Portland Transport

Author: Chris Smith

  • To Helmet or not to Helmet?

    One of the powerful impressions I brought home from Amsterdam was that no one wears a bicycle helmet. The message that sends is that cycling is a safe activity. Does our culture’s insistence on helmets send the opposite message? Should I stop wearing my helmet to symbolize my conviction that cycling is a safe mode…

  • Road Diet, Dutch Style?

    Since I reflected on road diets in my last post, let me share these photos from the recent Netherlands trip. My guess is that this road may once have had more auto lanes and went on a road diet at some point.

  • Road Diets

    I was in a meeting a few weeks ago and heard the term “Road Diet” to describe reducing the auto capacity of a road. I found it quite curious (and a little humorous). Serendipitously I was reviewing the archive of webcasts for the PSU Transportation Seminar Series and came across a presentation specifically on the…

  • Opportunity to hear Vancouver’s Gordon Price tonight

    Former Vancouver, B.C. City Councilor Gordon Price will address the PSU/PDOT Traffic and Transportation class tonight and the public is invited: The Portland Office of Transportation’s “Traffic & Transportation” course invites you to join the class for an evening! Gordon Price, adjunct professor in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of…

  • Traffic Circles in the Netherlands

    One of the unique bicycle features in the Netherlands is that traffic circles (‘rotaries’ if you grew up on the east coast like I did) have a separate lane for bikes. Concrete islands help regulate the flow of autos to avoid conflicts with bikes.