Podcasts about bikeportland

We're back! Eva Frazier joined me (BikePortland founder and editor Jonathan Maus) for our 40th episode of "In the Shed," the show where we chat about whatever comes to mind. In this episode we touched on a bunch of good stuff:The Reign of Taco RideThe wonder of Portland's neighborhood greenway networkWhy runners and cyclists should get togetherThe Portland Biking Renaissance (and why Mayor Wilson should embrace it)Our impressions of MADE Bike Show Week Without DrivingHow many city councilors can we get to participate in Sunday Parkways?NW diverter updateEva's Cargo Bike Picnic and general Bike Summer amazingness Portland Botanical Garden coming along river near University of Portland Progress on North Portland Greenway And more! Thanks for listening. And thanks to all BikePortland financial supporters and monthly subscribers. Please become a paid subscriber of BikePortland today so we can keep making cool things for you to read, watch, and listen to.

It's all anyone in the local bike and transportation scene has been talking about for the past two weeks — a plan hatched by an opaque city office to remove diverters on two neighborhood greenways in northwest Portland under the guise of making it easier for police to patrol the area. In this episode, BikePortland founder, publisher, and editor Jonathan Maus welcomes community advocate and former host of the the Sprocket Podcast, Joan Petit, into the Shed to hash it all out. Links: - BikePortland coverage so far - City Administrator Michael Jordan's Memo (PDF)- Central Precinct Commander argument for the plan - The historic 8/12 Bike Advisory Committee meeting- Portland Solutions org chart#portlandoregon #goodgovernance #portland #advocacy #urbanplanning #politics #policing #streetdesign

Welcome to the Shed! In this episode, we talk about:Eva's trip to BendPPS School Board electionsAll about Ainsworth (Eva got menaced) and what PBOT has in store for an upgradePBOT's new bicycle marketing effortHow to counter people who say, "But not everyone can ride a bike."Reasons for optimism at City HallCity budget stuffState transportation package update and cap and trade.Bike Summer rides in the Portland Mercury print editionHow'd she get there? A tough one from SE Woodstock and Cesar Chavez to Peninsula Park for the Kickoff Ride!SW Barbur. Ugh! Why?and more!Thanks for listening and for supporting BikePortland!

Rob Galanakis wants Portland Public Schools to see the forest and not just the trees outside classroom windows. His campaign for a seat on the PPS Board leans heavily on the idea that PPS goes about its business largely with its head in the sand while solutions to many problems can be found in the streets just beyond school grounds.Galanakis, a co-founder of BikeBusPDX and software company owner who moved to Portland in 2014, biked over to the BikePortland Shed on Wednesday to share more about his vision for Portland's troubled school district.This podcast is made possible by support of individuals like you. If you value BikePortland, please share a one-time contribution or become a monthly subscriber. https://bikeportland.org/support

We're back! Eva Frazier and I (Jonathan Maus) talked about all sorts of good stuff in this episode... from politics around I-5 Rose Quarter project to why the state's bike tax is so annoying. Here's a handy outline and links to stuff we talked about:Bike shop banter: My new Metropolis Cycle tie-dye t-shirt, latest shop closures.Thoughts on the I-5 Rose Quarter vote at Metro Council and why I'm disappointed in Lynn Peterson and Duncan Hwang. And the bad optics of white urbanists opposing the project while Black Portlanders support it. Ladds 500 is next weekend! (4/12)Protest season is here. Hands Off Rally is Saturday, 4/5Eva shares here Saturdays in May ride series.Why hasn't PBOT revealed downtown Sunday Parkways route?How you can eat and drink your way through the week with Portland bike events.New segment of the Green Loop through North Park BlocksNew bike lane coming to NE PrescottConvo with Candace Avalos and policingHow'd he get there? I share my route from North Portland (Peninsula Park) to SE 122nd and Stark (Midland Library).Legislative transportation package draft is out. Why the bike tax is so annoying.April 26th is carfree 82nd Ave Parade and a Cycle Oregon Block Party at Baerlic Brewing in Southeast Thanks for listening! Please become a paid BikePortland subscriber today!

Portland's Piedmont residents are surrounded by some of our city's best neighborhood business districts, but can they claim them as their own? We're continuing our neighborhood guide series with a trip through the restaurants, parks, and bikeways of this neighborhood straddling North and Northeast Portland. Today we're talking with longtime Piedmont resident and BikePortland publisher and editor Jonathan Maus. Become a member of City Cast Portland today! Get all the details and sign up here.  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Portland, and be sure to follow us on Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special Thursday edition, since I'll (Jonathan Maus) be gone tomorrow!Such a fun chat with the wonderful Eva Frazier. Here's a taste of what we touched on this episode:Update on BikeLoud's Bike Buddy program (they hired someone!)Route finding from NE 156th and Halsey to Bike Happy HourTrump coming into office and what it means locallyThe need for more events to build a more resilient communityEva's visit to Lloyd Center (and Portland's skate culture)Fareless Square historyNew bike brand Primos Cycles Local media rant (and how KATU plagiarized a BikePortland story)Why I was annoyed by the Justin Timberlake on the Bike Bus thingWhat consequence for the Springwater drunk driver from last May?Cool event alert: City of Possibility and more!Thanks so much for your support and for listening. Please tell a friend and contact us if you've got something to say or want us to explore a specific topic.

I already did a story, video and photo gallery from the World Day of Remembrance event that took place in front of Portland City HAll this past Sunday, but there were some things said by incoming city council members and by a Portland Bureau of Transportation staffer that I really wanted to underscore. This episode includes audio clips from four speakers at that event with my takeaways interspersed in between.You'll hear from: Clay Veka, PBOT Vision Zero CoordinatorMitch Green, District 4 Councilor-electTiffany Koyama Lane, D3 Councilor-electAngelita Morillo, D3 Councilor-electSteve Novick, D3 Councilor-electLinks: World Day of Remembrance event coverage on BikePortland (11/18/24)Portlands new city council bodes well for bicycling (BikePortland 11/12/24)*BikePortland: Community Journalism Since 2005*Latest news on our website (aka "blog"): https://bikeportland.org/ Subscribe and support: https://bikeportland.org/supportFollow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/bikeportland/ Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bikeportland.bsky.social Listen to our podcast: https://bikeportland.org/cats/podcast

Notable bike bus leader and co-founder of nonprofit Bike Bus World Sam "Coach" Balto is our guest this episode. He and BikePortland's Jonathan Maus talked all things bike bus, including: Sam's motivation to get into this work, how his background as a camp counselor is such an asset to leading kids on bike rides, barriers faced by some bike bus leaders, how to respond to concerns about equity, the path toward bike bus global domination, and more.Links:Balto's "Red Cup Project" tactical urbanism work in Portland (BikePortland 2019)Video and recap of his first-ever bike bus in Portland on Earth Day 2022 (BikePortland)Bike Bus World Federal grant for bike buses in north Portland (BikePortland, 11/15/24)###*BikePortland: Community Journalism Since 2005*Latest news on our website (aka "blog"): https://bikeportland.org/ Subscribe and support: https://bikeportland.org/supportFollow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/bikeportland/ Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bikeportland.bsky.social Listen to our podcast: https://bikeportland.org/cats/podcast

