PDX Transit » Walk

Promoting alternate transportation at work

pdxwriter — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:42:21 +0000

The high price of gasoline and increasing congestion on the roads make it more attractive for workers to look for alternate means of transport. There are a number of incentives and promotions employers can use to encourage alternate forms of transportation to the office. Some are as simple as having a designated place for bike parking or holding a party for employees in which they are connected with others in their zip code. Other ways employers can influence there employees decision includes providing bus or MAX passes as a perk, walking clubs, rideshare programs, designated parking spots for carpoolers, having flexible work hours to cut down on commuting, or providing changing rooms for those who walk or cycle to the workplace.

See the world on a budget

Bailey — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:32:32 +0000

If you want to see the world on a budget (less than $25), checkout this article on "How to see the World: European and World Backpacking"

Amsterdam: Bike Capital of the world

An Easier Walk-About Portland

Bailey — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:07:18 +0000

Google has added a new feature – walking directions to google maps.

From Google Maps Website – "Starting today, you can tell Google Maps that you want walking directions, and we'll try to find you a route that's direct, flat, and uses pedestrian pathways when we know about them. Just get directions as you normally would. If you're going 10 km or less (some call this 6.2 miles), we'll show you a link that you can click to get "Walking" directions:"

Note that the Google Maps may not be aware of all of the pedestial crosswalks or even streets without sidewalks.

You should also checkout the following Walking maps available for Portland:

North Portland Walking Map

Northeast Portland Walking Map

Southeast Portland Walking Map

Southwest Portland Walking Map

Read the entire Pounding the pavement article, Walking Safety

Hot tips for avoiding ’sidewalk rage’

Bailey — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:58:56 +0000

Are slowdowns on the busy sidewalks of Portland making you angry? "Sidewalk boulders" – pedestrians who walk slowly, sometimes two or more side by side, without allowing space for those who need to move more quickly to get to work or catch a the Max to pass them can really be annoying at times. For tips on how to avoid turning green with anger, read this article in today's San jose Mercury News on 'Avoiding Sidewalk Rage'.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7319746?source=rss_viewed&nclick_check=1

National Walk To School Day

Dan — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 04:37:28 +0000

October 3rd is National Walk To School Day, and parents all over the country are being encouraged to ditch the car for one morning and either walk their kids to school, or let the kids walk themselves. Here in Portland, it won't be any different. Ever trying to retain our status as a leader in being 'Green', the City has implemented a project called the Safe Routes To School Program. Started several years ago, the 'SR2S', as it's called, attempts to plan out safe walking and biking paths from neighborhoods to area schools, with the goal of reducing already dense morning traffic around the City, as well as promoting physical activity in a youth population that is seeing a rising obesity problem.

The Safe Routes To School Program is one of a number of forward looking, pollution reducing programs run by the Portland Office of Transportation. In addition to finding safe routes for children to walk to school, the program also aims to provide route information to other areas children might frequent on foot, like libraries and parks. The program is also looking to make improvements on existing pathways and major intersections on the most heavily used routes, and it is doing its best to make maps of these routes available for families.

More information on the Safe Routes To School Program can be found at the Portland Office of Transportation.

Burnside Bridge Out Of Commission

Dan — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:47:27 +0000

The Burnside Bridge, one of the main links between the East and West sides of Portland, will be shutdown over the next three weeks for vital structural repairs. The 81 year-old span will be getting a new mechanism which raises and lowers the eastern half of the bridge, but in order to do this, the bridge contractor must detatch a 3.8 million pound concrete counterweight. The temporary detachment of the counterweight was attempted once before, and it resulted in damaging a rigging system that was designed to assist in the bridge repairs.

The Burnside Bridge

Over 40,000 cars cross the Burnside Bridge every day, and this closure will certainly increase traffic issues along the other spans crossing the Willamette. There is good news for non-drivers, however, as both pedestrians and cyclists will still be able to utilize the bridge throughout all of the repairs.

The bridge is planned to fully re-open to cars on October 8th. For more information, check out the Portland Tribune.

