Portland

Portland has led the way with transit infrastructure in the U.S.  For example, it was the first U.S. city to bring modern streetcars to it’s streets.

Seattle

The 2.6 mile Seattle South Lake Union Streetcar line started service in December 2007, and exceeded its first year ridership estimates three months ahead of schedule.

Vancouver

Vancouver is currently running these Bombardier Flexity streetcars as a demonstration project.

Melbourne

Reportedly, the largest tram network in the world, consisting of 152 miles of track, at least 500 trams, 28 routes, and 1,800 transit stops.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam runs a variety of trams including the 100% low-floor Siemens Combino trams.

Prague

This isn’t the everyday service in Prague, but it sure looks like a fun way to ride the streetcar.

These are just a handful of the numerous systems operating around the world, hopefully soon Milwaukee will be added to this list.

Instead of moving, we’re hoping to bring a little bit of Portland back to the Cream City.  These are just a few of the features that make Portland a great city:

• Transit.  Portland has both a light-rail system, the MAX, which runs in a dedicated right-of-way on the streets in downtown Portland, and a new streetcar system that circulates people throughout the city in a mixed travel lane.  Further, the transit stops, albeit a bus stop, streetcar station, or a light-rail stop were well designed and used high quality materials.  Finally, in downtown Portland there is a fare free zone which promotes transit use helping Portland achieve higher ridership numbers.
• Population Density.  Ii was apparent that the population density stays fairly high throughout a large area, before dropping off, which makes for a more vibrant city throughout.  Fixed transit, well planned neighborhoods such as the new Pearl District, and initiatives such as the urban growth boundary have helped this to occur.
• Narrow Streets.  All throughout Portland most of the streets were narrow, and priority was given to pedestrians and transit.  In heavy foot traffic areas there were wide sidewalks that utilized high quality pavers, curb bump outs, and other design elements to insure a pedestrian friendly environment.  This combined with the on-street transit had a traffic calming effect which slowed traffic further improving the walkability and safety of the neighborhood.
• Street Trees.  In all areas of Portland, street trees were a common sight.  Portland’s weather likely allows these trees to grow larger and faster than in Milwaukee, but the more important than simply the height was was the quantity and density of trees throughout the city.  It was rare to walk a street that didn’t have multiple trees on it, it was more common to walk streets that were lined on both sides with trees.
• Lack of Surface Parking Lots.  It was rare to find a surface parking lot in downtown Portland, and the few that do exist were lined with street trees and street vendors, which helped to maintain the urban fabric.
• Bike Infrastructure.  Portland has taken bike infrastructure to new heights.  Each block had numerous bike racks and in some areas Portland had removed automobile parking to put in on street bike racks.  Bike lanes and bike trails circulate bicycle traffic throughout the city, helping Portland achieve the highest bike commuting ridership numbers in the country.
• Street Vendors.  Semi-permanent stands, trailers really, lined surface parking lots, some stayed open late, while others were open for lunch and dinner.  These vendors added character, eyes on the street, and maintained the street wall all of which added to the urban quality of Portland.
• Adaptive Re-use of Historic Structures.  There were many great re-uses, but in one case just an exterior wall of a structure was retained as the border of a surface parking lot.  This allowed the street wall to be maintained, and a potentially blighting influence to be alleviated.
• Public Squares.  Both parks and plazas were of a very high quality, some integrating green features and utilizing recycled materials, while others fit a more traditional urban design reminding one of Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.  Additionally, some parks had structured public parking located below it to avoid creating surface lots or large above ground parking garages.

We’ll have more on Portland and what we ides could be brought home to Milwaukee in upcoming articles, but here’s a quick photo gallery so you can see some of Portland’s great features.

Drive-thrus are about as anti-community as can be.  Sure eventually the teller hands you your food and you smile back at them, but that’s about as social as the process gets.  A line of bikes would be marginally better than Toyotas, but still far from perfect.

Going inside a store fosters communication.   It encourages randomly talking to people.  You’re probably not going to become friends with the other people in the store, but you’ll recognize them elsewhere.  The faceless city you live in becomes just a little less anonymous by avoiding drive-thrus.  And in a world that is increasingly detached from the random people around us, every random connection helps.

Portland, Oregon is getting on-board with a program I would love to see Milwaukee jump on in the near future.

Slated to happen on June 22 (in conjunction with the International Carfree Conference), Sunday Parkways will offer Portlanders a chance to stroll, pedal, and play on a six-mile loop of streets that will be closed to motor vehicle traffic from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm…. reports BikePortland.org

They’re linking the route up with parks and live entertainers, to offer a little more than a unique place to ride your bike.

As far as Milwaukee goes, it would be amazing to have a loop available on a Saturday or Sunday during the summer for people to just play in the absence of dangerous cars everywhere.

Linking up with parks for entertainment value I think is huge, along with having a view of the lake.

A potential route starting at Cathedral Square might include heading north on Van Buren Street, east on Brady Street, south on Prospect Ave, and west on Wells or Kilbourn to come back to the starting point.

This is really a tool the Third Ward, East Town and West Association’s could use to market their neighborhoods as safe places for both fun and work by drawing people in from other areas who are otherwise intimidated by the speed and noise of the cars on city streets.

I would imagine businesses would be behind this and traffic on Saturday or Sunday mornings is next to nonexistent anyway, so it would bring business in, not chase it away.

The only thing that I can think of that compares on a scale basis is the Bastille Days Run through downtown with Jazz in the Park going on afterward.

Milwaukee needs to convert that to an open day-time event for everyone to enjoy in a non-competitive environment.

Any thoughts? Support? Yays or nays?

Special thanks to the Streetsblog for pointping the Portland event out to me. I can’t find anything, but I think they have something like this in Manhattan too.