Streetfilms: Bike Rush Hour on Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge

The first time you visit Portland, Oregon, the gaggles of cyclists streaming over the Hawthorne Bridge during rush hour is a sight you will never forget. It’s something other cities need to see and be inspired by.

On a recent vacation there, I couldn’t resist cranking out a Streetfilms shortie, so I hooked up with Crank My Chain’s Dan Kaufman to capture the essence of the p.m. rush and find out what it feels like to be a part of the mass of cyclist humanity in Southeast Portland’s Hawthorne corridor.

As Greg Raisman from Portland’s Bureau of Transportation pointed out: 20 percent of all traffic on the Hawthorne Bridge is bikes, while the number of cyclists in Portland has risen 600 percent in the last 15 years and shows no sign of letting up.

  • That’s wonderful to see. We’re visiting PDX soon to take a look at the ways their city grows and moves and lives. Can’t wait to check this out in person.

  • gecko

    Yes!

  • When are you coming to Minneapolis to check out our Midtown Greenway? Let me know and I’ll give you the tour.

  • Portland is great for bikes becuase it is relatively cool but rarely really cold year round.

    Temperature extremes in other cities really limit people’s willingness to ride bikes to work. Sweating or freezing in work clothes( or taking showers at work) is hard to do for most people.

    How could you ride a bike to work in 100 degrees in LA?

  • cak

    This just makes me hate the hole that is Sydney and the disaster that is Sydney Harbour Bridge even more. You won’t find anything bike friendly in that city.

  • damian

    Nice, i wish Chicago and it’s suburbs were more bike friendly

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