Walking Into The 1950’s

Dan — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:10:34 +0000

This Saturday, September 22nd, the Portland Office of Transportation and the Bosco-Milligan Foundation (a historical preservation foundation) will be sponsoring a walking tour of an area of the City renowned for its unique architecture. The 90-minute walk will wind through Reed campus and the near-by Reedwood neighborhood to showcase the many examples of 1950's architecture present in the homes and buildings in that vicinity.

With young home buyers showing a rising interest in the style that was prevalent in houses of the 1950's, the foundation has taken this opportunity to help educate the public with this free walking tour. The transportation office provided a grant to the foundation, through its Ten-Toe Tour program, which made the walk possible.

The walk is also part of what the City calls its Transportation Options program, which is designed to encourage the citizens of Portland to use methods of transit other than automobiles.

The walk is open to the public, and begins this Saturday at 9am at the corners of Southeast Woodstock Boulevard and Reed College Place. For more information, read the article in The Portland Tribune.

Gadgets for your bike

Bailey — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:22:29 +0000

There are some very cool and high tech gadets available for your bike. Checkout the Garmin Edge Bicycle Monitor and GPS at amazon.com

It’s got a heart rate monitor, speed/cadence sensor, training programs, GPS and more. So much in fact, that you’ll likely ride off a cliff while you’re checking it out. You can also use this walking around your neighborhood to measure distance travelled, etc.

No related posts.

Finding Walkable Neighborhoods

Bailey — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:25:33 +0000

Walk Score helps you rate housing based upon its proximity to public transportation, shopping, parks, and schools. The site has a pretty slick and intuitive user interface and utilizes google maps for displaying results.

Using walk score takes 3 steps:

1. Type an address

2. See a walking map

3. Get your score

The higher the score, the better the walkability of the neighborhood.

I tried out Walkable on my street address. It gave my address a score of 16 out of 100, extremely poor. A bit surprising as I live less than one mile from a Max stop, shopping at the Streets of Tanabourne, walking trails, and a couple of parks. The website may have been having some problems as it listed only one grocery store in my area although their are at least 3 within a few miles of my house.

In general, I think the website has a lot of potential and will provide useful information to newcomers to the Portland area and those seeking to drive less and walk more. As transportation costs continue to rise, walkability will become a greater factor in where we choose to live.

More information is available at Walk Score or http://www.walkscore.com/index.shtml

Get Schooled on Portland Transit Funding

Nina — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 05:26:21 +0000

Metro’s 2008-2011 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) will be open for public comment starting Oct. 13. According to the Metro website, the MTIP is prepared every two years to document “how all federal transportation money is scheduled to be spent in the Portland metropolitan region.” So far, each proposed project has gone through qualitative and quantitative evaluations. The scoring process takes into account several factors, including environmental justice impact, measured reduction of CO, and linkage to other urban planning projects.

So what does this all mean to you? If you’d like a say in how funding is spent, but aren’t up to snuff on the details take PDX Transit’s crash course before submitting a letter to Metro or attending one of the November listening posts. Here’s a sneak preview of top scoring projects in our flagship categories:

Walk] Foster/Woodstock, SE 87th to SE 101st: This streetscape improvement project is integral in establishing an urban city center in the Lents neighborhood as according to the Metro 2040 plan. It also supports the planned I-205 Max extension and will be in close proximity to the Lents/Foster Road MAX station. Overall, it will improve access to public transportation and desirability of urban development in the area.

Drive] E Burnside/Couch Street, 3rd to 14th: Considered critical to new development in the area. Will open up the Burnside bridgehead and create two blocks of new development potential by redesigning the 12th/Sandy/Burnside intersection.

Bike] NE/SE 50s Bikeway: Building a bikeway from NE Thompson to SE Woodstock scored high because it intersects several other existing bikeways. It will also employ “innovative alternating curb extensions that lends itself to green treatment for stormwater retention”.

Ride] Eastside Streetcar, NW 10th to NE Oregon: This project will extend the NW Portland streetcar to the east side of town. It is given environmental justice points for serving disabled, low income, and black populations.

Download the MTIP Technical Evaluations for a complete list of projects and comprehensive evaluations.