Sure would be nice.

Just give it time, and you'll see multiple bike lanes. One for general commuters and one high-speed lane so the fixie hipsters don't have to get stuck behind the mundanes. (Portland currently has that high-speed lane set up in downtown: it's called "the sidewalk".)

Well, one can dream.

Instead of multiple bike lanes, maybe a delivery/taxi parking/pedestrian overflow/bikes going the wrong way lane would be more helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADUhqva9PwU

That car lane is far too wide/ It leaves no room for the one bus route TriMet will be operating 20 years from now.

Halve the car lane! We need our bus!

Bounties.

I just wish the bike riders would use the bike lane. I see them riding in the car lane more and more, even with a bike lane right there. And they cant seem to keep up with the speed limits either. (Which I thought was the purpose of a dedicated bike lane.)
I even had one in front of me going about 10mph in a 35 zone, weaving back and forth laughing. When I honked to get him to move over, he flipped me the bird.

I like it, as long as the cars will get to operate like many bicycles do now:

* Swerve into bike lane at random intervals
* Blow through stop signs and lights
* Go 10mph slower than bicycles--while traveling in the bike lane
* Whack the sides of bicyclists when they get too close
* Drive at night without headlights or taillights--in the bike lane
* Drive on sidewalks and yell at pedestrians when they won't move

I'd like to give a special "shout out" to the two fast-moving cyclists who rode up behind me, my wife, and small child on the crowded sidewalk in front of the Good Food Here food cart pod on 43rd and Belmont. As we were walking, one of them screamed, "beep, beep..cyclist behind you, please move to the left". I reminded them that the side walk is for pedestrians, not cyclists. Then, one of them said, "there's no bike lane in the street, so we get to use the sidewalk."

Let's follow the logic: if PDOT doesn't provide our entilied cyclists with a designated bike lane...then you and your family have to scurry out of their way -- even on the sidewalk. Be warned.

It was such a uniquely Portland experience though...having a near altercation with a cyclist in front of a pod of food carts.

The evening was not all lost. That is one damn good food cart pod, as far as food cart pods go...I had (nearly) the best burger I've ever had at Violetta.

looks like the new roads going through downtown salem right now

Check out the blogpost and its comments over at bikeportland.org:

http://bikeportland.org/2010/09/03/re-imagining-ainsworth-39008

I'm a daily bike commuter and I am constantly amazed how arrogant the bike community is. Jack's posting is spot-on describing the bike community's mentality on "sharing the road."

One can always count on folks here dissing the bikes , I love your sense of entitlement ....
like you invented roads just for your Escalaaadees... They call it 'right of way' for a reason ! Bikers pay the same taxes you do
[except the 5 yr olds] Yea there are stupid bikers , but also stupid car owners , and stupid bus drivers. Each bike is one less car polluting your lungs!

billb wrote: Bikers pay the same taxes you do

Oh no they don't. They don't pay a licensing fee for themselves and their vehicle, and they are not required to buy insurance. Neither do they pay toward the maintenance of the roads they use (and the street signs, street lights, and traffic signals) through a fuel tax of some kind (on PB? on granola bars?).

Kal Jones, in addition to not requiring that cyclists be licensed, there is no requirement that they know and obey traffic rules. While it is true that citations are occasionally issued, there is no "cyclist's test" required. (Urban pedestrians might also be licensed for the benefit of all.)

billb, I've been a cyclist for over four decades in cities on both coasts of this country and I find this city among the most dangerous for cyclists. adp is right: other cyclists in Portland are a great danger to experienced cyclists.

Re: "Each bike is one less car polluting your lungs!" But a car might take four or more cyclists off the road. And all cars are not "Escalaaadees," which are offensive to many drivers of reasonable vehicles. This is not to discourage you from cycling: the city needs you and all other cyclists to breathe hard and clean the air, lodging particulates deeply and permanently in your lungs. The tumors will show up later.

In lieu of a clean-air policy beneficial to all, the current city regime has shifted the burden to cyclists, cough, cough.

The image provided by "the natural progression of things" is so like the myopic fantasies that have been foisted on this city's residents: no clouds in that sky.

Aside from the core of mostly government workers who get perks to bike to work, and in reference to the Ainsworth cartoon -- do these cyclists fail to acknowledge that it rains nearly 8 months of the year and their ideas are highly impractical to the majority of people for the majority of the time?

Some portion of property taxes collected from homeowners and renters (passed on through their landlords) probably does eventually wend its way into the PBOT's coffers for use in road maintenance, so billb is partly correct. However, Kai is also right that bikers don't pay the additional roadway user fees drivers pay through gas taxes and registration fees.

Bike riders do use public roads, and do require a few modifications to public infrastructure to accommodate them, like removing parking to make way for bike lanes and bike corrals. I think it would be fair to ask bicyclists to contribute a small amount of money to the upkeep of public roads and bridges through some sort of registration fee or sales or excise tax on bicycles and bike parts. It could be a small, token amount, waived for kids or people with documented financial hardship. In addition to raising money that could be put towards biker (and driver) education, it might prod bike riders to take their responsibilities as operators of vehicles in the public right of way -- and all the privileges and requirements that come with that -- more seriously.

I'd like to see some of the fees be used on popos who will actually ticket the beggaring bikers who flaunt the law - violate road rules, traffic devices, no helmets, no lights at night, ad naseum

Drive on sidewalks and yell at pedestrians when they won't move

And most dont seem to know that its illegal in Portland for cyclists to be on the sidewalk in the downtown core.

A message to the bicyclists and particularly those who are advocates of sustainability:

Tell Senator Wyden to get the gasoline with more benzene out of this city and NW area and in a timely fashion. As I recall, we get more benzene because our area has a little cleaner air so the more dirty gasoine got sent in here. I couldn't find the links to the percentage/numbers now, but the benzene was much much higher than allowed. Senator Wyden said he would take care of the matter and what I recall is that the response was then in five years!! This was a couple of years ago I believe. I do not know the latest status on this matter. I find it interesting he and his children do not live here. So pressure him about this as this is election year. He may very well tell you now that the matter has been taken care of thanks to his efforts. I remember being upset when I heard "in 5 years"!!

http://wyden.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=3c2f5c24-1c57-4958-89f7-fd408054da9e
. . Historically, EPA has not regulated fuel benzene levels in the Northwest because the agency originally focused regulation only on regions of the country with poor air quality. However, according to the EPA's own analysis, Northwesterners currently have some of the nation's highest benzene health risks due to high fuel benzene levels—Northwest gasoline currently has three times higher levels of benzene than EPA's proposed national standard. .

Y'all are just jealous. Get out of the cages, people!