I thought it apt to post something about Portland’s Sunday Parkways, as today the route leads right in front of our house in Northeast. This concept, inspired by the Bogota, Colombia concept of Ciclovía – which is the temporary event or permanent closure of a street to automobile traffic. This is the third year that this is happening in Portland and last years events (there were 3 in Portland) included over 60,000 participants. The Northeast is the first of five this summer through every quadrant of the city. You can also follow the events and get updates on Facebook.


:: image via Portland Transportation

While relatively new to Portland, it’s a natural fit for a bike-friendly city that has a vibrant culture of cycling and a extensive network of trails and bikelanes. It’s still an opportunity to recapture the streets in whole – for a time – to truly ‘take back the streets. An example routing from this map from Northeast from last years parkway – that ended up a block north of us. Notice the connected network running by public parks and limited crossings of major roadways.

:: image via Portland Transportation

A bit of historical development via Ciclovia Recreativa, which has been working on these bike-free corridors since the mid-1970s.

:: image via Ciclovia Recreativa

Check out this video from Streetfilms from a couple of years back in the first Sunday Parkways event. I gotta go move my car: