Portland Peeves (Burns: taxi, taxes, price)

[psichick]

Originally Posted by hamellr

Even if adding extra lanes and freeways were possible, real life example after example just proves that the capacity immediately gets used and we're back to the same spot.

I remember a project in SoCal that was going on. They were expanding a major freeway intersection to 21 lanes across. The guy who does the projection said something along the lines of, "adding lanes does nothing to help traffic. By the time they decide to add lanes, then add the lanes, they're already 20 years behind". He explained in detail how it's his job to predict these things, offer solutions, etc. Then continued on how no one ever wants to hear that an expansion is hopeless. I guess he wanted to be heard, so he put out all his research for people to read.

It was interesting to say in the least. Of course, the expansion went on, the outcome was something like 21-25 lanes or something, and just as much traffic.

[urbanlife78]

Portlandia is my pet peeve. Always annoys me when I say I am from Portland and their first thought is "like that Portlandia show."

[pdxMIKEpdx]

One of my biggest pet peeves are dumb-ass cyclists.

Here's an example.
Yesterday, I decided to visit a friend who lives in Eastmoreland.
I left my buddy's house about 5:30PM, at the height of the Woodstock Blvd "rush hour".
As I was going east on Woodstock in stop and go traffic, some guy in a recumbent bike decided to shoot off the sidewalk into the eastbound lane by Mickey Finn's.

This guy is in a recumbent bike, so it is very low to the ground.
Although he had a flag, it was only about three feet high, and faded yellow, so even that was barely visible.
You just plain couldn't see the guy unless you were very vigilant.

He decided that the best place to be was that narrow strip between moving traffic and the parked cars.
In the most congested part of Woodstock, during the busiest traffic time of the day.
As I watched him, I hoped that no one would open their car door on him.
The sidewalk was almost completely empty, by the way.

So he slooooowly peddled his bike down Woodstock.
He didn't even bother to match traffic speed, which was really slow to begin with.
People didn't see him until they were right on him.
Drivers were swerving around him.
Drivers would go very very slowly behind him as it was very dangerous, and he would wave them around him.
He got honked at.
He got yelled at.
The people in front of Putter's yelled at him to get off the road before he got killed.

He wasn't oblivious, he actually flipped off a couple of people and had an annoyed look on his face, like we were all inconveniencing him!

Do you think this guy caught a clue and got off of Woodstock?
NOPE.

Once I got past this idiot and got through the light, I looked in my rear view mirror and there he was, casually riding his bike down the center median without a care in the world.
I thought he was using it to turn off Woodstock, but no, he was using the center median as his own personal roadway.
Great way to get killed.

I don't know if this guy was ignorant, had a death wish, wanted everyone to look and see how cool he was on his recumbent bike, or what.

It's really sad that idiots like recumbent bike guy are such a small percentage of bike riders in Portland, yet one guy like that manages to give all the safe cyclists a bad reputation.

[oldtintype]

He was probably on Woodstock because the bike lane picks up going east. I do find recumbent riders irritating though.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

He was probably on Woodstock because the bike lane picks up going east.

Yeah I realize that.
The deal with that portion of Woodstock Blvd is that throughout the day, it can be pretty quiet.
During the morning and afternoon rush though, it is no place to "share the road".
Too narrow, too congested, and too dangerous, unless they are aggressive experienced cyclists who understand how to deal with traffic.
Between the casual riders, the students from Reed, and guys like recumbent bike guy, I'm surprised that nobody has been killed or injured yet.
I cringe when I see a family with little kids attempting to ride down Woodstock like it's a quiet little bike path...

I think it would be a great idea if they took east-west streets like Ramona or Reedway from 39th to 52nd, and made them a bicycle bypass around that part of Woodstock.

[SETabor]

Similar to the guy I saw riding down Powell during rush hour this morning. I usually see a guy (and they are always men) doing this about once a month. They always seem borderline homeless too. The majority of bicyclists commuting go down Clinton or Gladstone because they're not idiots.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Honestly, I have never seen anyone on a recumbent bike who wasn't looking around to see who was watching them, or making it a point to be seen.