*Note: The audio on this episode sounds different than usual because I'm exploring wireless mics to make the chats in The Shed more comfortable. Thanks for your patience as I iron out various audio/visual issues in our new recording space!*Eva Frazier and I (Jonathan Maus) are back on our Friday thing. I tried to stump Eva with a route and we had fun talking about the best way to get from Slabtown (NW 21st and Thurman) to Lone Fir Cemetery (SE Stark and 22nd or so). We also talked about a disturbing set of videos I've received from someone who lives on NE Glisan and documented Monday's fatal collision in addition to many others of drivers behaving badly on that same few blocks.What will it take to get drivers and the general public to wake the-fuck up about the need to drive safely? And we share the lowdown on some fun and spooky Halloween-themed rides this weekend and on Hallow's Eve Thursday.Have a great weekend and we'll see you back here next week. If you are filling out your ballot this week and want some help getting to know the candidates, here's all the BikePortland election coverage so far.Mentioned in this episode:Episode SponsorCity of Portland reminds you to Rank Your Vote! Ranked Choice Voting is here. Learn more at www.Portland.gov/vote

Hope you've had a great week. Eva just rolled away and we had a good ol' time chatting it up for this week's In The Shed episode. Check (mostly) all the fun stuff we mentioned in the links below.Cool solo art exhibition Eva saw at Director Park: Orquidia Violeta - Chalecos Protector ExhibitionHow'd She Get There?! segment: Eva's route from North Portland to Director ParkHow can you go negative about a Bike Buddy program?The brilliant interview video expert Aaron Parecki who's helping me set up a video studio in The Shed. By the way, please support BikePortland so we can continue to invest in the quality of our offerings.Seattle Bike Blog author Tom Fucoloro's critique of downtown bikewaysShould I ride a different bike bus every day of the week? Bike Bus PDXThe story of Gateway Green (And don't miss Saturday's big event!)Jonathan's latest politics updates and insightsRose City Reform Candidates page12 For PDX Voters GuideKATU TV - Your Voice/Your Vote Candidate Forums: District 1 - District 2 - District 3 - District 4BikePortland 2024 Portland Election coverageHow Eva scored a free sandwich at Sunday ParkwaysPBOT correctly shamed big truck drivers Thanks for listening! And we appreciate all the paid subscribers and BP advertisers that continue to make this podcast — and all the things BikePortland does — possible. Please become a paying supporter today at BikePortland.org/support.

Terrence Hayes wants to represent east Portland on city council (District 1). Some of you might know him as the guy who wrote that email to supporters titled, "Portland's war on cars." After that happened, I knew I wanted to sit down and chat with Terrence.I think you'll enjoy our conversation. It touched on his views about bicycling advocacy in Portland, transportation in general, race and policing, his political style, his support of mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez and increasing the number of Portland Police officers (he's also endorsed by the Portland Police Association) and how he'll balance that with remaining an independent, trusted leader in his community.Terrence Hayes Campaign WebsiteTerrence Hayes Candidate Page on Rose City ReformThanks for listening. Please support BikePortland and our 19 years of dedicated, high-quality, independent community news and become a monthly subscriber today!

So good to be back the the Shed. Eva and I were up to old tricks with a wide-ranging chat about everything from riding bikes naked to Portland's new WNBA team. Here's a list of most of the stuff we touched on that I jotted down while I edited this episode:Eva's trade show schemeWorld Naked Bike Ride (drama here, 20th anniversary photo gallery)Correcting the record on trains and coalEva explains her preferred bike route from north Portland to Colonel Summers parkIBR SDEIS basic findings (Official project website)Eva's time at Cycle Oregon Rally ridePark(ing) Day, why isn't it year-round?CCC and their financial crisisNew path alongside Benson High School via NE Glisan?New WNBA team in Portland! Eva is in love with Philadelphia, PA.PDX Trophy Cup and if a Brompton would survive it.Thanks for listening! And we appreciate all the paid subscribers and BP advertisers that continue to make this podcast — and all the things BikePortland does! — possible. Please become a paying supporter today at BikePortland.org/support.

Learn more information about the CCC's dire financial situation in this interview with Executive Director Ruben Alvarado. Ruben was hired in July and didn't realize how bad things were until he'd taken the job. Now he's going all-in on a "Save the CCC" fundraiser and says if the storied, 30-year-old nonprofit doesn't raise $349,000 by the end of the year (and $115,000 by Oct 1st), they will be forced to shut their doors.BikePortland Founder & Editor Jonathan Maus is the host of the interview. Episode recorded at 10:00 am on September 9th, 2024. Also read the BikePortland story posted the morning of Monday, September 9th. "Save the CCC" FundraiserCCC Financial Overview (PDF)

Today on City Cast Portland, we're kicking off our series breaking down some of the big issues that could shape Portland's fall election — and the candidates who are driving the conversation. First up is transportation. BikePortland publisher Jonathan Maus is here to help us sort it all out. Become a member of City Cast Portland today! Get all the details and sign up here.  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Portland, and be sure to follow us on Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about the sponsor of this August 20th episode: BPN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't miss all the latest banter between BikePortland founder & editor Jonathan Maus (hi, that's me!) and BikeLoud PDX board member and retired bike shop owner Eva Frazier. Here are just some of the tangents we explored...Hating on planes and "freeways in the sky"... and are trains even eco-friendly?My trip to California and cul-de-sac life laments (and I'm leaving again on Tuesday for another family visit to Hungary).PBOT's hardening plan for paint-and-plastic bike lanes.Recap of the 2nd Annual Bike Happy Hour Show & ShineEva recaps the Future Sandy bike ride along, "the perfect hypotenuse of the triangle of Portland."My big personal and professional news about my exciting new job.That weird and wonky fake PBOT sign on NE 7th.The 82nd Avenue project and sharing the lane with buses.How all our (we, the community's!) work on candidates has made transportation a big campaign issue.BikePortland should bring back weekly political cartoons. (Here are the old ones)Why I left Twitter/X and moved to Threads.Eva's affinity for western wear and riding in a cowboy hat.The problem with salty chips and our favorite bike-camping snacks.and more!!Thanks for listening.

Was great having former BikePortland staffer and now Portland Mercury reporter Taylor Griggs join Eva Frazier and I (Jonathan Maus). This episode is chock full of great stuff. Fake bike lane citations - Underdesigned bike lanes - a green ribbon bike network - riding to Troutdale for ice cream - exercise and e-bikes - portland tennis courterly - prank calls - SK Northwest and Springwater trail saga - I-5 Rose QuarterLinks we mention:Deflating tires in the name of climate changeWhy e-bikes don't give you "legs of steel"New path in Troutdale that Taylor rodeNew Biketown e-scootersPortland Tennis Courterly home pageJonathan's op-ed on street racingThanks for listening!

