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Old Posted Nov 24, 2010, 6:49 PM
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Bicycle trips on the rise in Portland
http://djcoregon.com/news/2010/11/23...e-in-portland/
Quote:
POSTED: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 04:00 PM PT
BY: Sue Vorenberg
Tags: bikes, Portland Bureau of Transportation

The throngs of bicyclists pedaling out across the streets and bridges of the Rose City grew once again in 2010, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

The agency today announced the release of the Portland Bicycle Count Report for 2010, which showed a 12 percent increase of bicycle traffic on bridges and a 7 percent increase in bicycle trips on non-bridges over the past year.

“One of the goals of the city of Portland is to increase the number of people getting around on foot, on public transit, in carpools and on bicycles,” said Dan Anderson, a city spokesman. “Traveling those ways increases the health of the city, reduces congestion and saves money.”

Officials view growing ridership as a sign the agency has been successful in making bicycling in the city easier, more comfortable and more accessible, he said.

Overall, the total number of trips increased 8 percent in 2010 compared with 2009 counts, according to the report.

The bureau has counted bicycle traffic at various spots in the city since the early 1990s, and almost every year it has noted steady increases, Anderson said.

“Population growth is a part of that, but we’ve seen huge increases in the past 20 to 30 years that have risen much more than could be accounted for by just population growth,” Anderson said.

In the past 10 years, bicycle traffic across the city has risen about 190 percent.

That said, 2009 was a different story - and a bit of an anomaly. That year, agency saw a dip in traffic, likely because of layoffs and the bad economy, he said.

“People just didn’t have the same places to go to when unemployment doubled,” Anderson said.

The 2010 numbers are back where they should be, and show traffic rising once again, he said.

Southwest Portland had the highest increase in number of cyclists, with an increase of 19 percent. East Portland also had a strong increase of 9.4 percent, according to the report.

Counts are done manually by volunteers and bureau officials standing at street corners or on bridges during different time periods throughout the day. They collect data several times a year, Anderson added.

The full report is available online at www.portlandonline.com.
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