Ok, ok - I know it's been about two years and none of you believe that I am still here. Well, I am - kind of. I have been doing some transportation history work, but not so much to keep regular postings flowing.
That said, I've got some links to articles I've written for the Oregon Encyclopedia Project and for the Oregon Historical Quarterly. The Encyclopedia Project is definitely worth checking out. There are hundreds of articles spanning all of Oregon's history. There is an entire subcategory on "transportation and communication."
In the Oregon Encyclopedia Project I have three short pieces on the history of the Springwater Corridor, Bridge Pedal, and Critical Mass.
In the OHQ I have a long piece on the history of the Crooked River, mainly twentieth century.
Links and Updates
I haven't had much (any) time to work on Portland's transportation history, but luckily some others have.
Jonathan over at www.bikeportland.org has a great post on Oregon's first attempt at changing stop sign laws for cyclists. Find it here.
For anyone who is interested in the on-going Portland Bike History project, you can download a draft report that I am in the midst of updating with the help of folks at PDOT. (There is also a draft appendix you can download.)
I do have one mostly finished project. The bike history database of articles is nearly complete. We are still working on filling in some of the gaps where it seems that research is missing. So I'll probably be uploading another article database in a couple of months with even more data. Unbelievably, we found over 2,000 articles in major media outlets on cycling in Portland since 1970. And there is still more to come...
Jonathan over at www.bikeportland.org has a great post on Oregon's first attempt at changing stop sign laws for cyclists. Find it here.
For anyone who is interested in the on-going Portland Bike History project, you can download a draft report that I am in the midst of updating with the help of folks at PDOT. (There is also a draft appendix you can download.)
I do have one mostly finished project. The bike history database of articles is nearly complete. We are still working on filling in some of the gaps where it seems that research is missing. So I'll probably be uploading another article database in a couple of months with even more data. Unbelievably, we found over 2,000 articles in major media outlets on cycling in Portland since 1970. And there is still more to come...
Some links and works in progress
In the past couple of weeks I've found a couple of interesting sites worth checking out.
http://tinyurl.com/2a7fk6 - An Oregonian link with articles on good recreational rides around town. This, of course, is not really history but I thought it noteworthy that the O used to have a weekly column dedicated to recreational riding that no longer exists.
http://tinyurl.com/28azd9 - The Place of Bicycle Transportation in Modern Industrialized Societies
http://www.quotegarden.com/bicycling.html - Good quotes from famous people on biking. There is also a book out there called The Quotable Cyclist with lots of good ones. My favorite is Susan B. Anthony's homage to women on bikes.
As for work in progress...I am still working on the Historic Streetcar paper, which I hope to post here soon (no promises this time, since a month ago I thought I'd have it up in no time). The Bicycle History Capstone Project will definitely be done by the end of June. The students are hard at work filling in some missing links from last term's project and wrapping it up in a nice little package. The amount of data they've found is impressive - there will probably be close to 1,500 articles about cycling in Portland from 1971- 2006, all from Portland-focused media. In addition, I am working on trascribing some of the fantastic oral history interviews the students did last term. Its a laborious, time-consuming process. Let me know if you enjoy that kind of unpaid work, I've got about 8 hours of talking that needs to be transcribed...
Lastly, my hope is to take the work that the Capstone students have done and write an article for a historical journal (such as the Oregon Historical Quarterly) on bicycling in Portland from 1971 - 2006. Its a long way from here to there, but I think there is enough primary data and interest to write a good history. We all know, of course, that its a great story already!
http://tinyurl.com/2a7fk6 - An Oregonian link with articles on good recreational rides around town. This, of course, is not really history but I thought it noteworthy that the O used to have a weekly column dedicated to recreational riding that no longer exists.
http://tinyurl.com/28azd9 - The Place of Bicycle Transportation in Modern Industrialized Societies
http://www.quotegarden.com/bicycling.html - Good quotes from famous people on biking. There is also a book out there called The Quotable Cyclist with lots of good ones. My favorite is Susan B. Anthony's homage to women on bikes.
As for work in progress...I am still working on the Historic Streetcar paper, which I hope to post here soon (no promises this time, since a month ago I thought I'd have it up in no time). The Bicycle History Capstone Project will definitely be done by the end of June. The students are hard at work filling in some missing links from last term's project and wrapping it up in a nice little package. The amount of data they've found is impressive - there will probably be close to 1,500 articles about cycling in Portland from 1971- 2006, all from Portland-focused media. In addition, I am working on trascribing some of the fantastic oral history interviews the students did last term. Its a laborious, time-consuming process. Let me know if you enjoy that kind of unpaid work, I've got about 8 hours of talking that needs to be transcribed...
Lastly, my hope is to take the work that the Capstone students have done and write an article for a historical journal (such as the Oregon Historical Quarterly) on bicycling in Portland from 1971 - 2006. Its a long way from here to there, but I think there is enough primary data and interest to write a good history. We all know, of course, that its a great story already!