Maria Sipin joined me in the shed this week (Eva Frazier is out of town). Maria is a transportation planner and community organizer with a long and impressive resume as a volunteer and agency staffer. She's currently the campaign manager for Portland City Council D4 (W/Sellwood) candidate Mitch Green, and in the past she's been a planner at Oregon Department of Transportation, has worked at Safe Routes National Partnership, was on the Portland Clean Energy Fund Community Advisory Committee, and recently worked on the campaign to get participatory budgeting on the ballot in Portland. We talked about all sorts of stuff, from bike valets to a renters' bill of rights to her Lectric bicycle, Bike Loud's Bike Buddy program, and much more. Links:Maria Sipin on InstagramBike Loud Bike Buddy ProgramBike rack rental from ShiftThanks to our paid subscribers. Please become one at BikePortland.org/subscribe

Eva Frazier and I (Jonathan Maus) are back with another bit of banter from The BikePortland Shed. Learn how Eva's Garden Bike Tour in the heat wave turned out, what I thought of Bike Play, why I'll miss all the Bike Summer rides this weekend (basketball!), what happened on City Cast PDX podcast today, why someone is really mad at Thursday Night Ride, the difference between a nice honk and a jerk honk, and much more.BikePortland is made possible by paid subscribers who believe in local media and a strong community. Please become a subscriber today!

Today on City Cast Portland, we're talking about why you have to wait even longer for a MAX ride when it's hot out, the newest plan for the Lloyd Center, and the merger that might bring big changes to your local grocery store. Joining host Claudia Meza on this Friday's news roundup are BikePortland publisher and editor Jonathan Maus and our very own executive producer, John Notarianni. Discussed in Today's Episode: Portland City Council District Map Tool Portland Music Org Founder Details Proposed Lloyd Center Venue [Portland Business Journal

WTH did Commissioner Mapps say? Why does Jonathan always have a different coach in the Shed? How's Eva's Spanish class going and what is she doing to prevent insects from destroying her backyard cherry crop? Bleeps and Bloops and what now? What happened to that guy who was protesting BikePortland at Bike Happy Hour this past week? You'll find the answers to all these questions at more in this episode.

Marshall Runkel is a Portland city hall veteran who has worked for three former city commissioners, most recently Commissioner Chloe Eudaly. He announced his bid for Portland mayor last week and visited the BikePortland Shed for his first in-depth interview on Friday, June 14th.Marshall and BikePortland Founder/Editor/Publisher Jonathan Maus talked about Marshall's approach to politics, his love of riding the bus, how he rode with Critical Mass as an advisory for Commissioner Erik Sten in the early 2000s, his experience working on housing and homelessness issues, how he will use his work experience in the clean energy sector to help Portland, why he loves the Portland Trail Blazers and wants to bring a WNBA team here, and much more! Links:Marshall Runkel campaign websiteCompanion post on BikePortlandThanks to Brock Dittus for our theme music. BikePortland is supported by individual subscribers and local advertisers. Please become one today and support this independent media outlet.

Happy Friday and Welcome back to The Shed. Retired bike shop co-owner and BikeLoud PDX Board Member Eva Frazier and I (BikePortland Publisher & Editor Jonathan Maus) had a wonderful chat and I can't wait to share it with you. Here's what we talked about:That awful bumpy section on NE Tillamook between Rodney and MLK.How I keep track of so many meetings.Why Mayor Wheeler is a PCEF superfan (related BikePortland story)Eva's report back from Future Sandy open house (related BikePortland story)Who's lying, Commissioner Mapps or business leader Andrew Hoan? Why I'm so mad about Rose City Recreation Trail project.PBOT budget quiz Eva walked 10 minutes from Union Station to find a charged Biketown PBOT should use PCEF money for Biketown upgradeSt. Johns Bridge photos and community discussion on BP Instagram.Thanks for listening, thanks to our paid subscribers, and thanks to Brock Dittus (of Sprocket Podcast fame) for our theme music.

With me (BikePortland founder and publisher Jonathan Maus) being unexpectedly away from Portland for two weeks helping my dad in the hospital (he'll be fine), my In the Shed co-host Eva Frazier got antsy and decided to record a conversation with our friends Armando Luna and Shawne Martinez. This trio packs a whollop of bike fun between them and this fun chat will have you smiling and looking forward to summer. Here's a taste of what they talked about...Why Armando insists he's the Bike Fun Mayor, not the Bike Mayor.How basketball can help you become a safer bike riderFender etiquettePedalpalooza ride memoriesWhy Armando isn't a Naked Bike Ride guyLeaf blower noise and how gas lawnmowers support kids riding bikes in Oregonand more!!

I met up with Portland City Council (D4) candidate Chad Lykins in Hillsdale today and we biked around southwest. In this episode you'll hear an interview-by-bike as we survey various bits of bike infrastructure and make several stops along the way. We talk about a lot more than just bike stuff! At a stop at a Safe Rest Village we talk about housing and homelessness and we talked about development and Portland politics while standing at the Alpenrose Dairy Site. Lykins is a leading candidate and sources say he's got a real shot at winning one of the three seats in District 4. He's got a PhD in public policy from Vanderbilt University and is currently the leader of a statewide chess organization, in addition to owning a business that runs afterschool chess programs throughout the region. You might have met him at Bike Happy Hour a few months ago, but to really understand him and his perspective, I highly recommend listening to this entire episode. Links:Chad Lykins Campaign WebsiteCouncil candidate competes for best transportation platform (BikePortland, 12/04/23)

Bend, Oregon-based nonprofit Dirty Freehub has become one of the best route resources on the web with its over 300 detailed ride guides. Its founder, Linda English talked to BikePortland founder Jonathan Maus about why she created the site over a decade ago, what Dirty Freehub offers, and the cool projects she's working on to make it even better.In this episode you'll learn how Dirty Freehub has become not just a great place to find gravel route information, but an economic development tool for rural Oregon towns, a partner for tourism agencies, and a spot where beginners and folks with disabilities can find "all access" routes that suit their needs.Gravel riding has exploded in the past decade, and the value of English's work has grown right along with it. Links:DirtyFreehub.orgBikePortland gravel riding story archivesSpecial thanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our theme music and to all of our financial supporters and paid subscribers for making this podcast possible!

Sellwood neighborhood resident Eli Arnold is running for Portland City Council District 4 (Sellwood, Eastmoreland, West of Willamette). His day job is a Portland Police Officer on the Central City Bike Squad. He and BikePortland founder Jonathan Maus talked about a wide range of issues, including:His experience on the bike squad.Why he started a community garden in his Savannah, GA neighborhood in 2014.How he can be trusted to lead with only Army and police experience.What he thinks about Former City Councilor Jo Ann Hardesty's violence prevention tactics.Policing in Portland and Arnold's ideas for improving it.What he'd do to save lives on our streets.Why I'm skeptical of his candidacy and Portland Police in general.and much more!Links from the episode:Kickstarter for community garden project in 2014"Portland Police officer admits no traffic enforcement messaging was politically motivated" (BikePortland, August 8th, 2023)PPB Central Bike Squad on Instagram"Beloved Portland Police Officer Robert Pickett moves on" (BikePortland, May 10th, 2011)Arnold's campaign websiteEli For Portland InstagramThanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our theme music. And thanks for listening.

