I know this is the “transit sleuth” blog and I still do a ton of that, but biking is a major proponent of getting rid of a host of problems the United States has created for itself. No city in this country has accomplished as much in resolving those issues with biking than Portland Oregon. Recently Portland has come out as the #1 biking city in the United States (platinum level). I’ve included some choice quotes,

“Two, the town removed on-street auto parking spaces at the request of adjacent businesses at many highly-visible locations in favor of on-street bicycle parking.”

…and there’s more…

“By several measures, bicycle ridership increased significantly in Portland this year. Their 2008 annual counts, based on 68 locations, demonstrated a 28 percent growth in citywide ridership compared to 2007. The 2008 City Auditor’s Office’s annual survey found that eight percent of Portlanders identified the bicycle as their primary commute vehicle and another ten percent identified it as their secondary commute vehicle. Portland’s most compelling statistics are that Portland experienced zero bicycle fatalities in 2008 for the fourth time since 2000 and bicycle crashes dropped eight percent since 2007.”

Unfortunately there are still some fatalities sometimes, but this is evidence that biking does work, and empowers a city to new levels of livability and healthy lives. All very impressive.