It's only the river, its only the river
Although it's been a while since I've posted anything new, I assure you I have been hard at work. I will have posts on two projects in the next weeks, documenting historic streetcar development and Portland bicycle history, respectively.
In the meantime, I was hard at work applying the finishing touches to an article on the Crooked River in Central Oregon that I have submitted to the Oregon Historical Quarterly. Its not transportation related, so I'll spare you the details (hopefully, you can read it in about six months - give or take - in the OHQ).
Here is a little sneak peak of the streetcar post. (pdf)
And here is one on Portland Bike history. (pdf)
In the meantime, I was hard at work applying the finishing touches to an article on the Crooked River in Central Oregon that I have submitted to the Oregon Historical Quarterly. Its not transportation related, so I'll spare you the details (hopefully, you can read it in about six months - give or take - in the OHQ).
Here is a little sneak peak of the streetcar post. (pdf)
And here is one on Portland Bike history. (pdf)
The Portland Historic Streetcar Project
Since my last post on Portland's historic streetcar network, I've been hard at work re-creating the network on Portland's current street grid. The map is now done and the spatial analysis can begin. We will be asking if the city's urban development, specifically residential and commercial density as measured by the creation of new tax lots, was impacted significantly by the implementation of the streetcar.
From the looks of our preliminary data, the majority of new tax lots in the decades between 1880 and 1900 were within close proximity (1/4 mile or less) to new streetcar lines. We will continue to look at the entire 20th century, as well. Where will we find the majority of the new tax lots (i.e. development) from 1950, when the last streetcars were decommissioned, to 1985, when the Blue Line Max came on-line? East Portland, around 205? West Portland on the border of Beaverton? Since we are only looking at the City of Portland, we won't get into suburban development.
In the last six weeks I have learned a lot about the old streetcar system, but there is a ton of missing information. As far as I can tell John Labbe's Fares Please! Those Portland Trolley Years and Richard Thompson's website and book are the only sources out there. Some of you posted questions about streetcar routes through your part of town. The map my project partner and I developed will answer some of your questions, but not all. Unfortunately, it is not complete. Some of the inter-urban raillines, like the Springwater, West Portland (up to Hillsdale), and Oregon Electric (out to Multnomah Village) are missing. The biggest challenge for us centered on these particular raillines routes - for the most part they did not use streets, which posed a significant challenge to draw accurately. The Springwater would have been the easiest to draw since it followed the current trail alingment, but we didn't want to only look at one inter-urban line and not include the others.
So we are left with a map that documents as many on-street raillines that served the City of Portland from 1880-1950 that I could find and verify. I'll publish the map and our analytical report on the blog. Keep an eye open...
From the looks of our preliminary data, the majority of new tax lots in the decades between 1880 and 1900 were within close proximity (1/4 mile or less) to new streetcar lines. We will continue to look at the entire 20th century, as well. Where will we find the majority of the new tax lots (i.e. development) from 1950, when the last streetcars were decommissioned, to 1985, when the Blue Line Max came on-line? East Portland, around 205? West Portland on the border of Beaverton? Since we are only looking at the City of Portland, we won't get into suburban development.
In the last six weeks I have learned a lot about the old streetcar system, but there is a ton of missing information. As far as I can tell John Labbe's Fares Please! Those Portland Trolley Years and Richard Thompson's website and book are the only sources out there. Some of you posted questions about streetcar routes through your part of town. The map my project partner and I developed will answer some of your questions, but not all. Unfortunately, it is not complete. Some of the inter-urban raillines, like the Springwater, West Portland (up to Hillsdale), and Oregon Electric (out to Multnomah Village) are missing. The biggest challenge for us centered on these particular raillines routes - for the most part they did not use streets, which posed a significant challenge to draw accurately. The Springwater would have been the easiest to draw since it followed the current trail alingment, but we didn't want to only look at one inter-urban line and not include the others.
So we are left with a map that documents as many on-street raillines that served the City of Portland from 1880-1950 that I could find and verify. I'll publish the map and our analytical report on the blog. Keep an eye open...
Bike History in Amsterdam
I know, I know - this is a blog about Portland's history not Amsterdam's, but as I was biking up Highway 30 from Northwest to the St. John's Bridge I started to think about our city's self-congratulatory stance on the bicycling infrastructure.
We undoubtedly have come a long way in building a comprehensive bike network since 1990 (if you want some statistics to prove our development, click here), but we have a long, long way to go. For example, our bikeway network includes miles of bike lanes along Highway 30 from NE 11th to NE 178th and many more miles on the west side, from Northwest Portland to Linnton and beyond. Unfortunately, these are not useful or realistic bikeways; they are dangerous, inaccessbile, and completely marginalized. Now I know that when the city was getting the bike program and master plan developed they looked to streets that could easily accomodate bike lanes without signficantly impacting automobile traffic. So roads like Killingsworth in North Portland (also known as Portland Highway or Highway 30) with a wide right-of-way we're easily retrofitted with four-foot wide bike lanes on either side. I think that was a wise strategy then, but now we need to revisit those decisions in light of what we know about what really gets people on bikes and what makes for a safe bikeway. The fact is, Portland has largely built its bicycling infrastructure on non-controversial, inexpensive projects that squeeze bike facilities into current right-of-ways without inconveniencing drivers.
