Portland took a big stride (so to speak) yesterday and closed six miles of city streets to car traffic, enabling bicyclists and pedestrians to stroll freely down the middle of the road with little fear of vehicular homicide or road rage. The event, named Sunday Parkways, lasted from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. –a mere six hours of freedom from automotive dominance on a small portion of the city’s vast street network. It is my hope that Sunday Parkways will help Portlanders understand that the pain created by $4.50/gallon gasoline does not have to be so severe. Yes, we all experience this pain indirectly through food and other transportation hikes, but a large portion of personal trips taken via automobile simply don’t require that we burn petroleum. In fact, 50 percent of all car trips are less than two miles in total distance. I love traffic stats.

Regardless of its scale, Sunday Parkways was six hours of immense joy and immediately brought to mind my experience strolling down the streets of Amsterdam this past March, mixing rather effortlessly with streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians and the occasional automobile. Yes, we Americans have a way to go before we can get some folks to shed all the unnecessary spandex (what is this, the Giro?) and over-engineered bicycles (carbon Rolf wheels on a bike that rarely leaves the garage?), but hey, one Sunday for six hours is far more than I ever imagined we’d ever take away from the petroleum lifestyle that touches us all.

For me, Sunday Parkways was experienced in a far different fashion than I originally planned. I was going to take advantage of the opportunity to show Yuba Mundo utility bikes, extolling the virtues of living with the biking industry’s answer to the Ford Super Duty. Instead, I made an 11th hour decision to simply spend the time with my family as a pedestrian. With family in town from Idaho, I thought it a far better use of my time to show them that Portland is much more than a bicycle town; it’s a town that often thinks well beyond the gas pump, considering all modes of transportation, including the most basic of all: feet. Armed with three out-of-town guests, my wife, two daughters, a stroller and a book of Tri-Met tickets, we hopped from the red line MAX to the yellow line, then hoofed it across I-5 to Peninsula Park. From this point we were able to see just what is possible when the city takes the gloves off and let’s people just exist in their daily environment without the fear of automobiles. It also let us experience what it’s like when you let people have open access to hula-hoops and pumping techno.

I don’t hate automobiles. Heck, I logged 12 miles in a Zipcar later the same afternoon. Sunday Parkways isn’t about the like or dislike of automobiles; it’s far more important than something so visceral. Sunday Parkways represents a community’s attempt at envisioning something more for their home than that which every other city has. Sunday Parkways represents an acknowledgment that communities exist at street-level and at human-speed. Sunday Parkways represents a step towards communities that embrace a life that doesn’t rely so heavily on an unsustainable, environmentally irresponsible way of living –a way of living that we have fostered for far too long.

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