When transportation activists
fantasize about mass transit, traffic calming, and bicycle friendliness,
the great European cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Helsinki, and
Munich usually come to mind. Besides progressive government planning
policies, what also make these places ideal is their medieval character.
Within their narrow, winding streets full of tourists, an abundance
of automobiles would immediately be considered an invasion. Portland,
Oregon, on the other hand, has very little sense of medieval antiquity
and rarely sees many tourists, yet the urban and regional planning that
has occurred in the past two decades has, by American standards, been
quite revolutionary. Portland is the paradigmatic example of what the
well planned, North American, mid-sized city should look like.
No Cause for Cars
The local and state government has taken an active role in bettering
the quality of life for its citizens by creating new public spaces and
not allowing cars to overtake its urban realm. (The mayor, a native
Brooklynite, has never learned to drive!) The public transportation
system has been vastly expanded, auto access into downtown has been
discouraged, and the city has established, by law, the Urban Growth
Boundary to limit suburban sprawl and preserve local farmland.
Portland’s citizens and government have evidently come to realize
the distinction between pedestrian-friendly public streets and squares,
and hostile semi-public automobile thoroughfares and parking lots. Unlike
many American cities, downtown Portland is not designed specifically
for suburban commuters, eager to flee the city after 5 pm, leaving only
a ghost town. Instead, it is a mosaic of mixed-use planning. There are
parks, theaters, apartment buildings, office buildings, shops, museums,
a library, and a courthouse, all relating in a spatially coherent manner
within the dense fabric of downtown. What once was a parking lot is
now Pioneer Courthouse Square, the heart of Portland, a sunken plaza
circumscribed by an amphitheater, trees, a cafe, and pushcart vendors.
In the late 1970’s, a two mile stretch of an expressway fracturing
the city’s core from its lifeblood, the Willamette River, was
torn down and replaced with a gorgeous waterfront park.
Given that downtown Portland is hemmed in by a river to the east and
steep wooded foothills to the west, it would be easy to name geography
as the primary cause of the city’s compactness. Although geographical
influence is significant, wise urban planning strategies have had the
biggest impact. The most important intervention was the increase in
mass transportation, but other items have had their affect. A zoning
code, for instance, requires all buildings to have a “display
window” at ground level, making for a more animated street life.
Tax abatements keep downtown buildings at a reasonable scale, keeping
sunlight at a maximum and not overburdening the infrastructure. A maximum
“lid” of parking spaces was established downtown to make
commuting by car more difficult and to discourage developers, eager
to make a quick buck, from razing old buildings and replacing them
with
parking lots.
Moving from Gridlock
When approaching Portland by plane, I immediately realized that something
interesting was happening. The monotonous ooze of gridlike streets
and
cul-de-sacs, so prevalent when approaching cities of half a million
people, was not evident until nearing the airport. I saw abundant farmland
and lush forests, albeit some displaying the patchwork quilt of clear
cutting. After catching the bus downtown, the very first thing I saw
was a bus advertisement encouraging commuters to ride their bicycles
to the bus, where they could attach it to a bike rack, recently retrofitted
to almost every bus. Adjacent was another provocative sign. Installed
by the local transit authority, Tri-Met, it proudly stated: “Our
mission is to assure people increased mobility in our growing compact
region.” Then while gazing at the distant mountains, I couldn’t
help noticing a billboard screaming: “For kid’s sake, SLOW
DOWN”. I had heard a lot about Portland, but I never imagined
that they were going to be so aggressive in their pursuit of a livable
city.
Downtown, everything is oriented around pedestrians and mass transit.
Two major parallel avenues, running ten blocks in a N-S direction,
have
become the ‘Portland Transit Mall’. Virtually every bus
line runs through it, unimpeded by pesky automobiles. There is also
a single light-rail line, and plans are in the making to build a second.
The light rail, called MAX (Metropolitan Area Express), runs on its
own cobblestone right-of-way, creating a de facto auto-free street.
The train is sleek, modern, and quiet, and on summer weekends is replaced
by a restored old-fashioned trolley. The Transit Mall was also renovated
to include extra wide sidewalks, allowing for wonderful bus kiosks
to
march down the block, interrupted only by planters, water fountains,
and bike racks. Buses (and MAX) cost one dollar and transfers are given
out to be used for the subsequent 2 hours. In addition, they are free
within the 300 square block area of downtown. Tri-Met, the transit
authority,
also offers monthly and yearly passes, bringing individual transit
costs down to roughly $1 per day. It is no wonder that 40% of the daily
commuters
take mass transit, an astounding quantity for an American city of that
size.
The streets themselves lack the chaos one would expect in an American
city. In two days I never once heard a motorist blow his/her horn,
and
car alarms don’t exist. Whether walking or cycling, I was always
given the right of way and treated with respect. Although “rush-hour”
was relatively busy, lasting about 45 minutes, the streets of downtown
Portland were very quiet during the day, and the multitude of pedestrians
seemed to enjoy the peace. Traffic is calmed by the timing of the traffic
lights, which force drivers into safe speeds of about 15 m.p.h. Widened
sidewalks also occur at all intersections along the Transit Mall. Called
“chokers”, these force motorists to reduce their speed
as they pass the more narrow intersection, and provide more space for
pedestrians
by eliminating available parking space, which discourages people from
driving into downtown. Generous curb cuts at each corner lead to enormous
crosswalks of brick and stone pavers, visually distinguishing themselves
from the bleak pavement. (Accessibility throughout the city was excellent,
for blind people and those in wheelchairs were prevalent.)
Pedal Power
Thanks to the United Community Action Network, getting around town
is now made even easier by the presence of a few dozen community bicycles.
Scattered about the inner city, these brightly painted yellow bikes
are for anyone’s use as long as they are returned to a busy street
or park. The idea, according to U.C.A.N. director Joe Keating, came
from where else but Amsterdam, and, so far, none have been stolen.
How
long do you think they would last in Manhattan?
Cyclists, numbering about 6% of the commuter total, encounter few difficulties
navigating their way through the city. Although there are no formal
bike lanes, cyclists are treated with enough respect by motorists (and
the city government) that they need not be marginalized into a narrow
bike lane. The bridges across the Willamette River have generous bike/walkways,
bike racks downtown are ubiquitous, and of course most buses and the
lightrail line can easily accommodate bicycles. A street cutting through
a primary residential neighborhood in Southeast Portland has been made
into a bicycle boulevard with streets barricaded every few blocks to
disallow through-traffic. Signs at the intersecting streets on the
boulevard
proclaim cyclists’ right of way. The cycling community there
is a very active, and puts on a monthly Critical Mass** ride, attended
by two or three hundred riders. Their success is also measured in the
$1.1 million that the city has recently set aside for bicycle infrastructure
improvements.
Visiting Portland was a delight. To live and work there surely would
be equally wonderful, if one can only deal with the rain. It is a gorgeous
city that has begun to free itself from the chains of our auto-enslaved
culture. Although other major cities are much larger and not blessed
with Portland’s density-encouraging geography, hopefully their
planners will look to Portland as a paradigm. Otherwise, our urban
future
will be on the road to nowhere.
** — A Critical Mass ride is a simultaneous bicycling commute
home, founded in San Francisco, but now occurring in dozens of cities
around the world. Bicyclists wind their way through the busiest parts
of town, within either a celebratory or a political environment, i.e.
a protest. Either way, they are meant to empower the normally powerless
cyclist, left to defend him or herself against the forces of our car-crazed
society.
Phil Goff is an animal and environmental activist
who takes part in critical mass rides and demonstrations in New York
City.
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