allocation. He said that Metro has fallen short in efforts to facilitate equity throughout the region.

“The fact that the process is set up for essentially special interests to compete against each other is not fruitful or beneficial to the region,” Ostar said. “And in fact what Metro needs to be doing as a regional government is adhering to a certain set of principals or values. They’re making a show of having six core principles and equity is one of those principles. And yet there’s no definition around that and we’re watching it be twisted to mean whatever special interest stakeholders want it to be.”

Ostar also was annoyed that the Outer Powell Boulevard Conceptual Design Plan was not one of the projects included in ODOT‘s pitch. If equity and environmental justice were criteria, he said, that project might have been on the list.

Ostar delivered those thoughts to JPACT via a letter addressed to Collette. She acknowledged that Metro in the past has not succeeded in terms of environmental justice, and added that she was eager to work with OPAL and other stakeholders to change that.

“Let’s figure out what we need to do because we’re spending a lot of money on outreach to communities,” Collette said. “… I want to be at the table. If there are specific criteria that they think we should have, let’s get them on the table. If we’re not addressing their concerns after all our efforts to address their concerns, then we’re not hearing them.”

Metro staffers will develop a more specific plan for implementing the Regional Economic Opportunity Fund approach and then deliver it to JPACT members on Nov. 8. Members are expected to make a decision at that time.

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Michelle Poyourow, the advocacy manager for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, has announced that she will resign from the organization in mid-February. Gerik Kransky, formally an outreach director at 1000 Friends of Oregon, will take Poyourow’s place.

Poyourow has been an active presence in city policymaking, often acting as the sole voice of Portland bikers at city council, planning and other meetings. Most recently, she was the face of the BTA’s Build It campaign for the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030.

She’s also been a common voice in 91��Ƶ stories, giving commentary on biking issues for the Willamette River Bridge, Columbia River Crossing, and even solid-waste disposal rates. Poyourow is even one of the Daily Journal of Commerce’s Newsmakers for 2010.

In a conversation with our editor Stephanie Basalyga, Poyourow said she plans to stay involved in Portland advocacy and may even expand her focus into larger sustainable transportation issues outside of just cycling.

I have a lot of respect for Poyourow. When facing opposition from people that feel that biking should be seen as recreation and not an important future means for sustainable transportation, she has always spoken on the issues with poise and intelligence.

Here’s hoping she’s on to great things.

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Michelle Poyourow, the advocacy manager for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, has announced that she will resign from the organization in mid-February. Gerik Kransky, formally an outreach director at 1000 Friends of Oregon, will take Poyourow’s place.

Poyourow has been an active presence in city policymaking, often acting as the sole voice of Portland bikers at city council, planning and other meetings. Most recently, she was the face of the BTA’s Build It campaign for the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030.

She’s also been a common voice in 91��Ƶ stories, giving commentary on biking issues for the Willamette River Bridge, Columbia River Crossing, and even solid-waste disposal rates. Poyourow is even one of the Daily Journal of Commerce’s Newsmakers for 2010.

In a conversation with our editor Stephanie Basalyga, Poyourow said she plans to stay involved in Portland advocacy and may even expand her focus into larger sustainable transportation issues outside of just cycling.

I have a lot of respect for Poyourow. When facing opposition from people that feel that biking should be seen as recreation and not an important future means for sustainable transportation, she has always spoken on the issues with poise and intelligence.

Here’s hoping she’s on to great things.

The post Poyourow to leave Bicycle Transportation Alliance appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

In Portland, myriad cyclists include pizza deliverers, businessmen and women in raincoats, and leisure riders galore. But a proposed bike plan calls for the city to encourage even more people to take up cycling.

“It’s important for the city to aim high (with its bike plan),” said Emily Samstag, a sales representative and bike technician at Bike Gallery in downtown Portland. “I’ve lived in several major cities, and Portland is the only one even remotely right in terms of a balanced transportation plan.”

City Council today will decide whether to invest more than $600 million in planning and projects to increase cycling in Portland over the next 20 years. The Portland Bike Plan for 2030 identifies dozens of projects for improving cycling access, including new trail systems, bike paths and cycle tracks.

But the Portland Bureau of Transportation is facing an extensive backlog of street repairs in the coming years, so it plans to start small in its effort to build the city a world-class biking community. Ellen Vanderslice, PBOT project manager for the bike plan, said her department needs to prove an increased demand for bike projects before money can be pulled from projects intended to aid motor vehicles.

“We don’t have that amount of discretionary funding for any mode of transportation,” Vanderslice said. “To get to a place where we can take funding from cars and give that to bikes, we need to prove that the demand is here first.”

The bike plan includes 10 pages on potential funding sources for projects, including the city’s general transportation revenue, and money from the Oregon Department of Transportation and the federal government. Partnerships with the Metro Greenways program, the Business Energy Tax Credit and city system development charges also are potential sources.

