Dear parents, caregivers, educators, and community,
Earth Month is here and so are free and fun walk, bike, and roll events to fill your calendar! Keep scrolling to learn more about ideas to celebrate the Earth at your school, get inspired by local bike champions, and find information about neighborhood bike fairs—all to help get you ready for Southwest Portland Sunday Parkways on Sunday, May 18!
Make sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook—and tag us in your stories so we can share your successes with our Portland community.
With gratitude,
Safe Routes to School Team | Brittany, Dana, Gui, Janis, Jeri, Josh, and Meaghan
In this newsletter
- Celebrate Earth Month this April
- Community spotlight: Emily Essley
- PBOT activates new traffic signals across the city!
- Watch our summer intern's video!
- Get ready for Sunday Parkways with these free PBOT bike events
- Personal safety community resources
- Job and volunteer postings
- What we're reading
Celebrate Earth Month this April
Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22, but we can celebrate our planet all month long by walking, biking, and rolling to school! In the spirit of reducing waste, Oregon Safe Routes to School will not provide physical material incentives. Instead, we're encouraged to get creative about how we celebrate the Earth—whether it’s all month or just on Earth Day.
Earth Day Community Bike Ride
Saturday, April 19
Join Portland Bureau of Transportation's Portland by Cycle team on an Earth Day Community Bike Ride from Colonel Summers to Laurelhurst parks for the City of Portland's Earth Day - Together as One celebration on Saturday, April 19. Meet at 11 a.m. and ride at 11:30 am. This route will use Neighborhood Greenways, Portland's quiet, slow streets that are prioritized for walking, biking, and rolling.
Learn more about how to celebrate Earth Month this April
Community spotlight: Emily Essley
We're interested in sharing stories about the amazing work that everyday folks in Portland do to make our community better. Emily Essley is one of those people helping kids and their families walk, bike, and roll to and from school!
Emily is a parent volunteer who leads the Creston K-5 Schoolbike bus and champions walk, bike, and roll activities for students and families alongside Jenna Charton and Josh Roll. Jenna launched the school's first-ever Bike and Walk Fair three years ago and Josh is leading this year's festivities. Emily shared that the school’s bike bus “would be nowhere without their considerable efforts.” Check out their leadership at the Creston Woodstock Park Crawl Bike Bus this Friday, April 4 starting at 1 p.m. from Creston Park (near SE 45th Avenue and Francis Street).
Continue reading to learn more about Emily!
Question: Why/how did you get started helping kids and their families walk, bike, and roll to and from school?
Answer: I am one of those annoying Gen-X'ers who is always going on and on about how "in my day, we walked ourselves to school and in the evenings rode our bikes all over the neighborhood until the streetlights came on." Honestly, that free-range childhood experience is the best, and I want to do everything I can to make that reality a possibility for all children. We can't complain about the loneliness epidemic and berate our kids for screen time but then offer no viable alternatives! I have been a bike enthusiast since I was tiny, and like many in our bike bus community I was inspired by Coach Balto's bike bus! Our first bike bus rode on October 12, 2022.
Q: What is one bit of wisdom for people who want to do something like what you're doing?
A: My biggest piece of advice is that the best recruitment tools are 1) catching potential participants in-person, and 2) doing your walking school/bike bus consistently! I did a ton of flyering and emails, but I had the best results getting folks on the bike bus by doing embarrassing stuff like lurking around the bike racks and asking people if they'd be interested. Our bike bus had a big increase in participation when we switched from monthly to weekly.
Q: What is something you have learned while doing this work?
A: While almost all kids love riding on the bike bus, not all do and that's okay! Some are daunted by the loud music and sometimes overwhelming crowds. I'd love to add a second walking school bus route along our bike bus route to recruit some of the kids who are not as eager about the "rolling party" aspects of the bike bus.
Q: What is something you’ve grappled with while doing this work?
A: The biggest issue for me is the problem of equity. I've been able to do this because I have a job with the flexibility to allow me to lead the bus, and we live in a neighborhood where the active transportation infrastructure is pretty top notch. How do we work to make this experience accessible to folks who don't have those critical pieces in place? How do we work toward a future state where we don't need bike buses at all?
Q: What keeps you motivated?
A: This is truly not work for me—it is so fun! And the kids are so engaged and excited. It's a treat. They love to show off their bike skills as they get more confident on the street, and we have hysterical conversations about the music playlist. The kids' current favorite songs are "Eye of the Tiger" and "Ghostbusters."
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself!
A: When I'm not driving the bike bus, I am buried in Excel documents for my job at OHSU where I've worked for 22 years. Our whole family is also super artsy-fartsy, so we spend a lot of time making stuff.
Do you know someone who is helping kids and their families walk, bike, and roll to and from school? Tell us about them by filling out this nomination form!
Learn more about how to nominate someone in your community
PBOT activates new traffic signals across the city!
After construction began in spring 2023, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has now activated seven new signalized crossings in all four council districts as part of the 2022 Traffic Signal Superbundle!
Project elements
- Traffic signals: SE Woodstock Street and 52nd Avenue (full), NE MLK Jr. Boulevard and Going Street (half). PBOT also constructed related ADA and stormwater improvements as part of these signalized intersection upgrades.
- Pedestrian hybrid beacons: NE Glisan Street and 113th Avenue, SE Main Street and 148th Avenue.
- Rapid flashing beacons: E Burnside Street and NE 16th Avenue, SW Naito Parkway and Whitaker Street, SE Washington Street and 86th Avenue.
- Additionally, PBOT constructed street lighting on NE Glisan Street from NE 82nd to 162nd avenues.
Informed by community needs
Together with the local school community, PBOT identified these intersections as important connections for students and families travelling to and from Bridger Creative Science, Buckman, KairosPDX, Martin Luther King Jr., Parklane, VenturaPark, and Woodstock elementary schools; da Vinci Arts, Floyd Light, Harrison Park, and Oliver middle schools; and Benson Polytechnic High School during a Safe Routes to School outreach process.
Made possible by Portland voters
The 2022 Traffic Signal Superbundle is funded by the General Fund, System Development Charges, Cannabis Tax, and Fixing Our Streets—the 10-cent citywide gas tax Portland voters approved in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
Learn more about the 2022 Traffic Signal Superbundle
Watch our summer intern's video!
Helping us understand PBOT Vision Zero's approach to traffic safety
To better engage with youth, Safe Routes to School employed two high school summer interns, Jason and Matthew, through a partnership with ROSE Community Development Corporation’s Lents Youth Initiative—a leadership training program for teens. Jason and Matthew focused their time on various projects in support of Safe Routes to School curriculum and programming, as well as Vision Zero—Portland's goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on our streets. As part of the internship, Jason created a video to help the community better understand Vision Zero's Safe System approach to traffic safety.
Watch Jason's video about Vision Zero Safe System approach
Free PBOT bike events
Vestal School Neighborhood Bike Fair
Friday, April 11
The Vestal School Bike Fair at Vestal Elementary School (161 NE 82nd Ave.) is a family-friendly event on Friday, April 11 from 2:45 to 5 p.m. Activities include biking lessons to learn bike safety skills, learn-to-ride coaching, quick-fix bike repair, and helmet fitting. Participants are welcome to bring their own bikes, but there will also be bikes of various sizes available for children and adults to borrow.
Learn more about the Vestal School Neighborhood Bike Fair
Earth Day Bike Bus
Tuesday, April 22
Commute to downtown with the City of Portland Bike Bus on Earth Day! On this special ride, the public is welcome to join one of nine unique bike bus routes to downtown Portland the morning of Tuesday, April 22—all arriving at Salmon Street Springs by 8:15 a.m. Join the bike bus from the starting location that’s closest to you, or anywhere along the route. Make sure to hang around for coffee, treats, e-bike demos, music, and more!
Learn more about the Earth Day Bike Bus
Southwest Neighborhood Bike Fair
Friday, May 2
The Southwest Neighborhood Bike Fair at Multnomah Arts Center (7688 SW Capitol Hwy.) is a family-friendly event on Friday, May 2 from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Activities include biking lessons to learn bike safety skills, learn-to-ride coaching, quick-fix bike repair, and helmet fitting. Participants are welcome to bring their own bikes, but there will also be bikes of various sizes available for children and adults to borrow.
Learn more about Southwest Neighborhood Bike Fair
Basic Bike Maintenance Workshop
Sunday, May 4
The Basic Bike Maintenance Workshop at Sellwood Library (7860 SE 13th Ave.) is your opportunity to learn about bike maintenance and get some hands-on experience doing basic repairs on Sunday, May 4 from 2 to 4 p.m. After going over the major systems on a bike, you'll learn how to do some simple adjustments and practice flat repair. Bring your bike—but it's not required. Come with questions about issues you might have!
Learn more about Basic Bike Maintenance Workshop
Personal safety community resources
We want to help create a transportation system that allows all people to feel safe getting where they need to go. We put together free, accessible personal safety resources for community members, including how to report a non-urgent traffic safety concern, report bias and hate, participate in a self-defense workshop, and more.
Learn more about personal safety community resources
Job and volunteer postings
The City of Portland posts new job opportunities every Monday.
2045 TSP Community Advisory Committee
Apply by Monday, April 14
The 2045 Transportation System Plan (TSP) will guide transportation policies and investments for the City of Portland over a 20-year period. The 2045 TSP Community Advisory Committee will advise Portland Bureau of Transportation leadership and staff on key tasks, focus on technical analysis policies and outcomes, and provide valuable insight into community priorities.
Learn more about the 2045 TSP Community Advisory Committee
Portland Parks Board
Apply by Sunday, April 20
The Portland Parks Board advocates for parks on a city and regional basis to ensure that parks, natural areas, open spaces, and recreation facilities are advanced in planning and design. The board provides a forum for public discussion and decision-making about park issues, bringing a citywide and long-term perspective to neighborhood-based issues.
Learn more about the Portland Parks Board
What we're reading
- An e-bike transformed my family’s life (The Atlantic)
- The challenges students face just to get to school each day (Rolling Out)
- Women put off cycling by safety fears and intimidating drivers - study (The Guardian)
- The quiet power of car-free neighborhoods (Bloomberg CityLab)
- Widening highways doesn’t fix traffic. Here’s what can. (Scientific American)
- How SUVs are making traffic worse (Bloomberg CityLab)
- Pedestrian deaths decrease - but not everywhere (Axios)
- Shifting gears: Gender equity in transit (Transportation for America)