News Tagged: Bicycling
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How to build the world’s longest bike touring route: Jean-Francois Pronovost
(First published by BikePortland.org)
Portland has a network of neighborhood greenways, and they're great. But Jean-Francois Pronovost's is 3,100 miles long. That's approximately the distance from Portland to Nicaragua.
The Greenway (Route Verte in Pronovost's native French) is a bike route network running all over the Canadian province of Quebec. On Monday, the vice president for development and public affairs at advocacy group Vélo Québec visits Portland to share lessons from this project and others in the first annual Ann Niles Transportation Lecture, a major new series produced by Portland State University's Institute for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation.
The event is free, though space is limited to 240. On Thursday, BikePortland spoke with Pronovost to learn more about his life's work, the best parts of Quebec bike touring and how his hometown of Montreal managed to replace 320 auto parking spaces with a downtown protected lane that carries 9,000 bikes per day. Questions and answers were edited for space.
Can you describe your most famous achievement, the Route Verte?
The Route Verte [pronounced with hard Ts and silent Es] is now 5,000 kilometers all over the province, linking the major city centers. The most interesting thing is that partnership that has built over 18 years, which is still going on. Tons of organizations, hotels, lodging facilities, that sort of thing.
Do you know how much money gets spent in a year by people on the Route Verte?
A few years ago when we measured that with university researchers, we were $134 million ($127 million USD). That doesn't include bikes and accessories – it's only travel expenses.
In his campaign last year, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales called for more emphasis on big, inspiring ideas like a bike trail to the Oregon coast. Did Route Verte begin with advocacy from people at the local level, or at the provincial level?
It's very rare, but it was actually a decision of the prime minister of the province. He decided it was a way to help regional development and to help young people be involved in a big mobilization.
I talk to a lot of people in the US and Europe. Their first priority is not to link to every territory and every country. It takes some perspective to see all the benefits that you could have linking every region, every city, every municipality together. In little rural communities, the bicycle was not the agenda. But with the Route Verte, they were asked to be part of the movement, and that was their first experience to see how to include bicycles in the community.
Tags: active transportation, ann niles transportation lecture, bicycle infrastructure, bicycling, bikeportland, ibpi, jean-francois pronovost, route verte, velo quebec
IBPI faculty workshop brings active transportation to the classroom
IBPI, or the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation, is a center for research and learning that is focused on bicycle and pedestrian travel.
Based at Portland State University, the group's aim is to advance bicycling and walking as integral elements of the transportation system in Oregon’s communities. July 24 -26 IBPI hosted a faculty workshop to help transportation professors integrate bicycle and pedestrian topics into their courses.
Aimed at faculty members teaching transportation courses within an accredited planning or engineering program at the university level, the workshop included curriculum, guidebooks, and field trips to gain first-hand knowledge of bicycle and pedestrian facilities in Portland, Oregon.
Tags: active transportation, bicycle, bicycling, chris monsere, ibpi, krista nordback, miguel figliozzi, otrec, peter koonce, psu, robert bertini, sirisha kothuri
OTREC researchers make AASHTO’s top 16 high value research projects
Tags: aashto, bicycle infrastructure, bicycling, otrec, psu
Ann Niles lecture series brings world-class transportation speaker to Portland State
The Ann Niles Transportation Lecture series opens Aug. 26 with a lecture from Jean-François Pronovost of Vélo Québec titled "Growing a World-Class Cycling Culture: Lessons from Québec." The series is sponsored by the Ann Niles Transportation Lecture Endowment and serves as a legacy to Ann Niles, an advocate for livable neighborhoods.
Philip Niles created the endowment with a gift to the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation, or IBPI, in honor of his late wife. Ann Niles was a strong advocate for livable neighborhoods and served on many transportation-related boards and committees in Portland.
The lecture series keeps alive the spirit of Ann Niles' advocacy. Niles pushed for better sidewalks and crosswalks to make Portland a safe and comfortable place to walk, and for bicycle routes and parking to do the same for bicycling.
"This inaugural Ann Niles Transportation Lecture, and all those that follow, help spread Ann's passion for creating livable neighborhoods to students, practitioners and the greater community," said OTREC Director Jennifer Dill.
The series' first speaker, Pronovost, has helped bring active transportation into the lives of people in communities across Québec. As vice president for development and public affairs for Vélo Québec, he helps develop new projects and partnerships.
One of the most notable projects for Vélo Québec is La Route Verte (The Green Route), a 5,000-kilometer-plus bicycle route across Canada's largest province. La Route Verte crosses rural areas, towns and cities and incorporates all types of bikeways.
The route got its start in 1992, when Pronovost was organizer of the Velo Mondial conference. There, Vélo Québec presented a vision and plan for what cycling could be at the turn of the century. The efforts paid off in 1995, with the provincial government investing $88.5 million and tasking Vélo Québec to plan and build the route. La Route Verte is now the most extensive bike route in North America.
Pronovost has helped launch active transportation initiatives with schools and municipalities. He has written books on hiking, cycling and science and has edited technical publications including the Technical Handbook of Bikeway Design. Trained as a biologist, Pronovost has worked as a nature guide, journalist and television commentator.
The lecture is free and co-sponsored by the Portland State University School of Music. Details are at: http://theotrec.org/events/entry/niles_lecture_pronovost
IBPI is a program of OTREC at Portland State. The Ann Niles Transportation Lecture Endowment furthers IBPI's mission to facilitate the exchange of knowledge among scholars, practitioners and community advocates around active transportation. More information is at: http://www.pdx.edu/ibpi/the-ann-niles-transportation-lecture-series
Tags: active transportation, ann niles transportation lecture, bicycle infrastructure, bicycling, ibpi, jean-francois pronovost, route verte, velo quebec, walking
Portland State University takes Seattle bike symposium by storm
Portland, Oregon is known for being a bike city, even called America's Best Bike City by Bicycling Magazine, so it's no surprise at all that Portland State University is full of bike enthusiasts.
Tags: active transportation, bicycle, bicycle infrastructure, bicycling, livability, otrec, portland state university
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