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June 12, 2006
Another Link from Cycling to the Economy
Last week's Business Journal has a guest column by Bart Eberwein, suggesting that we could generate additional tourism dollars by promoting Oregon as THE cycling state. Here's part of the vision:
Fly into Portland where you are met by a bicycle concierge who helps you assemble your bikes, answers questions about routes, etc., and off you go.A network of clearly signed, long, winding roads, criss-crossing Oregon. And just about every time you are feeling hungry, there's a bicycle friendly ice cream store, and when you're tired, a B&B.
Come cycle Oregon.
Posted by Chris Smith at 1:29 PM
Comments
June 13, 2006 10:41 AM
adron Says:
I dig it. :)
June 13, 2006 2:20 PM
Lenny Anderson Says:
There are still way too many gaps in Portland's bike network for this to fly...too many abrupt ends to bike lanes, unsignalized crossings of arterials, and poor signage.
Bikeways...please do not call them Boulevards...are barely visible to the first time rider, experienced or otherwise, with the occasional directional sign and pavement spots.
These need to be beefed up and celebrated.
Last, too many bicyclists are being run down and killed by neglectful motorists while the Portland Police Bureau worries about bicyclists coasting thru stop signs.
Portland strives to be Platinum, but is barely Copper to this everyday rider.
June 13, 2006 3:22 PM
Justin Says:
More like tin...
with the rest of the country at 'lead'
June 13, 2006 6:42 PM
Ron Swaren Says:
"And just about every time you are feeling hungry, there's a bicycle friendly ice cream store, and when you're tired, a B&B.
Some mini-campgrounds, specifically for cyclists, perhaps adjacent to state parks or on off-highway trails, could be a relatively inexpensive project. After all, about half of the space in the typical camping area is utilized by motor traffic, so a bicyclists' camp could be more compact and have features specifically for that recreation.
The Trail of the Couer D'Alenes in Idaho was reclaimed from a 72 mi.railroad ROW:http://friendsofcdatrails.org/CdA_Trail/photo_trail04.html
June 13, 2006 9:19 PM
Jonathan Maus Says:
Thanks for the heads up on this article Chris.
The success of establishing Oregon as the #1 bike tourism destination will come down to whether or not someone can bring together all the various groups into an effective coalition to work together and maintain the momentum started at the Oregon Bike Tourism Summit a few months ago.
So far things don't look good.
There's been little to no follow-up from the summit and Oregon Parks and Rec has just now posted the job announcement for the statewide concierge.
I think that job should have been filled months ago and it's too important to only pay $44K/yr.
Oregon is ripe. We can do it...but there's a lot of work to do and a lot of partnerships to build.
And we need to move fast because tourism is all about competing for scarce vacation dollars and people have a lot of great options.
In case you're interested in more on the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Summit, I wrote an article about it in the May 2006 issue of The Bicycle Paper:
http://bikeportland.org/mywritings/bicyclepapermay06
