Guerilla Public Service
Someone in Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, Washington has decided to do some guerilla public service. If you read on you will find a link to a an even more interesting story which details the origin of the phrase guerilla public service from Southern California and a guy named Ankrom who did a more sophisticated signage change.
Apparently the efforts of both governments (The City of Vancouver tried to improve bicycling signage and was nixed by the Washington Department of Transportation) and citizens was finally heeded by the Oregon Department of Transportation and is adding better signage to get bikers across the I-5 bridge.
Would CalTrans fixed its highway signs without the GPS of Ankrom? Would ODOT have ignored the bike issue at I-5 without the citizen signage? My guess is: no. What makes it worse is that there are ways to request changes in signage but it is so steeped in bureaucracy as to be insurmountable.
If you want to do it right, you gotta do it yourself.
Actually, Ankrom did do it right: he read-up on the regulations and made a, by-the-book, sign that CalTrans didn't even notice until years later. The mysterious signage person in Portland/Vancouver didn't do it "right" by the standards, yet apparently helped some bicyclists.
More at the core of this latest GPS goes beyond what can be solved by adding signage, but the activism helps spur the discussion: bicycle commuting is an after-thought in retrofitting current transportation systems. One would hope it is part of the planning in new construction and also not removed because it is deemed "extra."
The Republicans in Washington, D.C. will have you believe that bicycle paths are not where federal funds should go. Certainly creating a bike path where there are no bicyclists and no potential for bicyclists seems like a waste. Yet, in areas like Portland where people carry cargo, passengers and themselves for miles...and there are many bicyclists...bike transportation systems are important. The dollars spent in what is the most efficient transportation mode (see Scientific American) for routes, signage and associated construction is far less than what has to be spent for roads designed for truck-trailer-rigs.
Today in Portland Marisa and I saw many bicyclists in downtown Portland, near the Rose Quarter and in Jantzen Beach. These were not simply people riding around for recreation, these were people trying to get from point to point. One bicycle had a smart light weight trailer. Others had baskets. Each bicyclist wore a helmet and some had special clothing. All stayed in and used bicycle lanes when they existed.
There is no downside getting more people on the road with bicycles when those people follow the rules and the bike routes are safe and well-marked. The energy expended comes from human food...food purchased often locally and could be food grown locally.
Certainly there is a limit to what bicyclists can carry and for what distance, but the adaptability of the bicycle is quite amazing. If everyone used a bicycle for what a bicycle could be used to do we wouldn't hear about traffic jams, air pollution or energy shortages. Most likely we would also have a more healthy population and end up lowering health care costs over a period of, say, a half-century.
So, let's not forget what drove someone to do guerilla public service. It was not done for fun but out of frustration with a world that still clings to its gasoline driven economy. The fact is, in Portland and other areas, a bicycle economy is more and more viable and not to be scorned, in fact should be praised and encouraged.
Apparently the efforts of both governments (The City of Vancouver tried to improve bicycling signage and was nixed by the Washington Department of Transportation) and citizens was finally heeded by the Oregon Department of Transportation and is adding better signage to get bikers across the I-5 bridge.
Would CalTrans fixed its highway signs without the GPS of Ankrom? Would ODOT have ignored the bike issue at I-5 without the citizen signage? My guess is: no. What makes it worse is that there are ways to request changes in signage but it is so steeped in bureaucracy as to be insurmountable.
If you want to do it right, you gotta do it yourself.
Actually, Ankrom did do it right: he read-up on the regulations and made a, by-the-book, sign that CalTrans didn't even notice until years later. The mysterious signage person in Portland/Vancouver didn't do it "right" by the standards, yet apparently helped some bicyclists.
More at the core of this latest GPS goes beyond what can be solved by adding signage, but the activism helps spur the discussion: bicycle commuting is an after-thought in retrofitting current transportation systems. One would hope it is part of the planning in new construction and also not removed because it is deemed "extra."
The Republicans in Washington, D.C. will have you believe that bicycle paths are not where federal funds should go. Certainly creating a bike path where there are no bicyclists and no potential for bicyclists seems like a waste. Yet, in areas like Portland where people carry cargo, passengers and themselves for miles...and there are many bicyclists...bike transportation systems are important. The dollars spent in what is the most efficient transportation mode (see Scientific American) for routes, signage and associated construction is far less than what has to be spent for roads designed for truck-trailer-rigs.
Today in Portland Marisa and I saw many bicyclists in downtown Portland, near the Rose Quarter and in Jantzen Beach. These were not simply people riding around for recreation, these were people trying to get from point to point. One bicycle had a smart light weight trailer. Others had baskets. Each bicyclist wore a helmet and some had special clothing. All stayed in and used bicycle lanes when they existed.
There is no downside getting more people on the road with bicycles when those people follow the rules and the bike routes are safe and well-marked. The energy expended comes from human food...food purchased often locally and could be food grown locally.
Certainly there is a limit to what bicyclists can carry and for what distance, but the adaptability of the bicycle is quite amazing. If everyone used a bicycle for what a bicycle could be used to do we wouldn't hear about traffic jams, air pollution or energy shortages. Most likely we would also have a more healthy population and end up lowering health care costs over a period of, say, a half-century.
So, let's not forget what drove someone to do guerilla public service. It was not done for fun but out of frustration with a world that still clings to its gasoline driven economy. The fact is, in Portland and other areas, a bicycle economy is more and more viable and not to be scorned, in fact should be praised and encouraged.