Which brings me to Amsterdam.
I know very little about Amsterdam's, and the Netherlands' in general, transportation history. After the Oil Crisis in the 1970s, the federal government chose to implement a national program to encourage bicycling. I am also marginally familiar with the cultural, topographic, spatial, architectural, and urban design features that help make Amsterdam and the Netherlands more amenable to biking. Still, what bike facilities existed in Amsterdam when they started their bike program in earnest? How did they develop their bike network? When, if ever, were the difficult decisions made?
Portland often looks to Amsterdam as both a goal and an example for biking (see these Oregonian articles by Jeff Mapes for more information). If we are to learn anything from their current world-class bike facilities, we ought to know something about the development of those facilities. If Portland really wants to grow beyond that 5% mode share mark, we're going to have to make tough decisions about our bicycling facilities.
We undoubtedly have come a long way in building a comprehensive bike network since 1990 (if you want some statistics to prove our development, click here), but we have a long, long way to go. For example, our bikeway network includes miles of bike lanes along Highway 30 from NE 11th to NE 178th and many more miles on the west side, from Northwest Portland to Linnton and beyond. Unfortunately, these are not useful or realistic bikeways; they are dangerous, inaccessbile, and completely marginalized. Now I know that when the city was getting the bike program and master plan developed they looked to streets that could easily accomodate bike lanes without signficantly impacting automobile traffic. So roads like Killingsworth in North Portland (also known as Portland Highway or Highway 30) with a wide right-of-way we're easily retrofitted with four-foot wide bike lanes on either side. I think that was a wise strategy then, but now we need to revisit those decisions in light of what we know about what really gets people on bikes and what makes for a safe bikeway. The fact is, Portland has largely built its bicycling infrastructure on non-controversial, inexpensive projects that squeeze bike facilities into current right-of-ways without inconveniencing drivers.
Which brings me to Amsterdam.
I know very little about Amsterdam's, and the Netherlands' in general, transportation history. After the Oil Crisis in the 1970s, the federal government chose to implement a national program to encourage bicycling. I am also marginally familiar with the cultural, topographic, spatial, architectural, and urban design features that help make Amsterdam and the Netherlands more amenable to biking. Still, what bike facilities existed in Amsterdam when they started their bike program in earnest? How did they develop their bike network? When, if ever, were the difficult decisions made?
Portland often looks to Amsterdam as both a goal and an example for biking (see these Oregonian articles by Jeff Mapes for more information). If we are to learn anything from their current world-class bike facilities, we ought to know something about the development of those facilities. If Portland really wants to grow beyond that 5% mode share mark, we're going to have to make tough decisions about our bicycling facilities.
Portland Bike History, 1972 - 2005
In my other life I am a capstone instructor at Portland State. Capstone courses are required for undergraduates and the class mainly focuses on a group project that serves a community organization. My course deals with bicycle and alternative transportation issues in Portland, and this term we are undertaking a historical research project for the Portland Office of Transportation. This is the first part of what I expect to be an in-depth research project.
The students are currently wrapping up their research and we'll present PDOT with a database cataloging every Oregonian article dealing with bicycle issues from 1972 - 2005 and a report analyzing our data. I'll make these items available on this site.
My hope is that this work will lead to documenting Portland's recent bicycle history. We are in a unique position right now. We have enough distance from some of the significant events of the recent past to think about them historically, but we are also close enough to actually learn from the people who played signficant roles. I am thinking about people like Mia Birk, Portland's former Bicycle Program Coordinator, who's work led to the city's dramatic increase in bicycle infrastructure (see my post on Portland Bike History for more information). Birk has many great stories about her time with the city, but if you want to hear them you have to register for her bike and ped planning course at PSU. I want those stories recorded and accessible to future historians who examine Portland's development and ask, "How did a relatively wet, hilly, and cold city get 25% of its residents on bikes?" (Hey, a historian can dream right?...)
The students are currently wrapping up their research and we'll present PDOT with a database cataloging every Oregonian article dealing with bicycle issues from 1972 - 2005 and a report analyzing our data. I'll make these items available on this site.
My hope is that this work will lead to documenting Portland's recent bicycle history. We are in a unique position right now. We have enough distance from some of the significant events of the recent past to think about them historically, but we are also close enough to actually learn from the people who played signficant roles. I am thinking about people like Mia Birk, Portland's former Bicycle Program Coordinator, who's work led to the city's dramatic increase in bicycle infrastructure (see my post on Portland Bike History for more information). Birk has many great stories about her time with the city, but if you want to hear them you have to register for her bike and ped planning course at PSU. I want those stories recorded and accessible to future historians who examine Portland's development and ask, "How did a relatively wet, hilly, and cold city get 25% of its residents on bikes?" (Hey, a historian can dream right?...)
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