If you like to bike to work, PDX might be the city for you. For a city that anually averages 155 days of measurable precipitation, they still boast that 16 percent of their commuters commute by bike. The city has been given the nickname of “Copenhagen on the Willamette,” (Willamette is the river that runs through Portland). But Portland wants more people to bike commute. So they have created programs that entice people to try it and stick with it.
To make biking commuting safer the city has created several safety programs. For the downtown area the city implemented the Bike Box. A bike box is an intersection safety design to prevent bicycle/car collisions, especially those between drivers turning right and bicyclists going straight. It is a green box on the road with a white bicycle symbol inside. It includes green bicycle lanes approaching toward and leaving from the box. This is used as a tool for drivers and cyclists to remind themselves to be extra cautious when entering an intersection when both are present.
The city also sponsors community rides from several neighborhoods throughout the city. These rides teach riders bike commuter safety and what routes are the safest and most efficient to commute from their neighborhood to other areas of town. The program is offered through much of the summer months.
More recently the city preliminarily approved their 2030 Portland Bicycle Plan. This plan envisions a future when 25 percent of trips are made by bike, and includes the building of 681 miles of new bike lanes over the next 20 years. But there is a downside and that is the price tag. The city is estimating the cost of the plan to be about $613 million over 20 years. Funding ideas being passed around are bond measures, usage tax, and even taxing the sales of bikes. It will be interesting to watch how this gets funded.