Eva's back from Italy! She shares a bit about her magical time in the land of small cars, ancient roads, and wine tasting in Tuscany. Get this: Eva walked 98 miles in two weeks. That either sounds like a dream or a nightmare depending on if you have comfortable shoes.We talk about the latest Portland Bike Count report and I share the top 10 (actually 11) busiest bike intersections in the city. Eva shares her dream of operating bicycle vending machines on high traffic corridors and things devolved from there. We touched on tolling, freight lobbyists, my theory on what will happen with the I-5 Rose Quarter project, and much more.Links from the episode:BikePortland story on bike count report Gov Kotek scraps tolling in PortlandBike movie being shot in Portland right nowWhere freight advocates say they shouldn't pay for lower Albina because they didn't cause the harm. WTAF?

Few people in Portland know more about our city's bicycle parking policy than Chris Smith. In this conversation he shares a brief history of the issue and then explains why recent efforts by leaders in both Portland and Salem have rolled back recent bike parking code requirements. In this episode, you'll learn about the development of Portland's bike parking requirements from the inside, and we also talk about Oregon Governor Tina Kotek's big housing bills that passed just this week by the Oregon Legislature. One of them, Senate Bill 1537, included a relatively unknown provision that gives cities the ability to adjust their bike parking requirements to spur housing production.Links:Chris Smith personal website Developers say bike parking rules are biggest reason for housing delays - BikePortland, 3/15/23Bike parking versus housing debate presents a false choice - BikePortland op-ed by Chris Smith, 8/9/23Planning Commission votes to roll back bike parking code to spur new housing - BikePortland , 11/15/23 Wonk Night zeroes in on bike parking code update - BikePortland, 9/25/18Wonk Night kickstarts effort to reform Portland's bike parking code - BikePortland, 10/31/13

Sarah Risser is working on a project to erect memorial signs at the location of every fatal traffic crash in Portland. In this interview, she talks about that project and shares the story about how a 2019 car crash where she survived but her teenager son didn't, radicalized her into the world of road safety activism.Link: Article by Sarah for Grappling With Grief (September 2023)Sarah featured in BikePortland for her work on a ghost bike installation (February 2024)Photo of the memorial signs she's placing around Portland.Follow her on X at @henryz_mom

Timur Ender is a leading candidate for Portland City Council District 1 (East). He invited me on a 12-mile bike ride around his district to show me projects he helped implement in his previous job at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, to share why he's running for city council, and to explain his vision for how transportation infrastructure can be a vital part of making east Portland an even greater part of our city. This episode was recorded almost entirely as we pedaled on a loop from NE 102nd and Glisan to SE Powell and 162nd, then back north to Glendoveer Golf Course. We saw all types of infrastructure and had a really interesting conversation. Come along with us to learn more about Timur and the east Portland district he hopes to represent.Links:Timur's campaign website2013 Wonk Night event where I first met TimurAn article Timur wrote for BikePortland about the mobility options in his home country of TurkeyPBOT East Portland in Motion website (Timur worked on this as a PBOT employee)Thanks to Brock Dittus (of Sprocket Podcast fame) for our theme music. If you like this episode, please tell a friend and support BikePortland so we can continue to produce content like this in the future!

Eva Frazier and Jonathan Maus are back. This episode was recorded January 19th in the BikePortland Shed, as we just barely began to thaw from the Big Deep Freeze of the past week. As per usual, we had a fun chat about a wide range of stuff:The Deep Freeze of 2024Why are people still on the roads?Eva brought me an amazing beer she and a friend made (dubbed the "Overlooked") with hops and barley grown in their backyards!Jonathan has started reading the famous book on Robert Moses, The Power BrokerFood trucks in downtown PortlandIs Portland even a real big city?The best view to enter Portland fromWhy Eva loves freeway overpasses with peeling paintHow cities are like "free jazz" musicUpdate on Eva's "30 days of minimalism" challengeGetting the bike lane complaint tone right in light of PBOT crewsJesse Cornett interviewJohn the Johnster's wild ice rideBike Happy Hour One Year Anniversary is April 3rd!YouTuber urbanist Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty coming to Portland for a big event April 9thPortland Winter Light Festival is comingEva reads the excellent satirical Comment of the WeekWhat's it's like riding in southwestEva's opinion of the BikePortland comment sectionExciting new off-road trails in Cascade Locks in the worksThanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our fantastic theme music. Listen in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

BikePortland's Jonathan Maus sits down in The Shed with Jesse Cornett to learn more about this intriguing candidate. Cornett worked with US Senator Bernie Sanders for two years, including one as his personal assistant. He's also held leadership positions at local nonprofits, was head of government relations for Portland State University, and was once almost elected to the Oregon State Senate. Links:2010 BikePortland interview with Jesse during his previous run for council.Jesse Cornett campaign websiteSpecial thanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our theme music and to all our paid supporters who make BikePortland possible. If you aren't one yet, please sign up today.

North Portland resident Perrin Smith has done something extraordinary. In a quest that was part of his life for nearly three years, he walked every single street and alleyway in the City of Portland. That's about 2,100 miles of pavement, gravel, grass, mud, and sidewalks.In this episode, BikePortland's Jonathan Maus sits down with Smith in The Shed for a chat about this extraordinary accomplishment. Links: Perrin's InstagramMore about the Every Single Street movement@Slipoker on Instagram, another Portlander working on the challengeBikePortland story on 72-year-old Alan Koch, who biked every street in the region!Thanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our theme music and to all our paid supporters who make BikePortland possible. If you aren't one yet, please sign up today.

Last Wednesday Glencoe Bike Bus leader was assaulted by a driver who was outraged that he had to drive behind Rob and a group of kids biking to school. I know, right?! Who does that?In this episode, Jonathan Maus and Rob talk about what happened on SE 61st & Burnside, and more importantly, how Rob de-escalated the situation. You'll learn what goes into leading a bike bus and why training for leaders is so important to making sure kids have a good experience. Rob's insights, advice, and general vibe are something I think all ride leaders should pay attention to.Links:Glencoe Bike Bus on InstagramVideo of this interview on BikePortlandThanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our theme music and to all our paid supporters! If you want to become one, visit BikePortland.org/support today.Thanks for listening!

Jonathan Maus and Eva Frazier are back with another fun chat. Topics and links:Book: The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New YorkSnow is coming?!The legendary Devin Bailley, the guy who biked on Hwy 26 in a snowstormDe Ronde PDXLightning Round questions thanks to listener Paige!Jonathan on riding MTB trails at nightEva on riding in the city on july 4thAll types of Bike Happy Hour gossip and newsBike Loud looking to hire a bike lane ambassador?All 64 of BikePortland's stories on N Williams AvenueWhy Council District 2 candidate Joseph Emerson scored pointstony's stickers https://urbanist-online.square.site/ People who park badlyPBOT's daylighting promisesShould women drink free at Bike Happy Hour?Breathalyzers in carsStreet takeovers on NYE and an idea to prevent themComing soon: The Portland who has walked every street in the cityNew paved bike paths being built in Troutdale near Sandy RiverAnd more!Thanks for listening. And thanks Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for creating our theme music!

We're back with one last episode of 2023. I think you'll love this one. Eva Frazier and I talk about all types of stuff, including:Historic photos of Joe Brown's Bicycle Shop and his Lloyd Center Field Day eventBikePortland's 1896 Bike MapEva's Book Recommendation: Two Wheels NorthShould Bike Happy Hour have a book club?Review of BikePortland's Top Stories of 2023Jonathan's ride with City Council candidate Angelita MorilloPeople camping on bike paths Jonathan's family Christmas costume party (see a photo!)The burden of unanswered emails and BikePortland's very long story idea listWhat Eva's new bike fragrance will smell like now that she's a retired moguland more!! This episode was recorded December 29th at the BikePortland HQ - aka "The Shed".Thanks to Brock Dittus of Sprocket Podcast fame for our fantastic theme music.Thanks for listening! Please tell your friends!

