June 2010
Portland's drive to change itself and the planet...
then...
"When we were doing the first bicycle plan in 1996, fewer than two percent of commuter trips were by bicycle."
now...
"By 2008, eight percent of Portlanders reported cycling as their primary mode of commuting. The public now has the expectation that the city will provide more facilities for cyclists. In the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030, we have a vision that more than a quarter of all trips in 2030 will be by bicycle. We now are a city where bicycling is one of the pillars of our transportation system. That is revolutionary.
Ellen Vanderslice, AIA Architect, Project Manager, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT)
Interviewed on June 9, 2010
Ms. Vanderslice worked for the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) from 1994 to 1999 and then returned to PBOT in 2003. In 2008, Ms. Vanderslice was tapped as project manager for an extensive update of Portland's bicycle "master plan." The new plan, called the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030, was unanimously adopted by the Portland City Council on February 11, 2010. Ms. Vanderslice is now one of several staff working on PBOT's implementation of the Bicycle Plan. For more information about the plan and the Portland Bureau of Transportation, you may visit www.portlandonline.com/transportation/.
Ms. Vanderslice has also been active in the promotion of pedestrian safety. She is a founder and past president of America Walks, the national coalition of pedestrian advocates, and currently serves on the board of the International Federation of Pedestrians.
What were some of the challenges to completing the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030?
I came on as project manager for the final stretch of a planning process that had already been under way for two years, so one of my biggest challenges was just to complete the project within the time and funding constraints that we had, while still giving the public the chance to really shape the final plan.
Now that the plan's done, the challenge will be to implement it. Fortunately, Mayor Sam Adams and our City Council have demonstrated their commitment to implementation with $20 million in kickoff funding that creatively combines stormwater improvements with bicycle boulevards.
What were the factors that helped you complete and pass the plan?
I have to give a lot of credit to our community partners. They were represented on the Steering Committee, they participated on working groups to address specific elements of the plan—like "Health and Equity," "Design," and "Enforcement"—and they served as liaisons to their constituencies, turning out tons of supporters at the adoption hearings.
We really wanted to get beyond the "usual suspects" when we did our public outreach, and we were luckily able to partner with another planning effort at PBOT, the Streetcar System Concept Plan, to share public open houses. This not only brought us a wider audience for the bike plan, but it helped City staff be more respectful of the public's time, and not burn out our citizen advocates. That collaboration also helped us work out issues related to streetcar tracks and cyclist safety.
Another factor is that things have really changed in Portland. When we were doing the first bicycle plan in 1996, less than two percent of commuter trips were by bicycle. By 2008, eight percent of Portlanders reported cycling as their primary mode of commuting. The public now has the expectation that the city will provide more facilities for cyclists. In the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030, we have a vision that more than a quarter of all trips in 2030 will be by bicycle.
We now are a city where bicycling is one of the pillars of our transportation system. That is revolutionary.
What changed this?
This is something I think about a lot. It is really hard to get a handle on—many of these things are almost more fashion than anything else. Ideas get into public consciousness and spread or they don't. I've been involved in transportation reform most of my adult life. I remember when we were talking about the end of oil in the 1970s, but then SUVs came on the scene in the 80s. As an activist, advocate, and a bureaucrat, I've puzzled over the question—what actually does drive change?
These things have their own life and the whole bicycle culture has just boomed here. I mean, this is a city that turns out 5,000 people for the World Naked Bicycle Ride.
I also want to give a shout out to the staff in PBOT's Transportation Options Division who have really focused on transportation behavior change. They have a number of effective programs that help people connect to a broad array of transportation options. For example, they put on our Sunday parkway events, where five or six miles of streets that link different neighborhood parks together are closed to car traffic for the day. This gives people the opportunity to cycle, stroll, skateboard, rollerblade, etc., on the designated streets, as well as enjoy performances and food booths. These events are so popular, we're doing five of them this summer, up from one the first year and three last year.
Is there something special about Portland?
Yes, there is something special about Portland. I would like to believe that many of the progressive moves that were made here in the past have actually paid off. In the early 70s, we had interesting things happen from a transportation point of view. In 1973, the state passed land use legislation that created urban growth boundaries. They are by no means perfect, but when you compare Portland's growth and urban form over the past few decades to Denver's, for example, you see what it means to attempt to make growth more compact. A more compact city means better transportation options. We have an urban fabric here that works really well for walking and bicycling. We also had a Downtown Plan in 1972 that was well implemented and really put the heart back into Portland.
If you look back to the 1960s, you see how Portland experienced a reversal of ideas about the value of putting freeways through urban areas. Like many cities, Portland was eager to build freeways in the early 60s. But by the end of the decade, when the state began buying up property for the proposed Mt. Hood freeway, people began to say "Wait! Is this what we want for Portland?" The plan to build the freeway was abandoned, and the money was instead used to build Portland's first light rail line. Since then, Portland's been a pioneer in creating a transit system that is the backbone of a truly multi-modal region.
How do you balance your activist and bureaucratic identities?
Balance can be a challenge! It doesn't always work perfectly. One of the reasons I left PBOT in 1999 was because my pedestrian activism at the national level had become significant and I wanted to focus on it more.
But PBOT has always been very supportive of having activists within the organization as long they really understand their role in their employed position and keep in mind whom they represent. And part of what makes it work for transportation advocates on the inside is that the city is committed to change at the highest level, with real support for bicycling and walking initiatives.
Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030?
The plan is based on two key premises: first, that—for a lot of reasons, including health, climate change and the economy—it is desirable to attract more Portland residents to bicycle, and second, that one important way to attract future riders is to develop low-stress bikeways that provide them with a sense of safety and comfort. By "low-stress" I mean bikeways where bicyclists can expect to feel safer and more comfortable because the stress of negotiating with motorists for space in the roadway has been reduced or eliminated. So the plan calls for more bicycle boulevards, more trails, and more truly separated bikeways on busy streets, like the cycle tracks that are common in Europe. This is a major change from the approach of the 1996 plan, which focused on getting bike lanes on busy streets. Bike lanes are great—I ride in them!—but our research shows that many people who are not riding don't ride because a little stripe of paint is not enough to make them feel safe squeezed between moving traffic and parked cars.; So our future bikeway network will look very different from how it looks today.
Special thanks to Jonathan Maus & BikePortland.org for allowing us to use their images.
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