New Bike Racks

One day there will be a lovely river front bike and hike trail from the Esplanade in downtown Portland, all along the Willamette River to it’s confluence with the Columbia River at Kelly Point Park. It will be an addition to the extensive Willamette Greenway Trail system already installed in the metro area, and will include sections of oak woodland and savannah habitat restored by the hard work of Friends of Baltimore Woods. People will be able to enjoy quiet and cool excursions along the riparian habitats. They will need places to park and lock their bikes if they want to stop for a picnic, go bird watching, buy a cup of coffee, have a sandwich and a local microbrew, or take a stroll in a grassland meadow dotted with butterfly flowers.

Originally local FoBW work party participants, like myself, thought adding a bike rack was a practical idea for those who prefer healthy, low impact bike riding to volunteer restoration events when time permits. Betsy Valle brilliantly suggested collaboration with a local welding artist to create some artistic racks, which is still a great idea for the future bike & hike trail. Then as I and Barbara Quinn reached out to the City of Portland for permission, we discovered that Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has used bike racks that they were willing to install for non-profits like us! Viola! A handy solution, saving us time, energy and dollars!

We have recently finalized an agreement for the PBOT installation of the bike racks in the asphalt at the southern entrance to the FoBW meadows near North Catlin Avenue. The racks will be installed after the donation paper work has been sent to us for completion, which we anticipate to be sometime in the next few weeks. Friends of Baltimore Woods will be responsible for light maintenance of the racks which may include removal of possible graffiti, and perhaps abandoned bicycles. PBOT will remove the racks if they are rendered unusable for any reason. The racks are free and recycled which is a fitting arrangement for the nature restoration mission FoBW has embraced!

Yipee! Let’s go for a bike ride soon!