Sit back and chill with Eva and Jonathan as they ruminate on various topics. This episode was recorded December 7th in The Shed (BikePortland HQ). Sorry for the uncharacteristically slow turnaround, but I think you'll love this one. In this episode:Eva shares the big news about her involvement with Clever Cycles.Jonathan shares some behind-the-scenes of BikePortland.A rapid-fire gift-giving quiz game. What would you get a PBOT employee for Christmas? Jonathan and Eva share a memorable gift.How we raised money for a new bike for a complete stranger.City council candidate Joseph Emerson.Commissioner Rene Gonzalez's mayoral campaign launch.Why Portland needs an AI mayoral candidate.Eva and Jonathan's past love of roller-skating.Hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Brock Dittus for our wonderful new theme music!

The Portland Bureau of Transportation recently made the news for its plans to alter — and in some cases even remove — some major city bike lanes. Commissioner Mingus Mapps, who oversees the bureau, offered multiple explanations, none of them adding up. Today on City Cast Portland, we're talking with the editor of BikePortland, Jonathan Maus. He's not only been following the story since its inception, he broke the news himself when he published information from whistleblowers who work inside PBOT.  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Portland, and be sure to follow us on Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about the sponsor of this episode: The Storm Large Holiday Ordeal at the Aladdin Theater Nov. 24 & 25 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Routh is running for Portland City Council District 1 (East Portland). She's well-known in local bike and transportation advocacy circles for her role as a thoughtfully wonky, yet warm and approachable leader and organizer. She's also a member of the Portland Planning Commission and has a fascinating background that includes a degree in theater performance, stints as a cannery worker in Alaska, a skin-dive team leader in Thailand as part of 2004 tsunami recovery efforts, and she's lived in northern China and NYC. She's also an adjunct professor at PSU who teaches community organizing and social change. This interview was recorded in the public plaza on SE Ankeny between SE 27th and 28th on Wednesday, November 8th during the weekly Bike Happy Hour. Thanks to all BikePortland financial supporters and subscribers. If you are not one yet, please visit BikePortland.org/support and become one today. This is community-powered journalism that needs community to survive! ***Steph Routh Campaign WebsitePortland Planning Commission

Back for another chat in the BikePortland Shed, it's Eva Frazier and Jonathan Maus! Eva is a bike mechanic, art school grad, and bike shop co-owner. Jonathan is founder and editor of BikePortland. They sit in the shed and talk about random stuff. In this episode, they touched on:Portland city council race and candidate Angelita Morillo What's better: Fenders or rain pants?Why Eva doesn't ride an e-bike.Eva's latest "nerd overlap" Venn diagram and how it explains why Brompton riders love ponchos. A pedal-powered pipe organ (Jonathan's TikTok vid)Verboort Sausage FestReflections on Jonathan's NYC TripWhy Portland Trophy Cup is so amazing.and more!!

I'm excited to share the inaugural episode with new co-host Eva Frazier! Eva is a co-owner of Clever Cycles, a board member of the nonprofit BikeLoud PDX, and just an all-around quality person who cares about Portland and wants to see cycling thrive.In what I hope is the first of many "In The Shed" chats to come, Eva and I chat about a wide range of topics. It's fun, free-flowing banter between two bike and urbanist nerds — a change from the more formal interviews and event recaps this podcast has done in the past. I will still do those things, but will make "In The Shed" a regular feature.In this episode (recorded Thursday, October 12th) Eva and I talked about:Life in the shop (squirrels and cats!)Eva's preferred route from inner southeast to The Shed in NoPoThe Street Trust Alice Awards Automatic shifting bicycles (Trek's "Lime" bike in Portland 2007)Tapas Tuesdays (link to event)First bike on Mt. Hood (Mazamas story)PBOT SE Hawthorne Blvd Evaluation Report (PDF)Broadway Bike Lane Scandal (all BP coverage)The first bakfiets in Portland and subsequent Dutch bike invasion.and more!! Episode made possible by BikePortland advertisers, subscribers, and financial supporters. Please become one today at BikePortland.org/support.

In this episode, your host Jonathan Maus takes you on the 14th annual Bike Town Hall Ride that took place in southeast Portland on Sunday, October 8th. You'll hear remarks from Oregon Senator Michael Dembrow and House representatives Khanh Pham and Thuy Tran. In addition, you'll ride along and hear about community projects like the Arleta Triangle Square, 70s Greenway, and more. Jonathan Maus provides narration along the way.For a full recap and photo gallery from the ride, see this story on BikePortland.

In this episode, I share a video call I had with PBOT Commissioner Mingus Mapps about the Broadway Bike Lane Scandal. His office set up this 30-minute interview to respond to our stories about Mapps' involvement in a push from his PBOT Director Millicent Williams to make significant changes to the protected bike lane on NW/SW Broadway. Williams' email to PBOT staff on September 14th made it clear she was ready to move forward — with what she claims was Mapps' approval — on reversing the changes on Broadway and putting back to a less safe configuration.For more on this story, read the full coverage on BikePortland.

Even though Portland has recently seen a significant drop in cycling, our city still has the highest number of bike commuters in the country. But with 43 traffic fatalities this year and 70 last year, many cyclists say riding has felt more dangerous than ever. Today we're talking with BikePortland editor Jonathan Maus—he's giving us some tips on how both drivers and pedestrians can stay safe on our streets. Bike resources mentioned on the show: Metro “Bike There!” Map  City of Portland Bike Map  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Portland, and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your host Jonathan Maus (Editor & Publisher, BikePortland) went to the State Capitol in Salem on April 13th to cover the Transportation Future Day of Action. The event was a lobbying day organized by Just Crossing Alliance (a coalition of environmental and transportation nonprofits) as part of their "Right Size, Right Now" campaign that seeks to reduce the cost and footprint of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program project.In this episode, you'll hear a range of interviews including:Adah Crandall, Sunrise PDXZachary Lauritzen, Oregon WalksAaron Brown, Office of Rep. Khanh PhamBrett Morgan, 1000 Friends of OregonKhanh Pham, Oregon House RepMark Gamba, Oregon House RepAnd several others!Links: Day of Action event pageBikePortland Coverage and photo gallery from the day

Take a journey into the heart of Portland's amazing cycling community in this episode where host Jonathan Maus and BikePortland reporter Taylor Griggs wade into the thick crowds at Ladds 500 to chat with the assembled characters.Links:BikePortland coverage of Ladds 500Ladds 500 page on the Shift website

