Don,

Working for bikes is working for cars. Platinum designation for our city is not so much about expanded infrastructure as it is about increasing the number of trips made by bike. Increasing this number frees up road capacity, easing the burdens that increased car and freight trips (from increased population) mean for our region.

Not to mention, the entire region is facing deterioriating roads, need for greater capacity for freight and others and, of course, very limited funds to build/rebuild. Building more roads are then costlier and tougher than expanding options for travel. So, until we get a higher gas tax--our states large source for transportation funds--or Portland gets a higher share of its gas tax from the state (I think we get about $0.64 on the dollar) or greater federal funds for transportation make it here, we are looking at some tough choices ahead.

Getting folks to think about biking more is a cheap way of stemming this issue--and decreasing emissions--but it certainly isn't going to solve it. Sam managed to free up $1 million for decreasing the backlog on our unimproved streets, but I am quickly learning that this is a small dent in a very large backlog.