There Will Be Bike/Car Equity When ...

Having daily bike commuted now for almost 4 full months, and having tested a few different routes, I have decided that even with all the bike infrastructure we have a ways to go. The City of Portland would like more people to use a bike for commuting, for errands, for, well, lot's of things that they now use their car for. I wonder, though, if the planners might be missing something in all the projects.

We have our BTA and other cycling based groups being wonderfully involved. But, maybe, that is part of the problem. Maybe we  have an over abundance of die-hard, serious bicyclists.

Maybe we need more "yes I am interested, but ..." bicyclists. Between my home and work stands Mt. Tabor, a beautiful park, but it is higher than either end-point. I am now more fit and, at least in the homeward direction, I enjoy the little bit extra workout. However, as I ride I wonder why cars aren't the ones to be inconvenienced? Why doesn't the bike route favor the cyclist so that they do not have to needlessly ride harder than they have, without going significantly out of their way?

Note that the bump through Mt. Tabor forces me to climb an extra 100 some feet. I've also ridden on SE Division to then make my connection to Lincoln at 52nd Ave. Division can be quite harrowing and the cars are often going even faster than the posted limit of 35mph. I doubt interested cyclists would even think of using Division St.

I have imagined what would happen if Division was only single lane each way for cars, then that extra lane would be a wide, safe bike route. Or they could shift so that between 82nd and 60th, they could put in a barricaded, two-way cycle track. Now people could get easily around Mt. Tabor in a safe manner without going way out of the way. That would be equity.

Making biking safer and easier is about more than identifying streets, identifying ease of route should also be considered.