Both Vanderslice and Bicycle Transportation Alliance advocate Michelle Poyourow say the first projects constructed should be bike boulevards. They include signals and devices such as speed bumps to encourage slower driving and increase cyclist safety at intersections. The cost is approximately $250,000 per mile.

“Bike boulevards could easily be fast-tracked,” Poyourow said. “They allow us to improve the roads we’ve been using, and they are very affordable.”

Vanderslice said construction of bike boulevards could lead to more cyclists, and increase the likelihood of the city securing federal money for more projects.

“There has been a paradigm shift at the federal level for transportation funding,” Vanderslice said. “Things like health and climate change are in the public eye. Having shovel-ready projects identified that are proven to increase ridership would put us in a good place.”

The bike plan will need multiple funding sources to complete larger projects, such as a new trail in Sullivan’s Gulch that would connect Northeast Lloyd Boulevard to the Interstate 84 bike path. That project would cost $28.7 million. Vanderslice expects $10 million to $14 million to be available for bike plan projects over the next five years.

“There’s no question that the city will have to develop a new funding source to pay for some of the projects,” Poyourow said. “I think if this plan is adopted, that means Portland is ready to have that conversation.”

If the plan is approved, a task force will be formed and work for nine months to identify project funding. But that doesn’t mean the plan will remain dormant. In fact, Vanderslice said PBOT is presently working on two projects identified in the bike plan: a cycling track near Portland State University and buffered bike lanes along Stark and Oak streets. Those projects are being paid for through the city’s Affordable Transportation Fund, which includes utility franchise fees.

“It has to be a patchwork of things,” Vanderslice said. “People say if we need $600 million that means we need $30 million every year for the next 20 years. It’s not like that. We’ll start with the cost-effective projects. The others will come eventually.”

Samstag said it is important for the city to adopt the plan.

“I don’t know where the funding will come from,” Samstag said, “but I think the plan is very ambitious. It’s important to set an example for the rest of the country.”

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If the effort to replace the Interstate 5 bridge has ground to a halt, that’s news to Columbia River Crossing officials. The Oregon and Washington transportation departments are still working on the joint project despite pronouncements of doubt from both sides of the river.

“We’ve recently made several steps that move the project forward,” said Columbia River Crossing spokeswoman Anne Presentin.

Project leaders have settled on a bridge design concept and made recommendations for the light-rail alignment through Vancouver and on the Marine Drive interchange, Presentin said. A committee looking at tolls on a new bridge is wrapping up its work this month.

“We’re feeling we’re making progress,” she said.

But others doubt the project has the momentum to proceed. In September, Portland Mayor Sam Adams withdrew his support for the agreement he and Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard announced in February.

That agreement, for a 12-lane bridge with tolls and light rail, was no longer workable, Adams wrote, given “the fact that the project might not win Vancouver’s approval for tolls and light-rail funding.”

“The range of lanes we must look at likely is not the previous eight to 12 lanes but six to 10 lanes,” Adams wrote.

Then, earlier this month, Vancouver voters elected city Councilman Tim Leavitt as mayor. Leavitt gained traction in the campaign by tapping into public opposition to paying tolls for a new bridge.

Critics consider the waning support an opening to help redefine the project’s scope. Last week, a group made up of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the Coalition for a Livable Future, Environment Oregon, Environment Washington and Upstream Public Health used the political uncertainty to push for a new approach.

The current project isn’t financially or environmentally sustainable, group members contend. “The project has three financial legs to the stool – federal and state funding, and tolling,” said Brock Howell with Environment Oregon.

Congressional and legislative leaders have been skeptical of the project and its multibillion-dollar price tag, Howell said. Combined with an emerging opposition to tolling, he said, “all three legs to this financial stool are pretty weak.”

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance joined the Columbia River Crossing’s bicycle and pedestrian committee for participation earlier in the process but opposed the project when the project council recommended a 12-lane replacement bridge. Creating a bicycle-friendly bridge was one goal of the alliance, said Scott Bricker, the group’s executive director, but not the only goal.

“Always, our No. 1 concern has been the financial implications to the region,” he said.

“The money exemplifies the problem we have with the policy today,” Bricker said. “Communities are struggling (and) roadways are falling apart.

“The roof is leaking and falling in, and we’re continuing to propose these major expansions to the house.”

The Columbia River Crossing’s Project Sponsors Council, the advisory group made up of top city, regional and state officials, directed staff members to look for ways to cut costs, Presentin said. The council will get an update on that progress next month, she said.

Mara Gross, policy director for the Coalition for a Livable Future, said the project has lacked environmental and fiscal leadership. “I haven’t seen a commitment from the people running the show to take the step back necessary to focus our efforts toward a new, real solution,” she said.

The Columbia River Crossing leaders should reconsider the project in light of greenhouse-gas emissions, Gross said. While the project, which covers a five-mile corridor including the bridge, would slightly decrease emissions compared to doing nothing, overall emissions would still increase 32 percent above 2005 levels by 2030, she said.

