Good to read your story, Kat. We seriously consider locating to Oregon before we returned to Ithaca, and found much the same sensibility in Portland and Eugene. I rode a bicycle in Ithaca when I was in grad school but gave it up when roads here and then later in southern California got to be too dangerous for me. I think George and others have one thing right, which your observations in Eugene bear out: lots of people riding normalizes the experience for everyone.
Bethany Katherine Lieberknecht wrote: > Hi, > > We moved to Eugene, OR from Ithaca 10 months ago. I still lurk on the ST > listserv, and I've always meant to write a little bit about Eugene when > the topic of cycling and Ithaca comes up. Living in Eugene has really > normalized cycling-- as a method of commuting to work and to errands and > events-- for me. > > Cyclists here definitely have more company than in Ithaca. Something > like 6 percent of people in Eugene/Springfield area bike to work > (population around 340,000). Eugene has a network of bike/walk paths, > but also bike lanes on many major streets. Until a few weeks ago, we > rented a house here that happened to be on the street with a well-used > bike lane that connects one of the major bike paths from a residential > area to the downtown and campus areas. I felt like I lived in > Amsterdam-- when I looked outside our window, I usually saw 15-20 bikes > for every car. There is literally a bicycle rush hour, when it almost > looked like a Critical Mass event, except it was just people biking home > after work. Some mornings, when I was awake before the sun was up, in > the darkness I would see dozens of bicycle lights passing by my > window-- like little fairies floating by. > > One of the things I've enjoyed the most is seeing the diversity of > bicycles used-- regular bikes, tandem bikes, bikes with cart-like > trailers for young kids (and sometimes dogs), adult bikes with partial > kid bikes attached like a tandem bike, James Bond-esque bikes that fold > up into little suitcases so that you can carry them into your office or > onto the train, recumbent bikes, etc.. Last year, when Eugene has their > Eugene Celebration parade (similar to Ithaca Fest), the City Council > rode through the parade in a series of bicycles made for six-- designed > so that the seats face each other in a circle (not a realistic commuting > option, I know, but fun to see, nonetheless). > > The University of Oregon campus has thousands of bicycle parking spots > (the ones with roofs are coveted during the rainy winter weather), and > many of the downtown businesses have ample bicycle parking, too. Rob > went (biked) to a concert last night, held outside at a park next to the > river, and reported that there were more bicycles than cars in the > parking area. > > Of course, compared with Ithaca, Eugene has more housing in the flats > (people live in the hills here, too, but there are lots of neighborhoods > in the river valley area). The weather is milder. Traffic calming on the > streets that have been designated major bike routes through the city > helps; so do the bike paths, especially, I imagine, for those not > comfortable bicycling in traffic (for instance, now that my youngest > child is sitting up, we're ready to take our first > everyone-in-the-family bike ride, with both kids in the bike trailer, > but I think we'll start on the bike path). > > And, of course, there is massive room for improvement. Both Rob and I > have dealt with tailgating, cursing car drivers behind us. Even worse, > one Saturday morning, we heard a thump and a scream-- a driver of a car > didn't see a bicyclist and crashed into her in the intersection just > down the street from our house. The bicyclist suffered some bruises, but > fortunately she wasn't seriously injured. She was wearing a helmet, and > the car driver was going pretty slowly because she had just stopped at a > stop sign. But, a few weeks ago in Eugene, a car driver hit a cyclist > who was turning left. The cyclist died. The cyclist wasn't wearing a > helmet, but it sounds as if he would have suffered major, if not deadly, > injuries, even with a helmet. > > I don't know the "birth story" of how Eugene became so bike friendly > (although I'm sure someone on this listserv might), so my point here is > not to prescribe for Ithaca-- it's just to paint a picture of what it's > like to live in a place where bicyclists have more of a presence than in > Ithaca. > > Happy summer, > > Kat Lieberknecht > > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please > visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
