‘Bike Lanes are White Lanes!’: The Social Implications of Urban Active

Transportation Planning in the Built Environment of Portland, OR

Lucy E. Roberts

Lewis & Clark College

Portland, Oregon

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts

Environmental Studies Program

Concentration: Maps as Instruments of Power

May 2014

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Abstract

This paper serves as an interrogation into how decisions regarding equity and opportunity

are made and whom the built environment is intended to serve. I situate my argument around the

bicycle, in an attempt to complicate the discussion of bicycles as a democratic and equalizing

tool of transportation. In the bike-friendly context of Portland, OR, a closer look is taken to

examine who is a part of the conversation regarding bicycle safety, infrastructural development,

and transit justice. What patterns do those in power exhibit when they make a decision that will

impact the community? Through a mixed-methodology approach, I evaluate effects of

gentrification on communities that have seen improved bicycle infrastructure from 1990-2010.

The results find that bicycle infrastructure tends to follow recently gentrified areas, due to elitist

bicycle culture, and the way in which infrastructure is designed, implemented and utilized.

Furthermore, affected communities will continue to be unhappy and left with feelings of

exclusivity, and planners will continue to be unaware of cultural differences and consequences of

bicycle infrastructure until these many differences are addressed during the planning process.

 

 

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List of Figures

FIGURE  1:  HISTORIC  ALBINA  NEIGHBORHOOD  IN  OREGON,  1993       7  

FIGURE  2:  POPULATION  PEOPLE  OF  COLOR,  2010   12  

FIGURE  3:  AFRICAN  AMERICAN  POPULATION,  2010   12  

FIGURE  4:  TRANSIT  ACCESS  BY  NEIGHBORHOOD,  2010   12  

FIGURE  5:  PORTLAND,  OREGON  BICYCLE  COMMUTE  MODE,  2006-­‐2010   13  

FIGURE  6:  BICYCLE  COMMUTE  MODE  FOR  PORTLAND,  OREGON,  2000   14  

FIGURE  7:  DEMOGRAPHIC  CHANGE  FROM  2000-­‐2010   15  

FIGURE  8:  PORTLAND  BICYCLE  COUNT  DATA,  2012   18  

FIGURE  9:  TRANSPORTATION  PRIORITIES,  2014   19  

FIGURE  10:  NORTH  WILLIAMS  AVENUE  IN  HISTORIC  ALBINA  NEIGHBORHOOD,  2014   20  

FIGURE  11:  DEMOGRAPHICS  OF  BICYCLISTS  NATION  WIDE,  2001-­‐2009   21  

FIGURE  12:  HISTORIC  AFRICAN  AMERICAN  SPACE  ON  N  WILLIAMS  AVENUE,  2012   23  

FIGURE  13:  N  WILLIAMS  AVE,  DESIGN  PLAN,  2014   26  

 

 

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Introduction Transportation enables access to all things in the built environment. The ease with which

the typical American is able to get to work, school, church, the grocery store and areas of

recreation is unique to the First-World, opportune-rich experience. Cities and states rely on

securing funding for roads to provide reliable, safe, and efficient routes that get people where

they need to go, each and every day. Transportation serves as an absolutely necessary means to

an end; thus affecting equity, opportunity and many vital aspects of our daily lives (Giuliano and

Hanson 2004). Transportation infrastructure should be accessible and equitable to all people

regardless of geography, class, ethnicity, gender, or ability (Litman 2002, Bullard and Johnson

1997). This is the premise of transportation justice.

The built environment of a city is planned and constructed in order to meet the needs of

its citizens. It is throughout the city planning and outreach processes that inequality and

discrimination can become institutionalized. Similarly, the construction and implementation of

infrastructure allows geographical injustices to become physically manifested. In transportation

infrastructure planning, the alleged notion is to push a city in the progressive direction of

inclusivity and accessibility, but poor planning and exclusivity throughout the process can result

in unintended social consequences (Arnold 2011, Lubitow and Miller 2013). This paper is

situated at the intersection of urban planning and social justice.

This paper serves as an interrogation into how decisions regarding equity and opportunity

are made and whom the built environment is intended to serve. I situate my argument around the

bicycle, in an attempt to complicate the discussion of bicycles as a democratic and equalizing

tool of transportation. In the bike-friendly context of Portland, OR, a closer look is taken to

examine who is a part of the conversation regarding bicycle safety, infrastructural development,

and transit justice. What patterns do those in power exhibit when they make a decision that will

impact the community? I am detangling what the promotion of bicycle safety communicates to

marginalized communities of the city. There is power and privilege in being able to choose to

ride and having the option of identifying as a “cyclist.” Is the city of Portland promoting cycling

infrastructure that benefits those who are already privileged riders or is cycling truly an

egalitarian form of transportation, open and accessible to all?

Improving bike infrastructure seems to be an equitable vision for the future. In this paper,

however, I argue the way in which this infrastructure is designed, implemented and utilized,

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along with Portland’s current bicycle culture has resulted in bicycle lanes communicating

gentrification and exclusivity to historically underserved Portlanders. Affected communities will

continue to be unhappy and left with feelings of exclusivity, and planners will continue to be

unaware of cultural differences and consequences of bicycle infrastructure until these many

differences are addressed before, during and after the planning process. I use a mixed-

methodology approach consisting of mapping to show geographic distribution of bike lanes; a

case study of north Williams Avenue in Portland to understand community reactions to city

imposed bike lane improvements; informational interviews with a variety of professionals

involved in active transportation; and analysis of surveys conducted by the city of Portland. This

essay begins with a broad discussion of transportation decisions nation wide, and then zooms in

on Portland, OR and situates the discussion around the bicycle and social implications of bicycle

infrastructure.

