Bikes on Tilikum Crossing¶

May 1, 2020

A car-free bridge is still considered a ridiculous idea in many parts of our country. Portlanders beg to differ. Portland's newest bridge, the Tilikum Crossing, opened in 2015, and is highly multimodal, allowing travel for pedestrians, bikes, electric scooters, trains, streetcars, and buses (but the modality of travel by personal car is missing). Bike lanes were not an afterthought, but rather an integral part of the bridge design. One therefore expects to see a good amount of bike traffic on Tilikum.

In this activity, we examine the data collected by the bicycle counters on the Tilikum. Portland is divided into east side and west side by the north-flowing Willamette river and the Tilikum connects the two sides with both eastbound and westbound lanes. Here is a photo of the bike counter (the black display, located in between the streetcar and the bike lane) on the bridge.