Streets Wire

On Wednesday Streetsblog declared Portland the leader in the race to launch a public bike-share program here in America. But as reader Chris Loos pointed out, a bike-share system in Washington is actually imminent.

An organized ride on one of Portland's bike boulevards.

One of the more intriguing stories at yesterday's National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. came from Nicole Freedman, who was appointed Boston's first bike czar last September. A planner and one-time professional cyclist, Freedman was charged with building a bike network out of nothing, in a city routinely ranked among the nation's worst for bicycling, on a shoestring budget.

Bike-sharing in Lyon, France

From the National Bike Summit:

On Monday US Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa introduced "The Complete Streets Act of 2008," a bill "to promote the design of streets that are safe for all of those using the street -- including motorists, bus riders, bicyclists, and pedestrians, including people with disabilities."

Congressman Blumenauer works the room Streetsblog's Ben Fried files this report from Washington, DC.  The National Bike Summit is in full swing today. There are more than 500 participants from 47 states on hand this year, organizers say, making this bike summit the biggest yet. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a bike commuter himself, kicked things off with a speech that placed bike advocacy within the context of the upcoming re-authorization of the federal transportation bill, and the coalition of transportation advocates he wants to see emerge to address the nation's infrastructure problems. Below are some notes from his talk, collected (loosely) in reporter's notebook format.

Ahead of this week's National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, syndicated columnist Neal Peirce wonders if 2008 will be "bicycling's best year since the start of the auto age." He writes about developments promoting the bicycle as a legitimate form of transportation around the world, many of which have been featured right here on Streetsblog: