No parking necessary for Sunday Parkways
The city plans to close six-miles of North Portland roads in June, inspired by the Ciclovia movement popular in countries such as Columbia
Daily Journal of Commerce
POSTED: 06:00 AM PDT Tuesday, April 15, 2008
BY TYLER GRAF
Portland may not welcome comparisons to Columbia in most categories, but for matters of raising awareness about cycling, it does.
On June 22, the Portland Office of Transportation is planning a pilot program called Sunday Parkways, which will close a six-mile stretch of road that will connect the Overlook and Humboldt neighborhoods in North Portland, effectively opening the route solely to bicycle and foot traffic. The program is similar to a 20-year-old event in Bogota, Columbia, which closes portions of its streets to car traffic, while opening them to pedestrians, food stands and community events.
The one-day local event is part of PDOT’s international search for transportation programs that might also work in Portland, said Linda Ginenthal, a transportation manager with PDOT. Along that line, the Sunday Parkways program will take place on the heels of an international conference about alternative transportation issues that will be held in Portland from June 16-22.
“We look all around the world to find new ideas,” Ginenthal said. “And because we are so innovative (in Portland), people have looked up to us.”
The Sunday Parkways program stems from a worldwide movement called “Ciclovia” – a day-long spurning of the automobile. In foreign environs such as Bogota; Guadalajara, Mexico; and Australia, Ciclovia events have become commonplace and are typically marked by a carnival-like atmosphere of food stands, live music and dance lessons. In Bogota it’s the rumba; in Portland it will be the tango.
In the United States, a similar program has been closing streets in El Paso, Texas, for the last couple years. But Rich Cassidy, a transportation manager with PDOT, says the El Paso program has had lower-than-desired turnout due to a hilly environment.
The Portland route, Ginenthal says, will not make the same mistake.
“If we’re asking people to drag the bike they haven’t used in 10 to 15 years out of storage, then you want to start with a flat surface,” she said.
Turnout at the event will determine whether the program is repeated in the future. The pilot program’s planners within PDOT hope the concept catches on, so they can make it a regular occurrence. Early plans call for a once-a-month, May-to-September Sunday Parkways event.
“We’re hoping for (7,000) to 10,000 people to participate, ideally,” Cassidy said.
In Bogota, however, participation estimates claim that 2 million people take to the more than 60 miles of carless streets.
Similar to the world-wide programs, PDOT plans for Sunday Parkways to be a community event. It will feature a farmers’ market, yoga for seniors, dance lessons, choirs and jump rope exhibitions.
Still, the main purpose is to create awareness of alternative modes of transportation and to convince people to ride or walk in their communities. During the first week of April, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it had awarded a grant for the program worth $87,000. The EPA awarded the grant because one of the program’s goals is to decrease carbon emissions.
In order to receive the grant, PDOT partnered with the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency because federal money has to flow through an air quality district. The Department of Environmental Quality, the first choice, declined to partner on the program.
“We’ve gotten a lot of people to use alternative transportation,” Ginenthal said, “so now we have to look in a new direction.”
http://www.djcoregon.com/articleDeta...tland-roads-in
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I prefer they don't, as it will look funny. I don't like it when they combine the current fleet, and they're more similar in design than the type 4 cars.
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