Portland’s New Car-Free Bridge Is a Symbol of U.S. Mobility Goals

[thelakelander]

ERIC JAFFE



Tilikum Crossing—Portland's new bridge that makes room for just about every travel mode except cars—opens this weekend. Leah Treat, director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, says "the city is abuzz."

"I think this is a very defining moment for us in terms of how we want the city to grow," she tells CityLab. "We have really ambitious goals of reducing carbon emissions, getting people to take transit or walk or bike. It's just a perfect symbol of our values in this community."

Tilikum has become a symbol to those outside Portland, too. Cities across the country are turning to shared-use or even pedestrian-only bridges as a way to provide more balanced transportation options. When the U.S. Department of Transportation issued its proposed budget earlier this year, the cover image wasn't an open highway or an interstate cloverleaf—it was Tilikum.

Full article: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/09/portlands-new-car-free-bridge-is-a-symbol-of-us-mobility-goals/404914/

[fsujax]

I was just there and saw the bridge. It is very cool.

[spuwho]

As long as they stay practical and usuable, they can prop it up as any symbol they want.

[RattlerGator]

I was just there, too. Strikes me as an odd extravagance but hey, whatever. It's Portlandia.

[I-10east]

^^^Exactly, hippies cream their pants over things like this. A multi-use bridge (car, ped, bike) would make much more sense to me, but of course the usual politically charged 'everything has to be green' mindset prevails in Hippieland, OR.

[thelakelander]

^What do you guys think about this? Miami wants a signature downtown bridge, so FDOT is going to rebuild I-395 to look like this!





All it cost is +$500 million and FDOT is footing the bill 100% for what I was told last week down there.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Well It damn well better have Metromover access