Biking in Portland is one of the things that sets our city apart from others. It is well known that Portland is very bike friendly and that a large number, in comparison to other cities, commute by bike. Now whether you are a driver or biker or whether you loathe or love biking, you can’t help but be aware of how well set up our city is for commuting by bike. I saw a blog post today from an out-of-towner that came to Portland and explored our city via bike. They were very pleased at how our city is set up to allow people to explore by bike and foot. And they even pointed out some things that I was unaware of or didn’t understand prior to writing this. First are the “bike boulevards” as seen in the picture below. Now don’t laugh at me but I really didn’t know what those were. I’ve seen the markings all around and in my own neighborhood but I wasn’t sure what they were. Come to find out that they are bike routes on low-traffic residential streets. Bike boulevards let bikes and cars share the road safely which is great for drivers who are nervous driving pasts bicyclists and for bicyclists who prefer the ease of neighborhood streets.

Portland's Bike Boulevards (picture by peopleforbikes.org)

So the one thing I am aware of is the green painted bike yield boxes all over the city. It would be hard to not know what those are because they are everywhere but also because of the press they got when they were first implemented. So I’m well aware of those. Another thing that I didn’t even know existed but now do via the peopleforbikes.org blog post is that there are buttons for a bike-specific signals to stop traffic on a busy street and continue on the bike boulevard. So not a cross walk but a cross bike! Yes, I just made that up. To see the full blog post from www.peopleforbikes.org, go here.

Portland's cross bike (picture via peopleforbikes.org)

There are so many things about our city that make it special and different than most and often times it takes out-of-towners to point those things out and force us to take notice. Perhaps this is why so many people are always moving here? So if you haven’t already, explore Portland a little more. One up coming event is Sunday Parkways. A different area of town will, for one day a month, open it’s streets to bikers, walkers, joggers, roller bladers or skateboarders to navigate through many miles of traffic free streets. So check to see when your area is having their version of Sunday Parkways and take part! Go here to see more on Sunday Parkways and to view maps of the routes they are taking this year!