2010 Sustainable Transport Award Nominations

Headline

The City of Portland has made tremendous strides for bicycling and transit in the recent past by applying international best practices and making significant investments in new facilities and programs.

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Reasons for Nomination

The City of Portland has implemented numerous innovative bicycle and transit facilities over the last year. They installed bike boxes, based on successful European models, at 14 intersections, and installed a two-way colored bike lane through a major transit center. More and more business owners are requesting the removal of car parking to install on-street bike parking corrals (with over 30 planned for installation this summer). In addition, the city’s first cycle track and buffered bike lane will soon be implemented (both created by removing a vehicle travel lane). The city is also removing a travel lane on another Willamette River bridge to create a two-way bicycle and pedestrian pathway. The City also continues their innovative outreach work for transportation options, including the popular Women on Bikes program and the Sunday Parkways effort (based on Bogota’s Ciclovia). In partnership with TriMet, the regional transit agency, a new light rail line was completed and will open in September 2009, and a new bridge across the Willamette River is being planned that will only accommodate light rail, pedestrians and bicyclists. Portland is also reinvesting in an urban streetcar network featuring domestically-produced streetcars and supported strongly by business interests. All transit vehicles are open to bicycles at all hours and on all days.

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Impact and significance

- Bicycle use in Portland showed a 28% increase citywide in 2008, and has tripled since 2001. - Bicycles represent 13% of vehicles on the four bicycle-accessible Willamette River Bridges - The SmartTrips program led to a 9.4% reduction in drive-alone trips in the target area, and increased bicycling (particularly among women and residents over age 55). - The SmartTrips Downtown program for employers resulted in an 18% relative reduction in drive-alone trips one year after ordering materials. - The proportion of women riders is at an all-time high; in 2008, 32% of all cyclists were female, up from 26% in 1997. - 44% of adults in the Portland metro region ride transit at least once a month. Sixty-six percent of transit riders have cars but prefer to take TriMet and another 5% choose not to own a car because they prefer to take TriMet. In all, 71% of riders choose TriMet over driving. - The first Sunday Parkways event of 2008 attracted over 20,000 participants. - In the inner residential districts, up to 29% of residents report using the bicycle as a primary or secondary commute vehicle.

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Transferability

The City is seeking to learn from international models, but also to lead American cities to think beyond the bounds of current limited US national standards and guidelines.

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Background

Portland is the largest city in the state of Oregon and has over 575,000 residents (with a density of 1,655.31/km2). While older parts of the city have a historic human-scale grid street network, newer parts of the city have a more suburban land use and transportation pattern. According to the 2005-2007 American Community Survey, 62% of commuters in Portland drive alone, compared to 10% who carpool, 13% who take public transportation, 5% who walk, 5% who bicycle, and 6% who work at home.

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Supplementary web links

- http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?&a=65158 - http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=151364 - http://bikeportland.org/2008/10/15/first-look-new-green-bike-lanes-in-rose-quarter-transit-center/ - http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=44671&a=217489 - http://bikeportland.org/2008/02/12/smarttrips-leads-to-less-car-trips-in-southeast/ - http://www.portlandonline.com/TRANSPORTATION/index.cfm?c=43820 - http://trimet.org/howtoride/bikes/index.htm - http://trimet.org/pdfs/publications/customer_profile.pdf - http://www.oregonlive.com/cycling/index.ssf/2009/07/cyclings_thin_wheels_keep_powe.html

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Auditor_survey_results_by_district_2008_primary_and_secondary

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