In this episode, host Jonathan Maus welcomes members of Timberwolves Cycle Recovery into he Shed. Also known as the Sith Lord Vader Squadron Timberwolves, they're a grassroots group of Portlanders who are taking the law into their own hands to recover stolen bicycles. They are led by Royal Johnson, who is the main voice you'll hear in the episode. Royal and Jonathan were joined by Laura Dallago, the group's treasurer, and Rich Baker, who coordinates their events and rides. Royal started the group in Austin, Texas in 2011 and he maintains a chapter of the group there, as well as one in Los Angeles, Colorado, and Houston. Their MO is to enlist people to help them spot stolen bikes, research online to find out of it the bike is indeed stolen, and then if it is, they hit the streets and try to recover it. On March 18th, Royal went on a recovery mission in the South Waterfront district that was first reported as a robbery by gunpoint. Alarmed by the initial reports, we did a story immediately based on details from an OHSU campus alert and a police report that said someone flashed a gun and robbed someone of a blue electric bike near the intersection of SW Sheridan and Moody. It was only after we published that we figured out Royal was involved and that perhaps the person who reported the gun wasn't telling the truth. It all turned into a mess, so Royal and I agreed he should come over to the shed so we could hash everything out. Links:What really happened with that bike theft confrontation in South Waterfront? - (BikePortland, 3/22/23)Updated: Stolen bike recovery leads to confrontation in South Waterfront (BikePortland, 3/18/23)‘Timberwolves' look to hunt down and recover stolen bikes (BikePortland, 10/24/22)SLVS Timberwolves on Instagram

In this episode, I connect with Taylor Griggs, a BikePortland.org staff writer, for a firsthand account and reflections after her month-long trip to Europe. We're talking protected and separated cycle lanes, advisory bike lanes, also known as edge lane roads, and fietsstraats, also known as priority bike streets. We also discuss adding pop-up parks and bringing a bit of fun into our public spaces as well as the bike bus trend, with her visit to Barcelona to profile the Bici-bus, which happens every day. We also give a shout-out to Megan Ramey, who leads a bike train in Hood River, OR, and Sam Balto, who leads a bike bus in Portland, OR.Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):- Taylor's BikePortland.org articles- BikePortland.org- My episode with Cathy Tuttle- The video version of this episode- The landing page on ActiveTowns.org of this episodeFour Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my storeCredits:All video and audio production by John SimmermanMusic:Epidemic SoundResources used during the production of this episode:- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm- Adobe Creative Cloud SuiteFor more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:- Website- Twitter- Newsletter- Podcast landing pages- Facebook- InstagramBackground:Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.I'm a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2023Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

On this midweek show, Ryan Packer returns for a round-up of regional transportation issues with Crystal. Ryan's efforts to raise public awareness around traffic safety issues through in-the-minute reporting of cars hitting pedestrians and bicyclists sparks conversation about the Legislature's aim of changing driver behavior through bills currently under consideration and their funding of bike and pedestrian safety improvements in last year's transportation package. They then address the issue of the Columbia River Crossing Megaproject being pushed forward with a decades-old scope, an uncertain funding plan, and non-consideration of climate change or equity. Finally, Crystal and Ryan highlight the disconnect observed in two regional planning bodies with the Puget Sound Regional Council adopting a transportation plan unaligned with our 2030 climate goals and the Sound Transit Board making decisions uninformed by transit rider experience. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find Ryan Packer at @typewriteralley.   Ryan Packer Ryan Packer has been covering transportation and land use at The Urbanist since 2015. Their work has also appeared in the Seattle Bike Blog, BikePortland, and PubliCola. They don't own a bike.   Resources “State Proposals Aim to Lower Traffic Deaths by Improving Driver Behavior” by Ryan Packer from PubliCola   “Navigating the Move Ahead Washington Transportation Package with Ryan Packer” from Hacks & Wonks   “Washington State Is Losing Control of the Columbia Interstate Bridge Replacement Megaproject” by Ryan Packer from The Urbanist   “Adopted Regional Transportation Plan Isn't Aligned With 2030 Climate Goals” by Ryan Packer from The Urbanist   “Elected Leaders Must Press Forward With Study of SR 99 and I-5 Everett Link Alternatives” by Stephen Fesler from The Urbanist   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, I am excited to be able to welcome Ryan Packer to the show, who's been covering transportation and land use at The Urbanist since 2015. Their work has also appeared in Seattle Bike Blog, Bike Portland, PubliCola. They don't own a bike, but they cover transportation and related issues as well or better than anyone else in the region - an absolute impactful reporter that we have here. Welcome to the show, Ryan. [00:01:07] Ryan Packer: Thanks so much for having me. [00:01:09] Crystal Fincher: So what got you interested in the first place in reporting on these issues in particular? [00:01:16] Ryan Packer: Basically it was being a transportation user in Seattle. I worked for a restaurant company close to downtown and lived in Capitol Hill, and basically all the ways to get to work that the City was trying to encourage people to use - walking or transit - were unpleasant or infeasible basically. And once you start picking at threads as to why that is, you quickly learn all the different elements of the transportation system that most people aren't aware of - what I like to call the government ecosystem around transportation - and all the ways that it's very broken. [00:01:59] Crystal Fincher: Definitely very broken. One of the things that you've become known for is the unique style of reporting that you have for pedestrian-involved collisions by cars and other vehicles. How did you get started doing that? And what is the kind of feedback that you've received about your reporting there? [00:02:22] Ryan Packer: Yeah, so I basically started noticing that there wasn't a lot of in-the-minute reporting on people getting hit by cars, basically - people walking or biking. Essentially The Seattle Times, or daily newspaper even - in Washington or elsewhere - is only going to cover someone getting hit when ultimately it leads to someone's death. And I started to think about how this leads to a disproportionate - started to think about how this leads to a wrong perception in public at large, in terms of how safe it is to walk around and bike around. Obviously it's not intended to scare people or make people not want to walk or bike, but just to give people an accurate read of how often this is happening. Because the information is out there and once I started pulling it out and realizing this is happening right around the corner from me - I might not have even known this had happened - the reception has been pretty positive in terms of people wanting this information, wanting to know what's happening particularly on their own neighborhood streets. [00:03:41] Crystal Fincher: And there's a lot of action being talked about in response to the crisis that is pedestrian and bike safety. What is being talked about - I guess we'll start off at the state level - just in terms of safety, and then we can talk about general, other transportation-related issues, but what's on the docket there? [00:04:04] Ryan Packer: This session is not a big transportation year, but the traffic safety crisis is the big transportation issue. And so there are a number of bills that are being considered and most of them are trying to directly go after driver behavior. And so we have a lot of bills that are aimed at, say, specific types of drivers. There's a bill to lower the blood alcohol content threshold for a DUI from 0.08 to 0.05 - making people think a little bit more closely about how much they're drinking when they get behind the wheel of a car. There's a bill to target 18 to 25-year old drivers who don't have to take a driver education course - 18-year old doesn't have to take a driver's education course that their 17-year old sibling does. It doesn't make a lot of sense and it shows in the data in terms of the crash rates for young adults like that don't end up taking that course. There's a bill to target older drivers - a little bit less prescriptive - but there's some data that suggests that once you hit a certain age, your capabilities behind the wheel should be assessed a little bit more frequently. A bill to give people a warning label on their car, before they purchase it, in terms of - This vehicle is large and more likely to severely hurt somebody walking or biking if you hit them. And that bill would also impose an additional fine if you were involved in a crash like that. And so all these bills are looking at individual behavior, what I would call bad driver targeting. Ultimately this is just one aspect of the sort of national best practices that everyone's moving toward in terms of what's called a safe systems approach. But the important thing to note - while everyone's talking about driver behavior this session - last session was the transportation investment year. And you actually had me on the program to talk about the Move Ahead Washington package last year. But just to go through what we know about it since then and what it's going to do, it includes a lot of money for cities to ask for for bike and pedestrian safety. The problem with that is it is relying on people to raise their hands and also doesn't require that the funds go to the most impactful areas. So for example, a city like Kent doesn't have to request funds for the intersection, say, that the most people are getting hurt at. They can say, Oh, we want to do a project over here. And there's not a lot that the state can say, Oh, you should do something different. They have to pick the projects people are asking for. But there's another very important provision in that bill, which is a new complete streets mandate for state highways. And so we're getting into a mandate - sort of a blanket change - it's going to be much more impactful. It basically says that any time that the State Department of Transportation goes out to fix, or repair, or maintain a state highway - they have to look at whether or not that state highway is up to current standards - whether or not it has sidewalks, bike lanes, and whether drivers are currently driving really the appropriate speeds on that highway. So the Legislature allocated $1.5 billion in Move Ahead Washington to overall highway maintenance, so it's a lot of money but it's also not a lot of money in terms of how much maintenance our state highways need. But since the passage of that law, the State Department of Transportation has announced that they expect to use about half of that amount to upgrade safety infrastructure for people walking and biking on state highways - about $750 million, which if it ends up coming to pass would be the biggest investment in safe infrastructure in statewide history - possibly in a lot of states. [00:08:42] Crystal Fincher: And that was some positive news, hedged positive news. Seems like we're making progress but there is so much to do that sometimes it feels like we're trying to mop up the ocean a little bit. You talked about some of the best practices and some of the bills going after one dimension of that, which is driver behavior. What are the other recommended best practices? What are things that legislators should be talking about? [00:09:12] Ryan Packer: One element that has not quite made it to the Legislature is vehicle design in terms of - I talked a little bit about that warning label - but in terms of actually requiring that cars not be designed to hurt people is one aspect of this sort of safe systems approach - the actual design of our vehicles. It's gotten larger over the past couple decades - the trend toward SUVs, which has led to negative direction in terms of the pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities. And so when you're talking about that, you're talking about something that would impact everyone on the road as opposed to the so-called bad driver. Even if you're putting a warning label - that's putting the onus on individuals like - Oh, you bought this car so you should know what it's like, as opposed to this car is on the market and it's a systemic issue in terms of offering these for sale. And so, but once you start to get into sort of how many different drivers would be impacted, the political will to actually make the changes is diminishing. For example, in terms of driver's education - when you talk about making drivers age 18 to 25 do the driver's ed course, that's one change but a 24-year old who is tested in another state can also just go ahead and transfer their driver's license into Washington without having to do that driver's ed course. Or a driver who's 35 and maybe needs to have that driver course again. Roger Millar, the State Secretary of Transportation, likes to note that the last time that he was tested for his driver behavior was in the 1970s and that there's been a couple of changes in state laws since that time - and that's true for a lot of people on our roads. But once again, that would apply to a lot of people getting back in the queue for driver's testing. [00:11:10] Crystal Fincher: Does road design play a role in the safe systems approach? [00:11:15] Ryan Packer: Absolutely road design plays a role. It's a key component, and that's what I was getting at with the complete streets requirement doing a systemic look at whether our state highways are designed to standards. There's not really a requirement for local jurisdictions to do that - cities like Seattle have complete streets ordinances, but there's a lot of ways that they can get around those. But you're talking about the need to - number one, make sure that people are driving at the appropriate speeds - one of the biggest factors in terms of whether or not someone is likely to be hurt or even killed in a crash is the speed that they're going. And you often have cities lowering speed limits, but the design speed - the speed that drivers feel like they can appropriately go on a road - may still be a lot higher. And so you have a lot of streets where those speeds remain very high. And then you also have the issue of distance for crossings for pedestrians - whether or not someone is likely to be able to safely cross that street is a big determinant of how safe it is, and whether or not there's safe infrastructure for people to walk along it or bike along it. One thing I like to always notice is - one of the biggest impacts that adding protected bike lanes to urban cities is - is the impact on pedestrians. You're often - one, separating cars from pedestrians with another lane in between them which is always great and makes things safer, but you're also adding protected turns - making sure the drivers aren't turning across the bike lanes - also great for people walking. So these kind of have these compounding effect, where it improves everything for everyone on the street not just someone on a bike. [00:13:15] Crystal Fincher: Now there are a few other things going on in the Legislature, even besides some of these pedestrian-related and safety-related enhancements. One of those issues is one that they thought they dealt with and maybe mostly wrapped up last year, but that has come back with a vengeance - that a lot of people are looking at with concern - and that's the Columbia River Crossing Megaproject. Where does that stand, and what has happened that they need to tackle now? [00:13:48] Ryan Packer: So this project has been around for almost two decades - it's a needed project to replace the two spans of the I-5, between Washington and Oregon - one of which was built