Portland Wants To Be Even More Bike-Friendly

"'We want to make Portland a world-class cycling city,' says the city's bicycle coordinator, Roger Geller, who's leading the effort to update Portland's 11-year-old Bicycle Master Plan."

"'If you look at what other cities have done – the investments they've made, the quality of their facilities and way they've integrated it into all forms of transportation and land-use planning – we still have a pretty good ways to go.'"

"A lot of people, however, feel excluded by this line of thought and think the city shouldn't be in the business of funding bike infrastructure improvements."

"According to the Portland Office of Transportation, bike boulevards will go a long way toward attracting the 300,000 or so people (about 60 percent of the city's population) who are dubbed "interested but concerned" about riding on the city streets."

"They would ride more if there were more safe, quiet networks around town, the city has found through various surveys. Since funding sources are scarce, the expansions would take place little by little, over time, mostly through state or federal money with limited city investment."