Nice article. Portland should be the city of "options," and I think it was voiced well.

One thing I do like about the silly streetcar-
IT'S AFFORDABLE!
Trimet isn't (for many people)

As far as the biking thing, eventually bikes will own the roads, no government intervention will be needed. 20 years or less is my guess.

Excellent piece. The best summary of our City's transportation strategy I seen in a long time. Ironically, its what the editorial board of the "O" would have written themselves only a few years ago. Oh for a progressive daily!

Since I live right on the Springwater Trail, sure the bikes "have owned the roads" lately.....with the weeks on end of heavy rains, slippery piles of leaves in the road, now the cold wind and likelihood of frost on the trail or even ice. Why, there must be at least two percent of the traffic there was during the summer!!
Yup, we're all going to be riding bikes.

Looks like someone didn't even read Chris' piece!
Plenty of bikes out today in NE PDX; and too many cars on the Tillamook Bikeway, going too fast.

I think Ron was responding to Al's comment, not the article.

My point is that bicycling is not likely to be a year round alternative; thus any transportation spending equation should account for the reality that people are going to find different modes preferable under different circumstances. As my August 2012 article on Community Transit's express bus system pointed out, it is possible to establish efficient mass transit to even suburban communities, for relatively small cost. The total population of Snohomish Co. is 722,000----quite a lot larger than Clackamas or Clark Cos. It will be interesting to see what they do to increase ridership.

Tillamook Bikeway? I didn't know you could bike to Tillamook :)

bicycling is not likely to be a year round alternative

It clearly IS a full-year choice by some, but it's also definitely more seasonal for some others.

I rode a twelve mile round-trip commute daily for six years from Gateway to downtown. This was before major support from the City. I did this because I really hate sitting on the Banfield Freeway bumper to bumper. My stress went way down and my health improved dramatically while bike commuting. It was not hard or unpleasant, if you just start doing it and put your will to it. That being said, it would have been better and safer with the infrastructure the City is now getting installed. We have to make it safer for regular folks to bike every day, before they will do it. I welcome the efforts to make this a viable choice for more people.

When I turned off of NE 57th into my neighborhood east of Hollywood last night, it was pretty obvious that cycling is a year-round option. On a very cold, windy, dark evening, I saw 6 other cyclists in a period of around 1 minute. I ride to Gresham every day during the summer months, and I manage to still get 2-3 days a week even during the worst weather. Year-round cycling is an option, you just have to find the motivation. It will save you money and improve your health.

"Oh for a progressive daily!"

Well, Mr. Anderson, there's http://couv.com/

Not exactly a daily, but Clark Co. Commissioner-elect David Madore (who owns couv.com)will ask for the new 2-1 Republican majority to withdraw County support of the CRC. Don't know what else to suggest :) I've been trying to figure out how many union wage jobs this new plan in Portland will make. I know the expensive foreign autos (with the Obama stickers) running around downtown Portland don't make very many, so there has to be something better.

Read Jane Jacobs' fine little book "Cities and the Wealth of Nations" to understand what Joe Cortright is talking about. Recreating Portland to be a less auto dependent place with real options for its people is a huge step into a future that will pay off big time.
Now if we can just remove the noose that rings the Central City, like SF did with its eyesore on the waterfront.

Nice job Chris and Randy, very well written and timely.

Portland's problem isn't quality of transportation as much as it is quality of architecture. Go back to our early history and, unlike the quality brick and stone houses common in the midwest, or stucco in California, or oak in New England, ours were built out of Douglas fir, lead paint and cedar exteriors. This was a bad combination in a warm, rainy climate. A lot of historic Portland has simply rotted away. The modern concrete and glass towers are probably more durable, but Portland area builders have been putting up junk quality, lower cost residences in large numbers for decades. Lots of apartments built in the 1960's and 1970's are junk. Everything before the 1970's was usually uninsulated, although they may have added attic insulation. I don't think these tiny little bike apartments are going to be a step forward and the quality tower-condos are going to be unaffordable to most. Worse, there's no way for a person or family to produce their own home. It's all done by corporate builders.