in the 1910s. The previous attempt to replace this bridge, which is called the Columbia River Crossing, included seven miles of highway expansion, five interchanges, light rail as a component - several sort of huge projects within projects - that made the project very expensive and expansive. Ultimately in 2013, it was the Washington State Senate that didn't want to pony up the money for that project - in part because of light rail's inclusion, in part because of a opposition to having tolls from the Washington side to go into Oregon. That project languished for several years until it was restarted by Governor Brown and Inslee in 2019, and has been moving forward - but the key thing to remember with this is that we're still using the federal approval from the Columbia River Crossing, even though we've now rebranded it with a very flashy campaign called the Interstate Bridge Replacement, or the IBR. It has the environmental approval of the Columbia River Crossing and that includes the scope - and so the seven miles of highway, five interchanges - it basically is still in there. And we went through a whole process to look at how we might tweak that, whether or not we might include climate change as an actual purpose and need to address with this project, or whether we might want to include equity as an actual thing to address. Ultimately they decided that that would disrupt the project schedule - they're very intent on replacing this, starting construction by 2025 - it's not entirely clear that's going to happen, it being 2023 already, but that's what they're aiming for. And at the end of last year they just came up with a new project cost estimate based on all the new tweaks that they want to do to this thing, and it could end up costing about - $7.5 billion is the high end estimate. It would ultimately be the most expensive single highway project in the Pacific Northwest and among the top 10 in the nation. And so the question is whether the scope is too wide and expansive for - what we're talking about is a very needed bridge, not a highway. [00:16:55] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And with that expanded cost estimate and the now inflated cost that we've seen, that puts them at least a billion dollars under budget - and there's a question about where that billion dollars is coming from. Where does that stand? [00:17:11] Ryan Packer: So they have a financial concept plan that assumes that they're going to get a lot of money from the federal government - the bipartisan infrastructure bill included a mega-grant program, kind of orchestrated by Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, that kind of had the IBR in mind when they were looking at this grant program. And so they're counting on an incredible amount of money from the federal government - around $2-3 billion - which is wild. They've already gotten $1 billion from the State of Washington in last year's Move Ahead Washington package, but they're banking on Oregon chipping in another billion dollars this year - which would get them to have that matching funds for the federal grants. Interestingly enough, new governor of Oregon Tina Kotek released her budget very early this year and didn't actually have a billion dollars in it for that project, which is very interesting because it was a very big priority of her predecessor, a very big priority of sort of her old colleagues in the Oregon Legislature - and so she clearly sees it as not one of the top priorities. She's currently allocating a lot of money for housing and not highways. [00:18:41] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, an interesting conundrum which has definitely been scrutinized and continues to be challenged - because of the broadness of the scope - does it require that many lanes, that much impact on the local area? You talked about equity being put aside in terms of - because they wanted to stick to their timeline. And certainly people in that region who are familiar with the impacts of the type of pollution that's created by cars being spewed in the neighborhood and what those health impacts, like asthma and other things, are for local communities and schools there in that area. [00:19:25] Ryan Packer: So that also gets into the issue of tolls, which I mentioned were a sticking point with the old project. They're banking on a lot of money also coming in from tolls. The first point with that is obviously we don't quite know what the actual impact on traffic volume on the bridge is going to be from those tolls, and so it has a - do we need to have all that capacity to - if we're going to put the tolling on the bridge, what is that relationship going to look like? But also, as we've seen in Washington with the SR99 tunnel and some of the other tolling programs that the state has undergone in the past couple years, sort of banking on a high number of toll users to pay back your project is not necessarily the most sound financial plan. [00:20:20] Crystal Fincher: It is not, as we have learned in those other situations that you referenced. I also wanted to touch on one of our regional bodies at the moment - the Puget Sound Regional Council. And we have a number of bodies that are involved in transportation planning, a number of regional bodies - this is one of them - but a number of these have also talked about their commitment to addressing climate change, to reducing greenhouse gases, setting targets and we have a 2030 target that they're attempting to hit. And recently they announced that they are not on track to hit the 2030 climate goal. Where do they stand on that, and are they talking about anything that will put us back on track to meeting those targets? [00:21:09] Ryan Packer: Yeah, so this is a body that not a lot of people pay attention to - it's the four county - King, Snohomish, Pierce, and Kitsap County - regional planning body. Its biggest role is figuring out where to allocate federal funds, and so it's a conduit for a lot of federal money - and so that's how it's how it gets the power that it does. Ultimately they have to approve a regional transportation plan that kind of looks at the entire region's goals around transportation. They did that last year, and originally it was just looking at the climate impacts by 2050 - sort of the long term goals around reducing transportation emissions. Thanks to a lot of the leaders on the regional council, including the president - King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci - they were like, Hey, we should actually be looking at 2030 to see if we're on track or we have to do a lot more work. And that analysis just came back and shows a pretty big gap in terms of where we're expected to be - 13%, which is a huge emissions gap. It doesn't sound huge, but it's - when you talk about the emissions of the entire region. And they also looked at sort of some models around how to fill that gap. And that's the frustrating thing about their models - which is basically they showed that transit, expanding transit, is not really going to close the gap. And in terms of - because our growth strategy as a region is not quite going to catch up to where we need to be by 2030 in terms of having actual people close to transit. First of all, should give some direction to our local leaders in terms of what they should be doing around transit access and station planning. But also the model seems a little bit behind the times in terms of being able to actually account for sort of the actual behavior of people. It also noted that if we put a hold on sort of the roadway expansions - which add capacity, add cars, add emissions - that it would - their models are showing that that wouldn't have an impact. And a lot of people are questioning that, including Claudia Balducci [00:23:48] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, a lot of us questioning that - with some of the justification that they're giving essentially being we add lanes but that's gonna help traffic. And if people spend less time in traffic, then that's going to neutralize the emissions that come from the increased traffic somehow. [00:24:05] Ryan Packer: The same arguments that we've been hearing for a couple of decades - just haven't borne out. [00:24:09] Crystal Fincher: Yeah - kind of challenging there. Also Sound Transit, another regional body that is very involved in our regional transit system - they operate our light rail and heavy rail Sounder system. Where do they stand in terms of climate goals and their kind of overall operation? [00:24:33] Ryan Packer: Ultimately, Sound Transit isn't really charged with making sure that the region's holding to its climate goals. They're being asked to build a regional spine to our transit network, which is - it's very expensive. It's gonna be a lot of years of work to get that sort of spine from Everett to Tacoma. And ultimately, it's not going to be as impactful as it could be if regional government - cities, counties - don't do the maximum to ensure that people are living by the stations, people can access those stations. And so that's one way that the sort of siloed system of our transportation ecosystem in central Puget Sound is not optimizing outcomes in terms of climate and also just all those other more immediate impacts - livability, air quality, things like that. Sound Transit is tasked with building the system, and the way that its political board is structured - the incentives are basically to make sure that your community is getting some transit and not that the region as a whole is set up for success. One way that that's epitomized is the planned deviation over to Paine Field in Everett - that a lot of people are questioning the sort of utility of making a detour on light rail to go to an airport that not a lot of people are really going to be able to utilize by the time it's done - and so, it's adding a couple like 10 minutes to every trip to Everett, as opposed to other ways to serve that. But it's seen as - taking away that would be seen as bad for Everett. [00:26:30] Crystal Fincher: And this is a challenge that we see with this board overall and some of the confounding decisions that are made. What is the composition of this board, and what kind of investment do its members have in - personal investment - in public transit? [00:26:47] Ryan Packer: The board is made up of local leaders from around the region, so ultimately you have people whose investment in transit is tied directly to their own performance as an elected official, not necessarily their own experience as a transit rider. It's not clear how many of our transit board members are actual daily transit riders or, in terms of their ties to the overall transit community. And so, like I said, it's all about making sure that you're delivering the projects for your city. And so there's just a lot of sort of bartering and siloing. [00:27:26] Crystal Fincher: Overall, with your perspective on transportation and transit in the region, what do you think are the most important things, I guess, on the docket for people to address and ways to address them? What would your words of wisdom be for those involved in the policy making? [00:27:45] Ryan Packer: I think the first thing I would say is that people involved in transit decision making should get out and ride transit - see what it's like - use that experience to actually make decisions. And get away from the map on the screen, in terms of looking at the actual impacts. I think a lot of people are getting very cynical about the decision making processes in central Puget Sound at all levels of government - from the City of Seattle to the highest echelons at Sound Transit - in terms of where the priorities of the decision makers are. I do think we see that party shifting a little bit, possibly - even at the City of Seattle level - toward people-centered projects, but ultimately the status quo bias is so embedded into - a lot of these - I don't want to say infrastructure, but the actual decision making processes - that it's very hard to turn that ship very quickly at all. [00:29:05] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much, Ryan, for your time today. Thank you for just enlightening us - and your coverage - it's just been so impactful. I know that even for people who follow these issues and like you talked about - looking at the data, seeing maps on the screen and this happening - it's just impactful in a different way to see it reported in live time. And just the way that you get around our region and connect the dots on how what we do across the region impacts each other, and how we should be addressing transit and transportation overall. So thank you very much. [00:29:48] Ryan Packer: Well, thanks so much for all that you do, Crystal. [00:29:50] Crystal Fincher: Thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler, our assistant producer is Shannon Cheng, and our Post-Production Assistant is Bryce Cannatelli. You can find Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks, and you can follow me @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered right to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave us a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.