“That’s not good enough,” Gross said.

If the group effort leads to a new way across the river, that’s great, Gross said. In the meantime, the groups will continue trying to refocus the current project on community, environmental and fiscal priorities.

“Whatever it takes to see those considered, I would want to do,” she said. “But I’m not holding my breath.”

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Though architect Donald MacDonald has worked with community cycling groups on bridge designs before, he’s been surprised with Portland.

The level of involvement of Portland bikers in the design of the new Willamette River Bridge impressed the architect, who is currently working on a finalized design for the multi-modal transit bridge.

“Your cyclists really know their stuff,” said MacDonald. “It’s more intense than in San Francisco. The bike coalition is strong there, but in Portland, the cyclists are more into the details. They want to know how their handle bars will work with handrails. I’ve got to say it’s a very sophisticated bicycle community that we’re dealing with here.”

For Portland’s many cyclists, accessing the southernmost portion of downtown from the east side can be a roundabout endeavor. But besides providing a route for the future MAX orange line, the newest bridge to span the Willamette in 35 years will give Southeast cyclists and pedestrians a more direct route to destinations such as Portland State University and Oregon Health and Science University.

Michelle Poyourow, an advocate and educator for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, hopes that the new bridge will encourage more Portlanders to get on their bikes and ride.

“Right now people in Southeast have to go across the Hawthorne Bridge and then cut over to PSU,” said Poyourow, who has been working closely with MacDonald on the design of the Willamette River Bridge. “This bridge will cut time and distance off of that commute. It won’t benefit cyclists so much as people not biking today.”

One detail that has been decided is the width of the bridge’s bike lanes, according to Poyourow. The bike lanes on the new bridge will be 14 feet wide to give enough room for pedestrians and cyclists to travel side by side. For comparison, bike lanes on the Hawthorne Bridge are only 10 feet wide.

“There are different widths needed for people biking side by side, and people walking side by side,” said Poyourow. “We asked TriMet to make those paths as wide as possible. Fourteen feet was the minimum we requested, and that’s what they are doing on each side of the bridge.”

Another design aspect that is important to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is how the bridge will connect into existing pedestrian and bicycle paths on either side of the river.

“For cycling to be appealing and easy, having easy trail connection is really important,” Poyourow said. “You have to give people clear expectations about who goes where and who yields to whom. This bridge gets so much attention, but it’s actually a whole corridor project.”

On the east-side bridge connection, TriMet hopes to connect the bridge into the Springwater Corridor, a multi-use trail that winds from Powell Boulevard up into Gresham and Boring.

“We’re just laying out the connection right now,” MacDonald said. “It will basically have a 5-percent grade coming off the bridge and will connect into that trail by going underneath the bridge. It’s not completely approved, but there will be continuity between the form of the bridge and the landscape and pathways underneath.”

MacDonald will be in Portland on Wednesday to present different configurations for how the bike paths will link into trails on either side of the river. Another meeting of the Willamette River Bridge’s Advisory Committee will be held on Nov. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. at David Evans and Associates, 2100 S.W. River Parkway, in Portland.

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The Columbia River Crossing crept $30 million closer to reality Wednesday, when the Oregon Transportation Commission approved Oregon’s share of money to pay for an environmental impact study for the project.

The study is merely the next step of several that must take place before the project breaks ground.

“For something this size, it generally takes about three to four years (to finish the study),” Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Dave Thompson said.

A final version of the study, which will detail how the project will affect the environment, won’t be released until next year. Once the environmental impact study is released, the project will enter the final design phase.

Even before that takes place, the CRC Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee will meet Aug. 26 to decide which of two bike pathway options it will support for the bridge. Some cyclists aren’t enthusiastic about either of the options, however. Michelle Poyourow, a bike advocate for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, calls the two options “uninspiring” and “disconnected.”

The money Oregon is using for the environmental impact study comes from the state’s transportation project account, which was established in 2001. Washington state already has ponied up its share of money for the study.

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The Columbia River Crossing crept $30 million closer to reality today when the Oregon Transportation Commission approved Oregon’s share of money to pay for an environmental impact study for the project.

The money is just the first of several pieces that will need to fall into, however, before the project breaks ground.

“For something this size, it generally takes about three to four years (to finish the study),” Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Dave Thompson said.

A final version of the study, detailing how the project will affect the environment, won’t be released until next year. Last year, the project released an initial draft of the study.

Once the study is released, the project will enter the final design phase.

Even before that takes place, the CRC Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee will meet Aug. 26 to decide which of two bike pathway options it will support for the bridge. Cycling fans aren’t enthusiastic about either of the options, however. Michelle Poyourow, a bike advocate for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, calls the two options “uninspiring” and  “disconnected.”

The money Oregon is using for the study comes from the state’s Transportation Project Account, which was established in 2001. Washington state has already ponied up its share of money for the study.

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