Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Bikes
Posted on | August 24, 2010 | No Comments
A friend once described Seattle to me as very “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”… things are constantly moving around in that city, whether on land or by water, and it’s a lot to take in, but thrilling all at the same time.
Portland is much the same way, although to a lesser extent. One thing that is for certain is that bikes get a lot of attention here, which is quite evident when you consider the $620 million Portland Bike plan. Another really awesome aspect of Portland is the Providence Bridge Pedal, which celebrates both the city’s bike culture as well as it’s many iconic bridges. One Sunday morning in August, the city shuts down all the bridges – including the highway bridges – and 20,000 people on bikes ride around on them for hours. This year the route took us up and over the I-5 (Marquam) bridge, down onto the 405, and up onto the top deck of the Fremont Bridge, which reconnects the 405 with I-5 to the north of the city. It was awesome! And it looked something like this:
On the 405
Atop the I-5 Bridge
On the St. John's Bridge
Which is not to say that Portland does not also love other forms of transportation as well. There’s the MAX, which is our extensive light rail system; the Street Car, which has hosted many groups from my hometown of Cincinnati for explorations of its success; the REAL train, aka Amtrak, which is an excellent option for going to and from Eugene all the way to Seattle; and of course, cars, which people don’t really drive that well here. However, if people do have a car, and they are lucky enough to have a diesel car, they can go to this local garage that I just heard about called Green Drop Garage for a biodiesel conversion. Apparently they are also in the habit of exchanging oil changes for vinyl records or craft brewed beer. Or perhaps that was a one-time offer? Nevertheless, it’s so Portland.
I’m still waiting for the Subaru I thought I was going to get for moving here! Oh well, I still have Dorothy…
BTW, I think this picture represents the last time Dorothy was truly clean
Tags: bikes > carbon > emissions > fuel > transportation
Comments
Leave a Reply
GDC Creative Commons License
Subscription Options:
