Originally Posted by Portland master plan

PORTLAND BICYCLE PLAN FOR 2030
"A healthy community, vibrant neighborhoods... and bicycles everywhere !" Congressman Earl Blumenauer
Bike Day 1979, Portland, OR

Portland’s acclaim as one of America’s most
livable cities is a result of innovative planning
efforts inspired by the vision of involved
residents to rethink how they wanted to live.
Over the past decades Portland has enjoyed a
vibrant transportation system that promotes
bicycling, walking and transit. Th e Portland
Bicycle Plan for 2030 builds upon the City’s
success and aims to transform Portland into a
world-class bicycling city.
Th e Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 advocates
for bicycling as a legitimate and necessary
transportation mode and promotes bicycling
as an increasingly important element in
developing a community that is healthy, safe,
and aff ordable for all its residents. It advances
the notion of bicycling as a reasonable means
of transportation for many common trips and
elevates bicycling to the status of a main pillar in
Portland’s new urban transformation.
Portland’s evolution
In the early twentieth century, Portland, like
most American cities, began to redevelop its
urban transportation network to accommodate
increasing use of the automobile. Th is
redevelopment had signifi cant impacts on the
function and form of downtown and inner
disenfranchised – all to meet the spatial
demands and operational needs of the
automobile.
During this time Portland began experiencing
increased urban growth in once rural areas,
resulting in landscapes designed specifi cally for
the automobile and without basic amenities
such as bike lanes, sidewalks or access to public
transportation. As a result, residents had few
reasonable transportation options beyond the
car. Commercial districts developed as multi-
lane automobile-oriented corridors fronted
with acres of parking lots which made bicycle
and pedestrian access uninviting, indirect and
dangerous.
In the fi nal third of the twentieth century,
concerned Portland residents and business
leaders who were committed to revitalizing
downtown, improving air quality, and
introducing more transportation choices
worked with strong, responsive government
leadership to shift Portland’s direction.
Supported by the introduction of innovative
statewide land use planning, Portland reclaimed
its downtown, rejected planned freeways, and
built the nation’s fi rst light rail system.