Exclusion in “Environmentalism”

This paper offers a critical stance on environmental initiatives that attempt to speak for

people and promote solutions that claim to create a more just, sustainable world. Building off

arguments from environmental justice, geographic justice, and transportation justice (Arnold

2011, Bullard et al. 2004), this paper contributes to the discussion of what is at stake in urban

planning and policy concerning sustainable futures. The important question to ask over and over

again is, a sustainable future for whom (Harvey 2009)? I focus specifically on bicycle

infrastructure that is proposed and implemented by outsiders (such as city of Portland employees

or cyclists that are not from the area) in the community of Northeast Portland. I am situating this

research in Portland because the city has been renowned for sustainable initiatives and is known

as America’s bike capital, but social disparities remain a big issue (Lubitow and Miller 2013).

Lubitow and Miller argue that urban sustainability policy strongly favors green infrastructural

developments, and other high-visibility projects, marginalizing notions of inclusion, equity, and

justice in the process (2013).

An Overview of Transportation Discrepancies and Politics Nation Wide “Who gets what, when, where, why and how much is not rocket science but political science.”1

Transport: “to carry, convey or remove from one place or person to another; to convey

across” (OED Online)2. Dissected down to its etymology, transportation serves as a way to get                                                                                                                1  Bullard  p.  5,  2004  

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people where they need to go. Whatever the destination- work, school, the grocery store, or a

place of recreation- transportation is one of the most important facets of social living in any

setting. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, Americans now

spend more than 100 hours per year commuting to the workplace (2005). Within the

transportation sector, citizens, city planners and governments are faced with a number of

problems to overcome. Transportation and mobility have political, gendered, racial and classist

aspects (Agyeman 2012, Furness 2010, Hoffman 2013). This section serves to review

transportation discrepancies in American cities in order to provide an appropriate context to

understand what is currently going on in Portland, OR.

Zach Furness, in One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility situates the

reader within the political, cultural and socioeconomic discussion of mobility and the

transportation sector in the United States. By doing so, his book illustrates “why technology is

never neutral, space is never empty and mobility is never disconnected from power” (Furness

2010 p. 11). Transportation systems are not organic systems that just appear when needed. City,

state and federal officials plan transit routes, and intentionally or not, these transportation

planners often favor certain types of travelers (i.e. automobile drivers), leading to a systematic

exclusion of other types of travelers (i.e. bus riders and cyclists).

There are also race and class dimensions to transportation decisions. In the book,

Highway Robbery, Bullard et al. (2004) elaborate on the detrimental effects poor transportation

decisions made by those in power can have on communities of color and low-income areas. The

decisions to build interstates through areas with high density of communities of color led to

displacement and traumatic interactions with city planners. These decisions and policies “have

also aided, and in some cases subsidized, racial, economic, and environmental inequities as

evidenced by the segregated housing and spatial layout of our central cities and suburbs”

(Bullard, Johnson, Torres 2004 p.3). Transportation equity works to ensure minority and low

income populations are not disproportionately affected by consequences, intended or not, of

transit planning processes. Infrastructure communicates power and symbolizes government

                                                                                                               2  "transport, v.". OED Online. December 2013. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/205017 (accessed February 18, 2014).

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intervention, since transportation infrastructure is funded and carried out by those in power. It is

in this way that infrastructure decisions are inherently political (Schmitt 2011).

Scars on the Ground: The Interstate Era and Destruction of Communities of Color

During the same time frame in which the Montgomery Bus Boycott and civil rights

activists were working to change the future of transportation segregation (King 1958), federal

funds were filtered into the creation of the interstate highway system that would systematically

destroy neighborhoods of color and low-income, furthering segregation in cities in the United

States and paving the way for injustices in the built environment for years to come (Vale and

Vale 1983).

The national interstate highway system, a 42,500-mile network, was created and

promoted during the Interstate Era of America (1956-1991). The goal of the project was to

provide access from the suburbs to the central business districts in a systematic and efficient

fashion, and this had the consequence of changing the physical and racial landscape of cities

(Mohl 2002). The patterns that exist for the placement of each interstate tell an unsettling story

of the destruction of vibrant minority and low-income communities, further decreasing the

investment and access to resources these areas received. Specifically, cities such as St. Paul, MN;

Detroit, MI; Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA and Portland, OR suffered as a result of the passing of

the Federal Highway Act in 1956.

The WNYC and Transportation Nation podcast Back of the Bus tells the story of what

Black communities endured from the destruction of the Interstate Era. In the podcast, Director of

the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota Law School

Myron Orfield says, “The highway building would often plunge through the poor black

neighborhoods of cities because they were the path of least resistance” (2013, 11:17). Urban

planners were securing the needs of middle class people with more political power than the

Black community (Bernstein et al. 2013).

Interstate Era policies were created under the belief that freeway development would help

people navigate the cities faster and more efficiently. This provided a “one size fits all” solution

to a problem that does not fall into such categories. This blanket approach of solving a

transportation problem had many severe unintended consequences on the 30% of Americans that

did not use cars to get around (Jakowitsch and Ernst 2004). The construction of these roadways

physically constructed a barrier to mobility for populations living in proximity to the freeways

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and those who travel by other means (public transit or pedestrian). The freeways constructed in

these cities created a geographic disparity, displacing the communities that once resided in the

areas of construction. Construction destroyed certain neighborhoods and isolated others, creating

physical ghettos (Kuntsler 1993).

The construction of the freeway changed the way American society views and values the

landscape (Vale and Vale 1983). The freeway system supports a separation of distance from the

workplace and home. Psychologically, the freeway development made traveling long distances

more accessible, and the commuting lifestyle followed and was encouraged by this (Kauffman

2004). The high speeds at which drivers were travelling also resulted in less attention paid to the

surrounding geography and, arguably, a loss of land ethic.

Much of the freeway development was federally funded and implemented. Areas of low-

income and minority make up were deemed “blighted” and chosen for placement of interstate

development (Mohl 2002). The citing of interstates through marginalized communities is exactly

what environmental justice aims to fight. Environmental justice focuses on disparities such as

this one in the built environment, and when applied in this paper, supports the argument that low

income and minority communities disproportionately live in areas with lower rates of safe,

accessible and affordable transportation options. The correlation between freeway construction

during the Interstate Era and destruction of low income and communities of color was no

coincidence.

