Portland Transport

Category: Netherlands Trip

  • Segmenting the Pavement

    These two pictures, besides demonstrating my incompetence at photo composition, show an approach sometimes used in the Netherlands. This is a street in Utrecht. The non-auto portion of the pavement is broken up into three zones. A bike lane is closest to the auto lanes. And the sidewalk of course is against the buildings. What’s…

  • A Variety of Streetcar (Tram) Streets in Amsterdam

    A few days ago I shared a photo of a local shopping street served by trams here in Amsterdam. I’ve compiled a set of photos of trams running on different types of streets and the variety of design treatments used. Different solutions seem to work well for different needs.

  • Finally, on a Bike in the Netherlands

    One of the ironies of our busy agenda here in Amsterdam is that we’re spending so much time going to meetings and criss-crossing the country on the national railway that we have not had time to get on a bike and ride. That got fixed today when we visited Apeldoorn and Grongingen.

  • Lessons from the Netherlands: Speed Kills

    One of the fascinating things about cycling here in Amsterdam and the rest of the country is that they have this incredible volume of cycling yet very low accident counts compared to our country. The planners believe there are several factors involved (wearing helmets is not one of them – nobody does for city riding).…

  • Postcard from Amsterdam

    A short break from writing about policy to talk about our experience here in Amsterdam. I couldn’t resist taking this photo for Commissioner Dan Saltzman. It’s the perfect urban development – transportable, green-roof, residential – do you think we can get it LEED certified? It’s actually just a block from our Amsterdam HQ. Portland Transport…