Recap of Bike/Ped. Talk

That was a very enjoyable evening. Spending my Friday night in the rotunda of the Whatcom Museum listening to ideas about improving transportation was definitely worthwhile.
While the talk was sponsored by the Bellingham Transportation Commission as a part of the public outreach for the Pedestrian Master Plan, the evening was just as much about biking, and almost as much about public transit, as it was about walking. The main speaker, architect (and project manager for the City of Portland Office of Transportation's Keep Portland Moving project) Ellen Vanderslice had a slide show of ideas that she ran through. Each had a photo from Portland, showing the idea in action. To be honest, she didn't present any ideas I hadn't heard before. Apparently I read too many bike blogs.
Two things stood out for me about the evening. First, I was encouraged that the attendees (some 40 of us) weren't all middle-aged. It's not just the hard-core bike commuter demographic (i.e. middle-aged white men) who is interested in this topic. There were definitely some 20-something folks in attendance. The other great thing was Mayor Dan Pike's obvious enthusiasm for making our transportation system work better for everyone. Of all the ideas presented in the slide show, afterward he focused on bike boxes and neighborhood greenways (formerly known as bicycle boulevards) as good ones, and I don't disagree. Hopefully he can give a few pushes in the right places to get the ball rolling on starting to implement those ideas here in Bellingham.
At least two audience members asked questions about the possibility of adding cycle tracks (see this post) in specific locations. I'm very supportive of the idea of cycle tracks in general, and it would be great if the city could find places in town where they are good solution.

Here's a video about neighborhood greenways in Portland. Recently there has been a push for them in Seattle, too.

 
Portland's Bike Boulevards Become Neighborhood Greenways from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Added 10/1: Third item to note: Bellingham is already implementing quite a few of the ideas mentioned by Vanderslice, esp. curb bulb-outs, pedestrian refuges, and ped. activated flashing lights. And while TRI-MET has 2-bike racks on their buses, WTA has 3-bike racks!