The development of the freeway system was created, funded, and supported by

companies and people in positions of power on the federal level with clear economic motivations

and known benefits from the project, while many people harmed by the destruction of their

communities were excluded from the conversation. This example of exclusion in the planning

process serves to surface fundamental questions and issues that arise on the larger scale of the

built urban environment. The following section will lay out planning disparities in the history of

Portland, Oregon.

History of Portland and Urban Renewal Portland, Oregon is the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, with a current

population of 583,776, according to 2010 census data. The census reported the city as

76.1% White, 7.1% Asian, 6.3% Black or African American, and 1% Native American. Portland

has hilly terrain in certain areas, specifically southwest and northwest Portland. The city was

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originally developed around the logging industry, hence the colloquial reference to Portland as

“stumptown.” Agriculture and timber production were protected from city sprawl by the creation

of the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in 1979.3 The UGB has been central to promoting density

and efficiency of the city center. Portland has a brilliant history of urban planning; however, a

different history lives below the surface and plays a large role in the segregation of the city.

The racial history of Oregon is one of segregation and exclusivity. When Oregon was

developing into statehood, race played a central role in the debate. In November 1857, the

Oregon Territory voted in favor of a new constitution that eventually made its way to the U.S.

Congress. In this new constitution, one clause excluded free Blacks from living in the state in a

series of exclusion laws. The exclusion laws remained in the Oregon Constitution until 1926,

setting the scene for the racial battles the state has been furiously engaged in since conception4.

The history of the state strongly impacted the segregation of the city of Portland. Contemporary

Portland has a Black population of 6.3%, according to the 2010 census, and is called the whitest

city in America. The overwhelming white majority and racial history is being explored in the

upcoming documentary, Whitelandia (Smith 2014).

When African-Americans began settling in Portland in the 1940s, these communities

came to work in the construction and railroad sector. Black Portlanders have historically been

geographically segregated from the white community, with Black communities becoming

established in north and northeast Portland. The Black workers generally settled in the cities of

Vanport and Albina- two cities that no longer exist in present day Portland. The flood of 1948

wiped out Vanport; the disappearance of the city of Albina involved more complex processes.

Figure 1 shows where the Albina boundaries used to be.

                                                                                                               3  http://www.oregon.gov/LCD/Pages/goals.aspx  4  http://www.ohs.org/education/history-­‐minutes-­‐oregons-­‐exclusion-­‐laws.cfm  

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 Figure  1  Map  of  historic  Albina  neighborhood  in  Oregon

Urban Renewal, famously deemed “negro removal” in the 1960s by James Baldwin

(Orlando and Noland Walker 2004), was initiated by the federal government, and began

reclaiming space and reinvesting in areas the city deemed as “blighted.” Malicious actions from

city planners destroyed and segregated the Black and low-income community in Portland. It was

the coupling of Urban Renewal and highway development that led to the displacement of

hundreds of residents in the historically black and low income Albina neighborhood. In 1956,

476 homes were destroyed in order to make room for the construction of the Memorial

Coliseum. Freeway construction demolished an additional several hundred housing units, forcing

residents to relocate. This resulted in further geographic disparities, as the Black community of

Albina moved to the northeastern fringe area of Portland, where property values were affordable.

(Gibson 2007). Redlining practices also denied or charged more for housing, banking, and

insurance based on racial discrimination (Sagawa 2000), and this prevented much of the Black

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population from living in Albina. The construction of new buildings such as the Memorial

Coliseum, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center and Interstate 5 (Gibson 2007) literally tore through

a community that had vibrant culture, leaving no more than a scar on the ground over what used

to be.

The lack of inclusion of Albina residents in the construction process highlights the race

and income disparities in urban planning that have shaped transportation decisions throughout

the decades, and haunts present day planning discussions (Hoffman 2013). The construction of

the highway was focused on serving a certain demographic- suburbanites who drive cars- but the

location in which the construction took place most certainly did not consist of the demographic it

was intended to serve. This placed the true cost of highway construction such as pollution, noise,

environmental degradation and dangerous speeding cars in an area of little political power, low

income, and high percentage (75-80%) of black residents (Gibson 2007).

Portland, OR has an extreme history of city-instigated discrimination, evidenced by

archival documents from the Portland Development Commission, as cited in Gibson’s Bleeding

Albina (2007). Portland’s application for federal Urban Renewal funds argues that Portland’s site

of “urban blight” is in the Albina area. The application cited reasons for freeway construction in

this location because the area “contains the highest concentration of low-income families and

experiences the highest rate of crime in the City of Portland…The area contains a high

percentage of substandard housing and a high rate of unemployment” (Portland Development

Commission 1966:17).

The history of Albina highlights detrimental consequences of poor and malicious

planning practices from the city. Disparities of the built environment do not exist solely because

of federally funded developments; even in the small city of Portland, lack of inclusion in the

planning conversation clearly has consequences. The destruction of the predominantly Black

Albina neighborhood provides an explanation as to why the community of northeast Portland

may see infrastructure as more than physical changes in an area; infrastructure and spatial

changes to the area now have historically rooted symbolic meanings and struggles over

governance and political power.

The Role of the Bicycle in Portland, OR

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In 2012, Portland was declared America’s Number One Bicycling City (Donahue 2012).

The bicycle is more than a children’s toy in Portland; here, the bicycle is a “tool.”5 People

identify as cyclists, and riding a bike means a lot more than using a two-wheeled machine to get

around. Certain bicycles can serve as a status symbol; other bicycles serve as vehicles for

families that are car-free; for some people in Portland, the bicycle industry is how they make a

living. Reasons for riding are many (Wray 2008, Geller 2013) and Portlanders that are loud and

proud of their cycling reputation won’t hold back when asked why they ride (Griffin-Valade

2013). Bicycling as a form of transportation reduces reliance on fossil fuels, creates safer and

healthier communities, slows traffic, and empowers individuals to be their own transportation.

