Bicycling

Streetfilms Portland Week: The High-Tech Bike Signal

By Aaron Naparstek

4:37 PM EST on November 1, 2006

Portland’s Innovative Bike Signal
A Clarence Eckerson Streetfilm
Running time: 1:37
Download: 5.91 MB

Portland’s Office of Transportation goes the extra mile to accommodate cyclists. Rex Burkholder, a local elected official and the founder of the the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, shows off a high-tech, creatively engineered traffic signal for cyclists. Whenever a cyclist rolls atop a painted icon on the pavement, the next phase of the traffic signal shuts down the entire intersection to cars allowing cyclists safe passage through this potentially hazardous intersection.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.