TREC recently wrapped up its 17th annual Comprehensive Bikeway Design workshop. Since 2009, we've invited city planners, engineers, students, and anyone else to join us for a week-long deep dive into bikeway design in the Portland metropolitan area. From curb heights to conflict zones to innovative bicycle signals and more, participants explore creative solutions and unique constraints in Portland's bicycle infrastructure.
"It's amazing to see the interest from around the country and even the world," John MacArthur, TREC Interim Director said. "Portland truly is a living lab for bikeway innovation, so we love sharing what we've learned and seeing people get inspired to take ideas back to their cities."
This year's workshop hosted participants from places like Charlotte, Cleveland, Tucson, Seattle, and even Barbados. During the week-long course, they split time between classroom instruction and bicycle site tours exploring various treatments and different types of infrastructure on the ground. Click here to see some photos from the week.
"Being able to ride on different types of facilities really gave some great perspective as to what specific elements of design translate to in the field," one participant said. "For example, riding facilities of different widths really made me think differently about designing bike lanes less than 5 feet wide. Also, Portland has done a lot of great things around vehicle speed/volume in areas with bikes, so getting to ride with traffic going less than 20 miles per hour was an eye-opening experience. This course really changed my perspective on what's actually needed for a comfortable bike network."
In addition to the site tours, an all-star instructor roster is a big draw for participants. These experts are leaders in their fields for innovative bicycle facility and treatment implementation throughout the greater Portland area:
Nick Falbo, Mobycon
Roger Gellar, Portland Bureau of Transportation
Peter Koonce, Portland Bureau of Transportation
Talia Jacobson, Toole Design
Nathan McNeil, TREC
Tammy Lee, TREC
Shelley Oylear, Washington County
"The breadth and respective depth, given the time constraints of the course, were seriously impressive," another participant said. "I will be recommending this workshop to any of my peers, the whole experience was so informative and, more importantly, very inspiring."
We'd like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who made this year's program such a great success! Interested in joining us in August 2027? Click here to be notified when registration opens.