Portland boasts a cycling narrative of empowerment, inclusivity and community. This paper will

now challenge mainstream views of the bicycle and examine which communities are left behind

or systematically ignored in cycling infrastructure policy and the conversations regarding a push

for a bike friendly city.

While bicycles can serve as tools of empowerment, and the history of biking supports this

claim6, there is a severe divide in the Portland community between who is served by bike

infrastructure and who remains underserved. Lack of bicycle infrastructure is a huge reason

people do not bike (Dill 2003, Letherby and Reynolds 2009, Rodrigues 2014). Other common

barriers to cycling include weather, terrain or topography, required dress for work or school,

safety and security (Steinbach et al. 2011). The barriers to cycling vary depending on gender,

race, ethnicity, age, and location, and each community has different barriers they come across

(Understanding Barriers to Bicycling 2012). This multiplicity of barriers to bicycling in Portland

requires a various range of planning efforts and tactics.

 Methods and Results The nature of this topic is highly interdisciplinary. Therefore, in order to collect adequate

and appropriate data I used 4 methods;

1) I analyzed maps to understand the changes Portland has seen in the past 2 decades, and

I performed a geographic analysis to investigate if there is a correlation between citing of bicycle

lanes and demographics, income, or political power.                                                                                                                5  The  phrase,  “the  bicycle  is  a  tool”  was  something  I  commonly  heard  in  the  interviews  I  conducted.    6  Susan  B.  Anthony,  famous  women’s  suffragist,  was  quoted  in  1896  as  saying  "I  think  [the  bicycle]  has  done  more  to  emancipate  women  than  anything  else  in  the  world."

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2) I conducted a series of 8 semi-formal, hour-long informational interviews with

professionals in the active transportation sector. The goals of the interviews were to gain insight

into initiatives of Portland’s transportation and bicycle networks, and uncover where the gaps lie

(see Appendix A for full list of interviewees). The interviews were classified by type; biking and

equity, bicycle advocacy, and bicycle planning and community engagement. The demographic

range of professionals I conducted interviews with was fairly diverse; with one quarter of the

people I interviewed identifying with an ethnicity other than white, almost half identifying as

female, and ages ranging from late twenties to early fifties.

3) I analyzed the phone transportation priorities survey conducted by the city of Portland

Bureau of Transportation in 2014, and the City of Portland Bike Count Data for 2012, in order to

gather information regarding residents’ priorities and patterns of cycling.

4) I analyzed the case study of the North Williams Traffic Operations Stakeholder

Advisory Committee to follow how the city of Portland changed the design of the bike

infrastructure after receiving input from the community during the planning process. I sorted

through meeting notes and reports documenting the progress of the N Williams Avenue bicycle

infrastructure improvements.

My data collection for this paper is directed at answering the following research

questions:

Where is bike infrastructure currently being installed? Who is and who is not being served?

How has this developed over time?

What are the motivations behind the city of Portland and urban planners in terms of bicycle

infrastructure? Who are the loudest voices in policy decisions regarding bike lanes and

boulevards? Who is being excluded from the conversation?

What are the effects of gentrification in these communities? What shifts have communities

seen from the improved bikeways?

Portland in the Present: An Analysis of Transportation Practices Today

Portland’s Black community has seen many changes since Urban Renewal in the 1950’s,

but has generally remained in the north and northeastern area of Portland, as shown in Figures 2-

4. Additionally, other minority communities reside on the margins of the UGB in Portland.

Unfortunately, the geographic segregation of minority communities has resulted in spatial

transportation disparities. These disparities may be a result of unintended consequences of urban

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transportation infrastructure planning. Planning that focuses on connecting people to the

downtown business center may inadvertently not devote enough resources to fringe areas of the

city, due to perceived lack of demand. Geographic inequity analysis addresses distribution of

transportation services, examining if one area is better served than another. Additionally, it

questions if outcomes- such as investments, infrastructure, and access to employment centers-

that favor one area over another are addressed in the planning process (Bullard 2004).

Figures 2 and 3 below show locations of populations of color and African American

population, respectively by percent of total population. In Figure 2, the darker areas demonstrate

a higher percentage of people of color. These darker areas are in East, North and Northeast

Portland. The city center is fairly light; denoting the population of color is 5%-15%. Figure 3

shows a similar pattern; with darker areas demonstrating a higher percentage of the African

American population. The darkest areas are North and Northeast Portland, and the city center

shows a population of .2%-3%. Figure 4 shows transit access by neighborhood, and the legend

highlights darker shaded areas having proximity of under ½ miles to transit. The darkest shaded

areas are within and around Portland’s city center. This demonstrates centralization of transit

access. Figures 2 and 3 show locations of populations of color and African American populations

within the city of Portland, and when compared to Figure 4; it seems that transit access is highest

in the city center and lowest in East and North Portland. In other words, Figure 4 shows

populations of color and African American populations having lower access to transit in their

neighborhoods because they are not located in proximity to the city center.

East Portland has suffered from severe cuts in bus service, as has North Portland (Rose

2012). The demographics of these areas are different than inner Southeast and the city center.

Inner southeast boasts fantastic public transit and prominent bicycle infrastructure, while poor

and unreliable bus service in East Portland is well hidden from the dominant Portland narrative.