[Leisesturm]

Hmmm. A casual assessment says more of these peeves are about driving issues than all others combined. That's a shame since there is more of a chance that some of the other things that irritate us might change or be modified in the future. The roads are here to stay though. They won't get more lanes, they won't get their speed limits changed, nothing about them is likely to change in the foreseeable future. Especially nothing about the way other drivers or cyclists use them. Maybe its me but that would really bug me. If I drove. I mean really. It must surely suck to have to do something every single day that brings on so much annoyance and pique.

One of the reasons I moved to Portland was to become a recumbent designer/builder. I've never ridden one, but I can see that they are the future. If not Portland as Ground Zero (in the U.S.). Where? Heads up. Not only are you going to see more recumbents as time goes on, more of them are going to be in a tricycle configuration. A growing number will have enclosures. They definitely wont fit in the gap between parked traffic and the left lane. So.... when one is in the traffic stream... 15mph for everybody... and you thought it was bad for them to hang out of the traffic lane and let traffic stream by at its own speed... hmmm... seems like one can't win for losing...

As a full time cyclist it peeves me, when drivers think I should not be allowed on this or that street. What if you, as a driver were not allowed on this or that street?! You'd lose your mind. What?! I can't drive down 21st street anymore?! I'm writing the Mayor, this is absolute insanity. Why should bicycles be relegated to the sidewalks? Pedestrians don't want bicycles there by the way. Am I to get from this that bicycles simply shouldn't exist? I don't know... I think the recumbent bicycles/human powered vehicle industry is going to explode, and soon. Time will tell.

H

[SETabor]

On several of the designated bike path streets, there are traffic calming things. Not just roundabouts or speed bumps but intersections where bicycles and pedestrians can cross and continue on the street but cars have to turn and continue on a different route. I haven't written to the mayor saying I can't do what I want, I just reroute to another street. Kind of what I'm hoping bikes on heavily-trafficked, narrow-laned roads would do.

[Leisesturm]

Originally Posted by SETabor

On several of the designated bike path streets, there are traffic calming things. Not just roundabouts or speed bumps but intersections where bicycles and pedestrians can cross and continue on the street but cars have to turn and continue on a different route. I haven't written to the mayor saying I can't do what I want, I just reroute to another street. Kind of what I'm hoping bikes on heavily-trafficked, narrow-laned roads would do.

Personally, I am not one of those cyclists who needs coddling from motorists when I am in the street. If I am on a street with no bike lane I will automatically ride as far to the right as practical. Most vehcular cyclists call this riding in "the door zone" and are horrified by cyclists that do it. Thing is, the vehicle code is clear. Cyclists are to ride as far to the right as practical and drivers exiting vehicles are to check for oncoming traffic before opening their doors! A cyclist should not be closing in on a parked car at such a speed that he or she cannot stop should a door be flung open in their path. Traffic riding to the left of a cyclist in the door zone should pass! The cyclist is saying "please pass" by riding to the right of the traffic stream. Its annoying to have a car trailing you at 15mph wishing you weren't there. I don't know Portland well enough to know what alternate streets there may be that are a. wider or b. have designated bicycle lanes. It was a mistake to create this separate but equal culture where bicycles have their own streets and cars have all the rest. Mainly because it isn't equal. There will never be sufficient streets with dedicated bike lanes to get a cyclist to all reasonable destinations in Portland. A bicycle should be able to use ANY street a car can use with the possible exceptions of 1-5 or I-84. Anything else is fair game. Cars that get overly freaked by bicycles at close quarters are more of a problem than the bicycles are. They give excessive clearance to bikes, do not pass when it is possible to do so and wait minutes for bicycles to approach choke points instead of just pulling out... yes, cut the bicycle off... you don't think he see's you? You will be long gone by the time he gets to where you are currently waiting... impatiently at that. There are stretches of certain streets that I avoid in Hillsboro because I know of quieter alternatives that get me out of traffic. I live in Hillsboro, I know it well. In Portland, I'm relying on a GPS or Google Maps. I'm looking for the most straightforward journey, just like a driver is. That might put me on Woodlawn Blvd. or whatever street that was that is fast and dangerous. It shouldn't be... dangerous for me or for you. We can all share the road.

H