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Portland Velo Club News

COMMUNITY SPIN 5/4/09

BICYCLE-RELATED BILLS have not fared well in this year’s legislative session.  The BTA’s Vehicular Homicide Bill (HB 3399) was withdrawn from the agenda, thereby ending its chances to become law this session.  The bill was pulled because it has fiscal impact (prison time costs tax payers) and there were “complications with the legal approach”.  The bill was not the highest priority for legislators.  The BTA intends to work in the coming months and years to develop a “much stronger bill” for next session.  The BTA’s legal experts hoped this bill would fill in the gap between the very high threshold of guilt needed to convict someone of Oregon’s existing criminally negligent homicide statute and people whose combination of dangerous behaviors while operating a vehicle warranted a more serious consequence than Careless Driving.  Oregon remains only one of four states without a vehicular homicide law (the others are Alaska, Montana, and Arizona).  In addition, the Idaho Stop Sign bill (HB 2690) failed to make it out of committee.  This bill would have allowed bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs.  Idaho has had this law since 1982 and there have been no increase in bicycle crashes.  One of the theories as to why the bill failed is that the intense negative backlash directed toward legislators who supported the mandatory bike registration bill (which also failed) made them so upset that they took out their anger by opposing the Idaho Stop bill.  Also there was a personnel change at the BTA during that time.The OREGON CITY BRIDGE opened in 1922 and is in dire need of maintenance and rehabilitation work. The result is that the bridge will close in November for 2 years and will be completely closed to all traffic for the duration of the work.  This is bad news for many local bike riders for whom the bridge is an important connection — not just for everyday transportation but as a key way to access popular recreational rides.  The closest, somewhat bike accessible bridges are the Sellwood Bridge eight miles north or the Canby Bridge, which is about nine miles south. (Bikes are prohibited on the I-205 bridge, although there is an effort to make an exception during construction).  Otherwise there is talk of running a shuttle bus for non-motorized traffic, which would not be very satisfactory.  Portland Mayor Sam Adams has included in his new budget a DEDICATED FUNDING SOURCE devoted to bicycle programs and projects that he calls the “Bicycle Infrastructure Improvement Fund”.  The money will come from a portion of utility license fees and should be about $500,000.  This is also a way to respond to critics who say that bikes don’t pay their way.  It will also restore funding for SmartTrips and Safer Routes to School programs. This is more funding than the city's bike program has received in many years, and the Mayor's office intends that it grow larger every year. However, the budget will have to stand up to the scrutiny of a public process and pass Council. Last month Mayor Adams announced that a CYCLETRACK would be built in the North Park Blocks. But those plans are out because the Portland Fire Bureau said there wouldn’t be enough room for their trucks to operate on the street if it was narrowed for the new bikeway. Recently Adams announced that the new cycletrack will run on SW Broadway from SW Clay to SW Jackson through the heart of the PSU campus and will be much more high-profile. (the Park Blocks cycletrack had a lot of detractors).  To complete the cycletrack, the city intends to remove one of the three existing motor vehicle lanes.  This should cause no problems because the road is “under capacity”.  The new road configuration will include a 7-foot bikeway, a 3-foot “shy zone” (so people can get out of their cars and open doors without impeding bike traffic), an 8-foot parking lane, and then two, 12-feet motor vehicle lanes.  It should be completed this summer.

    

 

Published May 04 2009, 01:32 PM by Sharon Fekety
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Comments

 

Portland Velo Club News said:

Another Reach the Beach is in the books and it will probably go down as the absolute best “weathered

May 21, 2009 1:43 AM
 

Portland Velo Club News said:

Another Reach the Beach is in the books and it will probably go down as the absolute best “weathered

May 21, 2009 3:36 PM
 

Portland Velo Club News said:

Another Reach the Beach is in the books and it will probably go down as the absolute best “weathered

May 21, 2009 3:39 PM

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