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Figure  3  African  American  Population  in  2010;  Coalition  for  a  Livable  Future  

Figure  4  Transit  Access  by  Neighborhood  2010;  Coalition  for  a    Livable  Future;  Legend  shows  darker  areas  in  proximity  in  miles  to  transit  access  

Figure  2  Population  People  of  Color  2010;  Coalition  for  a  Livable  Future  

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Figure 5 below shows Portland’s bicycle commute mode, meaning number of bicycle

trips taken to and from work, split by census tract from 2006-2010. The maps show high density

of bicycle trips to and from work in downtown and inner Southeast Portland. The thick black

lines on the map denote existing bikeways, showing adequate bikeways surrounding downtown

and inner Southeast Portland; and inadequate bikeways out in East Portland. Bicycling patterns

appear to follow bikeway infrastructure. Figure 5 highlights a gap in bicycle infrastructure in

East Portland and North Portland, relative to Southeast Portland. Figures 2 and 3 show that East

Portland is a location with high percentage of populations of color, and North Portland is a

location with high percentage of African Americans.

Figure 5 From Portland Bicycle Count Report 2012; Darker shading denotes more bicycle commuters

Figure 6 below shows what bicycle infrastructure looked like in 2000, and the subsequent

bicycling patterns. Figure 6 compared with Figure 5 shows that within one decade; bikeway

infrastructure boomed and the percentage of people bicycling to work followed this boom.

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 Figure  6  Bicycle  Commute  Mode  for  Portland,  OR  in  2000,  and  Existing  Bikeways.  Source:  PBOT/  Bike  Portland.org

Figure 7 below shows neighborhoods that have seen a “demographic change” between

2000-2010. A demographic change is demarcated by the following: “tract experienced greater

increase than Portland as a whole for at least 3 of 4 factors: % white, % population 25+ with

bachelor’s degree, % homeowners, median household income OR Tract experienced greater

increase than Portland as a whole for both % white and % with bachelor’s degree.” Figure 7

shows demographic change in North, Northeast (previously Albina), Southwest, and areas of

Northwest Portland.

Figure 7, compared with Figures 5 and 6, shows a correlation between the increase of

bicycle infrastructure and related increase in commute mode from 2000-20010, and demographic

change from 2000-2010. It is unclear whether the bikeway infrastructure followed the

demographic change, or if the demographic change followed the bikeway infrastructure. Either

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way; bicycle infrastructure seems to have played a large role in the changes Northeast and North

Portland experienced between 2000-2010.

Interview Data Reactions to N Williams Ave. Planning Controversy

“If the city learned anything it is that they need to be aware of the impact of the

historically racist decisions the city has made regarding placement of transportation facilities,”

Kransky told me. He hopes the city will execute the planning process correctly from the start

next time; meaning embracing and understanding how transportation decisions can have

unintended consequences, and honest community engagement and legitimate community

decision making power must be held.

The final outcome of the N Williams planning committee, which is discussed later in this

paper, did incorporate community engagement and a community-based planning method. Tetteh

believes the city made the best decision for all stakeholders involved and the outcome of the

project was something completely different from the original plan.

Bringing Equity to the Bicycle Scene

I had many conversations about race and biking. Williams came to Portland in January

2014 from Long Beach, CA. She was well aware that she would join the very small sector of the

Figure  7  Demographic  Changes  from  2000-­2010.  From  City  of  Portland  Bureau  of  Planning  &  Sustainability  Gentrification  and  Displacement  Study  Maps  

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bicycle community members that identify as Black, but she also was aware of Portland’s

reputation as the “best bike city.” She came here to become a bicycle advocate, and to bring

equity to the discussion. She reflected that, yes, Portland is the whitest city in America, but

people of color still live here- and they have fallen through the cracks. Reasons for this include

inaccessible outreach because meetings are held in the middle of the day, lack of childcare

provision, and lack of transportation to and from community meetings. Williams believes that

community engagement is the key to involving areas that have been marginalized from the

bicycle infrastructure planning discussion. She does not believe bikes are only for white people

(herself being a Black woman that rides is proof), however, bicycle infrastructure is strongest in

white, affluent communities, so naturally bike lanes in these areas are inhabited by a majority of

white people.

Hoffman resonated a similar sentiment that bicycles tend to cater to a certain

demographic. She argues that there are lots of people from diverse backgrounds who bike- they

just bike in different ways than the dominating classes have been trained to see. In a sense,

women, children, immigrants and other marginalized communities may bike on side streets out

of safety and comfort concerns, meaning they are not utilizing the city supported bike lanes that

flow next to heavy traffic.

Tetteh similarly reflected on disparities between race and bicycling. He articulated the

goal of the Community Cycling Center, a bike shop located in Northeast Portland, as being to

help overcome barriers that prevent people from being able to choose to ride. The difference

between transit dependent communities and self-declared “car-free” communities is choice. The

choice to ride a bicycle to work revolves around one’s distance to work, hours of work, and

inherently one’s class and status in society.

Tetteh also brought attention to how the bicycle can symbolize different things to

different communities. In some countries, the bicycle symbolizes poverty; in others, the bicycle

signifies childhood. However, in Portland it often signifies privilege of opportunity- opportunity

to live in close proximity to work and have adequate attire to bike in all types of Portland

weather.

The Built Environment and Transportation

Forsberg discussed the city’s initiatives of “encouragement” programs, directed towards

people who do not consider bicycling as a form of transportation. He defined encouragement for

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people who are motivated and supportive of walking and biking, but do not yet participate in

active transportation because there is a barrier preventing them. The Portland Bureau of

Transportation is well aware of infrastructural disparities, and has future plans for extensive

biking infrastructure improvements.

Kransky discussed how funding presents a barrier for the city to extend the bicycle

infrastructure to every area. Funding is key to what gets support, and gaining state or federal

funding is challenging, and often comes with very specific regulations. He is a strong advocate

of neighborhood greenways because they do not cost as much and they are easily accessible for

neighborhoods, resulting in more attention and visibility brought to cycling. Kransky said cycle

tracks- bike lanes that are physically separated from moving traffic by parked cars- are harder to

sell politically because they tend to cater to a certain demographic; that is, people with a more

advanced riding style and regular riders.

