(Photo by BikePortland.org)

The bike box is an intersection safety design to prevent bicycle/car collisions, especially those between drivers turning right and bicyclists going straight. It is a green box on the road with a white bicycle symbol inside. It includes green bicycle lanes approaching and leading from the box.

First Look At Portland’s New Bike Friendly Green Space

Treehugger takes the time counter George Will of Newsweek’s disbelief that Americans are willing to switch to bikes for commuting:

In fact, stats from the Transportation Alternatives say that there are two million bike commuters nationally. There are currently around 130 million total commuters, so that means we’re still doing better at bike commuting than Will’s 0.01 percent (IAC Transportation, in a 2008 report, suggested .38% of us, or 468,000 are bike commuters. Time for George F. Will to go out for a bike ride.

link: George Will is Just Plain Wrong…Here Are Five Cities Where More Than .01% Ride Bikes to Work : TreeHugger

That’s the problem with cycle commuting in this city: some trips are feasible, while others just plain aren’t. For example, from my home near Southgate, I find riding to Whyte Avenue is pleasant if I cut through the community of Allendale; the roads aren’t used much by cars, the lanes are wide, and there are few lights that interrupt the trek. It’s also easy to carry on north by using the High Level Bridge and zigzagging through the more quiet streets of downtown. My bike trip times are almost on par with driving for these destinations (especially if parking is factored in).

The article also features quotes from Robert Park, Claire Ellick (a city engineer with the Office of Sustainable Transportation) and Bikeology’s own Molly Turnbull.