Originally Posted by
wsbob
Portland, Ore is not 'anti-motoring', has not been anti-motoring', and at least at present, shows no inclination to be anti-motoring' going into the future. Recalling generally from memory, Portland Bureau of transportation estimates of transportation mode share, is around 10-15 percent bike, with the rest by motor vehicle and light rail. I don't recall reading anything city officials ever have said that would imply they, either as private individuals or in their capacity as city officials...oppose people's use of motor vehicles to come to town for business, entertainment, tourism, and most any other reason. And in fact, the city has been very attentive in introducing rail and bike infrastructure into the city's street system in ways that allow it to mesh well with motor vehicle usage. Portland welcomes motor usage and encourages and supports active transportation as well.
I didn't say 'if'. There is demand for infrastructure that supports biking as transportation. In Portland, there's no question a demand for such infrastructure exists. The demand seems to be coming from more and more people, and a wider range of them. Not just within Portland, but out in the burbs too. Increasing numbers of bikes on the road in traffic amongst cars involves adjustment on numerous points, but there are many signs that adjustment is being made, such as, more common, effective use of hand signals by people that bike, and also visibility gear, including lights and reflective material. People driving having the experience of being able with less difficulty, to see people biking, and have clearly conveyed to them by persons biking, what people on bikes are doing, is helping people that drive be more comfortable with bikes in traffic. And, improvements in biking infrastructure options is helping everyone.
Because people have been and are speaking up, increases in better biking and walking infrastructure, such as bike through traffic switchover lanes at intersections, are happening. Portland is experimenting with separated cycle tracks, but that infrastructure is the exception. In terms of biking infrastructure, what the city has done more than anything else, is work to devise ways to have motor vehicle and bike traffic travel well on the street together. Traffic situations thus created, call for a certain level of in-traffic bike specific skill and ability on the part of people that bike, although many don't have those skills and abilities, and can be slow to develop and use them. That can and does cause problems. Leaving travel on main lanes of the road, the only travel infrastructure option for people that bike, doesn't necessarily mean they'll be successfully compelled to pick up and use skills and abilities adequate to travel in traffic amidst motor vehicles.
It is my understanding that Portland has deliberately limited downtown parking in order to serve its desires, among them its mass transit system. And that it has managed to keep its downtown offices filled, despite inadequate parking, because there is a law requiring a large proportion of the state offices to be in Portland. I say that this is clear evidence of anti-motoring.
The description that you provide of the Portland facilities is clearly a description of a system that is intended to make cycling safe for traffic-incompetent cyclists. Despite thirty-five years of trying, the bikeway advocates have never been able to demonstrate which traffic skills a cyclist doesn't need in a city with facilities such as Portland's. Indeed, the only evidence is that the cyclist, to be safe, still needs the full set of skills. Which is one reason that it has never been demonstrated that the typical bikeway system, such as most of Portland's, has reduced the car-bike collision rate. Sure, the rate may have gone down, but there is no reason to attribute that to the bikeway system.
Furthermore, Portland has two types of cyclist-killing bikeway designs: bike boxes and what I think are those referred to as switchover lanes. In both of these systems, straight-moving cyclists are put on the right-hand side of right-turning motorists, with the results to be expected.