Data Analysis from City of Portland Transportation Priorities Survey and Annual Bike

Count

City of Portland Bike Counts 2012 Bike counts conducted annually by the city of Portland are done at 7-9am and 4-6 pm,

between the months of June, July, August and September. Volunteers manually collect the data,

and information collected includes the gender of the cyclist and helmet use. This data is collected

during the rush “peak period”, but the 2012 Portland Bicycle Count Report does not explain why

these are the only hours under which the counting occurs. Some bridges and busy streets include

24-hour automated counts in order for the city to understand the ebb and flow of bicycle traffic

throughout the day. These automatic counters, however, do not collect information about gender

or helmet use. This data collection scheme prioritizes bicyclists that commute to work and work

traditional hours. Working on a 9-5 schedule has certain connotations as to the demographics of

cyclists that will be included on the count. For example, women who bike to the grocery store, or

with their children to school may not been counted during these counting hours. Additionally,

day laborers that start work at 5 am will be excluded from the counts.

The city of Portland uses the bike count data to quantify if bicycle usage is increasing

throughout the years. With limited time and resources, the City of Portland has to be efficient as

to how they count bikers, but the choices they are making do systematically exclude some

cyclists, as mentioned above. Nonetheless, the 2012 Portland Bicycle Count shows how

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significantly bike traffic has increased in North Portland. Figure 8 below shows how immensely

bicycle traffic has increased along the intersection of N Williams & Russell. There are now

almost 4,000 daily bicycle trips past this intersection.

 Figure  8  Portland  Bicycle  Count  2012  Data  for  North  Portland  

City of Portland Transportation Phone Survey Data 2014

From January 16-21, 2014 DHM Research conducted a telephone survey to registered

voters in Portland to collect information for Portland Bureau of Transportation regarding the

voters’ perceptions of the city’s transportation needs. This was conducted in order to help PBOT

“prioritize future transportation-related projects” (Portland Transportation Priorities- Survey

Report p.1 2014). This survey reached 800 respondents, and quotas were set by the city

regarding age, gender, political affiliation, and area of the city in order to gather a representative

sample. The report summarizes the different transportation priorities identified by the

respondents, noting that priorities did not vary widely amongst different ethnicities; except in

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terms of desire for frequent bus service and MAX rail. The survey found that “non-whites turned

in higher percentages favoring immediate investment in frequent bus service, MAX light rail

service, and separated bus lanes” (p.11). This falls in line with the theoretical research provided

on the subject of public transportation. The figure below is taken from page 8 of the report, and

illustrates how low bike routes fall in terms of transportation priorities of the survey respondents.

The priorities, as ranked by the respondents on a scale of 1-7, provide insight as to what

all citizens of Portland feel need greater investment and improvement. The top priority is safe

pedestrian street crossings, while safer bike routes is number 10 out of 17.

Figure 9 Transportation Priorities, as provided by DHM Report

         

  23  

         Demographic Changes in Northeast Portland and Transportation Amenities

 Figure  10  Map  of  North  Williams  Avenue  in  Historic  Albina  Neighborhood

The displacement and disinvestment of the northeast Portland community has most

certainly left a mark in the memories and lifestyles of long time residents, forcing many of the

previous tenants of homes to move away and into new communities- often on the margins of the

city limits. The removal of hundreds of African-American and low-income households has not

been the end of the power struggle between northeast Portland community members and the city

of Portland urban planners. Contemporary disparities are also hotly contested.

When the neighborhood surrounding N Williams Avenue saw an influx of white, middle

to upper class residents belonging to the “artsy” sector of Portland in the late 1990’s, this area

started getting more attention from the city in terms of pedestrian and bicycle safety and

infrastructure development. In this section, I will lay out the fundamental shifts this area has

gone through in years since Urban Renewal, describing key reactions from long time residents as

  24  

a way of understanding the current relationship between this community and city of Portland

planners.

In 1990, the residents surrounding N Williams avenue were approximately 20% white,

while in 2010 the proportion jumped to over 50%, due to gentrification of the area (Hannah-

Jones 2011). In 1999, the white stripes of bike lanes were painted onto N Williams avenue

(Portland Bureau of Transportation 2012). Many of the Black-owned businesses that historically

were a part of the N. Williams and Albina landscape are now gone, and white-owned bars and

bike shops take their place. The conflict between new white residents and long time Black

residents is at the forefront of this discussion. Who was the bike lane intended to serve? What do

bike lanes signify to Black residents of the area?

Bicycle infrastructure has been shown to increase property values and recruit new

residents who value such things to an area (Brown 2010). While the city of Portland may not

have intended to push out the long time Black residents with the improvement of bicycle

infrastructure, among other transportation services and amenities, property values in this area

have been steadily rising, and the area has gone through a rapid process of gentrification

(Sullivan and Shaw 2011). The increase in amenities seems to have followed the influx of white

residents to the neighborhood, and the dominant proportion of white bikers left another poor

interaction with city-initiated infrastructure in this community, resonating sentiments similar to

that of Urban Renewal. Infrastructure is politically charged, and bicycle infrastructure may now

signify gentrification to communities of color due to the dominant presence of white bikers.

Figure 11 below shows how white people are over represented in the US in the cycling sector.

  25  

 Figure  11  From  Sightline  Daily;  Graph  shows  demographics  of  bicyclists  nation  wide

North Williams Traffic Operations Safety Project: Case Study

The detrimental story of the previous Albina area surrounding N Williams Ave. has not

been forgotten. Many of the new, white residents moving into the community are naively

unaware of the history of the area. In the summer of 2010, the history behind this northeast

community came to be a point of contention and eventually came to the attention of city planners

when the Portland Bureau of Transportation developed the N. Williams Ave Traffic Operations

Safety project.

Figure 12, created by Dirk Kinsey for the city of Portland’s North Williams Traffic

Operations Safety Stakeholder Advisory Committee and its Honoring Histories Subcommittee,

maps the historically Black-owned spaces along N Williams, from 1920-2010. Kinsey articulates

that the goal of this map is to bring attention to the history behind N Williams Avenue. In the

place of many businesses that used to stand; bike shops, bars and coffee shops reside. Only 22 of

the 49 spaces on the map were still standing in 2010 (Kinsey 2012).

