Drivers versus cyclists. It's a problem that most U.S. cities must contend with, even cities like Portland, which is consistently ranked as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the country.
A new cycle track, a 7-foot-wide bicycle lane that is separated from vehicle traffic by a row of parked cars, is meant to solve this problem. "It responds to the concern and the reality that Portlanders have about removing the conflict, and the potential conflict, between cars and bicyclists," Portland Mayor Sam Adams said at the cycle track's opening. But the new cycle track, even in bike-friendly Portland, is not without critics.
Though cycle tracks are common throughout parts of Europe, only a handful of U.S. cities have them, including Bend, Ore., Cambridge, Mass., and New York. Portland, a city that boasts nearly 200 miles of bikeways, built the cycle track in hopes of increasing the number of bike commuters. "Surveys show that many local residents would use a bicycle to commute downtown if they didn't have to mix so much with vehicles in traffic," states a brochure the city put out about the project.
The cycle track could also prove to be a boon to Portland's economy. A 2007 study by Joe Cortright, cited in The Oregonian, found that "the city's land use and transportation policies, combined with its high rate of public transit ridership and bicycle commuting, lead to $2.6 billion in savings every year."
The cycle track demonstration project is the result of a partnership between Portland's Bureau of Transportation and Portland State University (PSU). The cycle track is located on seven blocks of Southwest Broadway Avenue from Southwest Clay Street to Southwest Jackson Street near PSU, which has one of the largest population of cyclists in the downtown core. Portland's cycle track uses a row of parked cars to separate bicyclists from auto traffic, but other cycle track designs often use a physical barrier such as a curb or a narrow median, which can be more expensive to implement. To accommodate this design, the number of vehicle lanes on Broadway was reduced to two lanes from three. It took three months to complete the project and cost the city a reported $80,000.
The city says "the primary advantage of the cycle track design is that [it] provides a more protected and comfortable space for cyclists." A report prepared by Alta Planning + Design and Portland City Traffic Engineer Robert Burchfield, called "Cycle Tracks: Lessons Learned," also found that cycle tracks have a number of advantages over conventional bicycle lanes: they reduce auto-cyclist accident rates, remove the danger of "car-dooring" (Portland's cycle track provides a 3-foot "shy zone" between parked cars and the cycle track) and increase bicycle ridership. The report summarizes information from a 2008 research tour to Amsterdam and Copenhagen, which was sponsored in part by Metro's Blue Ribbon Committee on Trails and the City of Portland.
Cycle tracks can also present a number of design issues, the report noted, including conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians and bus passengers. More importantly, because cyclists are not traveling alongside cars, "motorists may not be aware of their presence, leading to increased vulnerability at intersections." Some of these accidents can be prevented by moving back the stop line at intersections, using protected phases at signals and prohibiting cars from turning right on red. Portland's project uses bike box markings on the street to facilitate left turns for cyclists out of the cycle track. (A traffic engineer for the project said the boxes are the first being used in this manner in North America.)
Portland's cycle track has a number of vocal critics. Jonathan Maus, editor of BikePortland.org, has noticed a backlash against the cycle track:
"On other local media websites, the comments are flying in. The majority of them that I’ve read are negative. There are all the usual concerns that bikes are getting a free ride, that cars are being relegated to the margins, that the city is going insane."
Some of the cycle track's critics even include avid cyclists. One car-free Portlander had this to say about the cycle track on an article in The Oregonian:
"Treatments like this scream entitlement. They reinforce the notion that bicycles aren't serious transportation, and need their own special infrastructure."
But the cycle track also poses more practical concerns for Portland-area drivers. Some drivers think the cycle track is too wide, prompting people to drive or park on it (there have been reports of this), others complain about the lack of signage. And some drivers, who are used to having the curb as a guide, are even having trouble parallel parking along the cycle track.
Despite drivers' concerns, it looks like an expansion of the cycle track is slated to be included in the 2009 update of Portland's Bicycle Master Plan, which was adopted by city council in 1996. Key elements of the 2009 update also include plans to "expand the network of planned bikeways from 650 to 926 miles" and "develop new designs for safe, comfortable attractive bikeways that can carry more bicyclists." The draft of the update is scheduled to be released for public comment by Sept. 25, a planning commission hearing is scheduled Oct. 27 and a city council hearing is scheduled Dec. 2. Policy recommendations will be folded into the upcoming Transportation System Plan update.
Over the next year, the Bureau of Transportation and PSU will be evaluating the cycle track's performance before the installation becomes permanent. The city is inviting feedback about the project on its website. It remains yet to be seen whether the cycle track removes the "conflict between cars and bicyclists," as Mayor Adams noted, or if it just creates more of it. But for now, the cycle track has wheels spinning in Portland.