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Figure 12 Map of historic African American spaces on N Williams Avenue, Dirk Kinsey, 2012

  27  

Along with the rapidly changing demographics of the neighborhood, bicycle traffic

increased drastically, and in 2007 bicycle traffic increased 138% in that year alone (North

Williams Traffic Operations Safety Final Report 2012). Now, Williams sees upwards of 4,000

trips daily. The project was first proposed to improve bicycling and walking conditions on

Williams avenue, since the bicycle traffic was increasing so rapidly. This proposal, however, was

not well received by the surrounding African American community. The historical context of the

neighborhood was seemingly ignored and this upset many people who had endured rapid

changes of the area. A halt was placed on the project proposal, and more time was created for

outreach and stakeholder hearing committees. Many members of the community who felt they

were not previously included in discussions of what the city planned to do to their neighborhood

spoke out and attended the community input meetings.

Neighborhood residents were frustrated with the project because the motivation for the

city to improve the safety of the area arose once the area saw an influx of white people. One

longtime resident of the area, Donna Maxey, voiced her sentiments at a North Williams Traffic

Safety Operations Project meeting in July 2011, saying "What is causing the anger and

resentment is that it's only an issue of safety now that whites are the ones who are riding bicycles

and walking on the streets. Because we have been in this community for years and it has not

been an issue and now it's an issue” (Davis para. 2 2011). Sharon Maxwell-Hendricks expressed

a similar notion at the same planning meeting, “You say you want it ‘safe’ for everybody, how

come it wasn’t safe 10 years ago? That’s part of the whole racism thing … we wanted safe

streets back then; but now that the bicyclists want to have safe streets then it’s all about the

bicyclists getting safe streets” (Schmitt para. 7 2011). This brings up serious political

implications and highlights the issue of whose voice the city is listening to. From the perspective

of city planner, the changes to Williams avenue are an issue of demand. The bike lane on

Williams Ave. is frequented by thousands of riders, so naturally safety issues arise and the

powerful advocacy of Portland’ bike community pushed the city to respond to this area.

Longtime residents of the area, however, have complicated and historically rooted

relationships with city imposed infrastructural changes; and reflect a sentiment that bike lanes

are being improved for the safety and security of white people.

The Outcome of North Williams Avenue Traffic Safety Operations Project

  28  

After weeks of community stakeholder meetings and reevaluating the proposal, on

December 6, 2011 the committee voted to include a seventh point under the Purpose and

Objectives section of the project that states one of the project goals “To honor the history of

North Williams Avenue through elements of the transportation project” (North Williams Traffic

Operations Safety Project Final Report p. 1 2012). This means a public installation that details

the history of Albina is going to be displayed. The level of public involvement in this project was

very high, and certainly aided in the success of the project. The objectives of the project

expanded from improving bicycle safety to creating and conducting an open and inclusive

planning process that allowed for all concerned voices to be heard by the city. Not only were

stakeholders’ voices heard, but also specific actions were taken in order to ensure the execution

of their demands; including recognition of the past and inclusion in the planning process. This

project expanded into a conversation about race, social justice, and honoring history. The

discussions held in northeast Portland provided valuable insight into the deep-rooted resentments

towards the city, the shifting demographics of the neighborhood, and the lack of inclusion in city

planning processes.

The North Williams Stakeholder Advisory Committee worked together to compile 13

final recommendations for the Portland Bureau of Transportation to consider when redesigning

the plan. These 13 recommendations include:

1) Left-hand buffered bike lane

2) Share left-turn lane/ bikeway

3) Create a design that makes a safe and comfortable transition from the buffered bike lane to the

shared-left turn lane/ bikeway from N Fargo to N Fremont

4) Reduce traffic speed

5) Improve pedestrian visibility at crosswalks

6) Install traffic signals at designated areas

7) Relocate bus stops to avoid congestion

8) Honor the history of Williams avenue by implementing a public art display that features oral

history, photographs of significant places and people, walking tours and a web presence

9) Implement a safety campaign

10) Utilize side streets to create alternative bikeways to N Williams

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11) Use what was learned from the North Williams Avenue Traffic Operations Safety Project in

future outreach and actions

12) Develop an affordable housing strategy for North Williams Avenue, using “a community-

based committee” (North Williams Traffic Operations Safety Project Report 2012 p. 72)

13) Seek funding to follow through on all recommended elements of the project.

PBOT has made public the plan for construction, to begin in July 2014. Most of N

Williams avenue will look like the design in

Figure 13 below- a buffered bike lane and one

lane for motorized traffic. In some spots,

however, the buffered bike lane becomes simply

a second lane for cars and bikes, with “sharrows-”

the bicycle with arrows painted on roads-

designating for cars and bikes to share the road

(Maus 2014).

Conclusion     Do bike lanes promote gentrification? Throughout this paper, a narrative has

been told. It has taken many different forms via

maps, quotations from community meetings, bike

lane infrastructure blueprints and historical

contextualization. This narrative has many

different faces and names, and is a result of

backlash from living in high-density urban

environments. Gentrification is generally

associated with increasing property values,

involuntary displacement and demographic change (Boyle 2009). Gentrification changes the

racial and physical landscape of a neighborhood. Once property values rise, renters may no

longer be able to afford to live in their home and involuntary displacement occurs. Affluent,

typically white, well-educated young people move in and the area starts to cater to a different

demographic. Gentrification poses a real threat, and for this reason infrastructural changes and

Figure  13  N  Williams  Ave.  Design  Plan  shows  one  buffered  bike  lane  and  one  lane  for  motorized  traffic.  From  BikePortland.org  

  30  

other investments in the area of Northeast Portland are resisted by longtime residents due to

anxieties of losing control of their community.

Infrastructural improvements to public space are, by virtue of being public, supposed to

be accessible to the entire community. However, some public interests are voiced louder than

others, and are seemingly responded to with more attention from the city. Low income areas and

neighborhoods of color, due to historical practices of discrimination and racism from city

planners, have been led to hold some concern over spatial changes in a public area; including

bike lanes, pedestrian crosswalk improvements, new zoning codes and better park amenities.

Public improvements such as these may foster gentrification in the area, resulting in a further

diminishing of political power and mobility for low income and residents of color (Agyeman

2012).

Improved transportation services may be a form of gentrification (Hoffman 2013). The

inherent privilege of being able to choose to ride a bicycle, along with the ability to live in a

bicycle friendly, or “livable7” neighborhood is common amongst white, middle-class Portlanders.

This privilege has yet to be explicitly addressed in Portland planning practices. Furness argues

that, “any action involving bikes as transportation almost inherently involves addressing class

issues, since transportation is harder to achieve if you are not of a more financially stable class”

(2010 p. 175). This is important for city planners to acknowledge, and when class and race issues

go unaddressed, residents of an area may feel left out of the discussion or ignored from the scope

of city planners. While the negative symbolic meanings behind bicycle infrastructure and

transportation development may be unintentional on behalf of the city, the consequences are real

and therefore must be addressed accordingly.

The young, white, well-educated demographic (a.k.a. “creative class”8) that is flooding

Portland (Renn 2009) has a lifestyle that includes cycling. The reputation of Portland as a bike-

friendly city has recruited people from all over the country. In the North Williams Stakeholder

Advisory Committee Meeting notes from December 6, 2011, a woman named Jazzmin

                                                                                                               7 For further reading on this topic, see Vuchic, V. (1999). Transportation for Livable Cities. Rutgers

Center for Urban Policy Research.  

8  For  further  information  on  creative  class,  see  Florida,  R.  (2011,  July  13).  The  Geography  of  How  We  Get  to  Work.  The  Atlantic.      

  31  

commented on meeting two new members of the community, referred to as “transplants.” The

notes state that, “the two transplants recently came from bigger cities in part because they liked

the bike infrastructure” (North Williams SAC Meeting Notes p. 3 2011). It is important to assess

whom the bike lanes are serving. Perhaps bicycling is not a priority for Portland’s Black

community, and they have a stronger need for other city services. If this is the case, the city must

work to address the needs presented by this community in order to build an environment that is

safe and accessible for all.

This paper has shown how bike lanes and related infrastructure have tendencies of

following high property values, affluent neighborhoods, high political power, and elitist bicycle

culture. Even though the city of Portland as a whole ranks safer bike routes as priority 10 out of

17, improving bicycle infrastructure was pushed rather rapidly by the Portland Bureau of

Transportation (PBOT) onto N Williams avenue. This resulted in contention from longtime

residents who have a complex, historically rooted background with city-imposed improvements.

The goal of the North Williams Avenue Traffic Operations Safety Project originally

seemed to serve the white, elite 4,000 cyclists that frequented the road- seemingly ignoring, yet

again, the needs of the Black residents. PBOT, however, quickly changed the design process

after receiving backlash from community members that were originally excluded from the

discussion. The outcome of the new community-based planning method, the North Williams

Avenue Stakeholder Advisory Committee, changed the priorities involved in improving N

Williams avenue. The project outcome included a design that was inclusive of pedestrian,

bicycle, bus, and car safety. Additionally, history and social inequities were addressed in the

planning process.

The story behind N Williams avenue is an important one to tell, because the history of

transportation infrastructure nation wide has excluded communities of little political power, low

income, and minority status. These communities will continue to be unhappy and left with

feelings of exclusivity and resentment, and planners will continue to be unaware of cultural

differences and consequences of bicycle infrastructure until these many differences are addressed

before, during and after the planning process.

As the racial and physical landscape of cities change, urban planning processes must

change as well. The outreach methods must be tailored to the specific community, Portland, like

any other urban environment, contains a great diversity of cultures and identities, and these must

  32  

be addressed in order to have an equitable and sustainable future and planning process. "Sending

out a bunch of paper isn't necessarily going to do it, public meetings don't always do it," says

Wolfersperger, who found that Spanish-language radio ads were a much more effective method

of publicizing events and services (Mirk 2009 para. 10). “One of the big things we learned in this

process is that the outreach process that works well for some people doesn’t work for others,”

says Dan Anderson, interim communications director for the Portland mayor’s office. “It’s been

very educational. Outreach needs to be tailored to the community. We need to slow things down

and get more people around the table” (Goodyear 2011 para. 10).

City streets present a visible, public space that could be morphed into standing for

cultural inclusion, political equity, honoring history, and safety and security for all types of

mobile citizens. Good planning can pave the way to a safer, more equitable, and opportunity

filled future for all, regardless of where in the city one is located or how one chooses to get

around. Planning for geographic justice must first consist of an inclusive planning process that is

open and available to all stakeholders, and decisions made regarding the future of a community

must incorporate a discussion about the threat of gentrification and increasing property values; as

changes in infrastructure, specifically bike lanes, do present this threat. This paper has

highlighted effective ways of restructuring the planning process to be more inclusive, and lead

to, hopefully, an outcome that is equitable and sustainable for the city as a whole.

  33  

Appendix A I discussed the issues of bicycles, urban planning, citizen participation, and equity with

the following:

1) Visiting Professor at Gustavus Adolphus Melody Hoffman

2) Program Manager at Alta Planning and Design, Jessica Roberts

3) City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation Active Transportation SmartTrips Director Timo

Forsberg

4) Advocacy Director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Gerik Kransky

5) Author of Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes

6) CEO of the Community Cycling Center, Mychal Tetteh

7) Anonymous intern at Microcosm publishing

8) Board Member of the Equity Advisory Council for the League of American Cyclists, and

Active Transportation Planner for Coalition for a Livable Future, Elizabeth Williams.

  34  

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