The start of construction on the North Willamette Boulevard Active Transportation Corridor project is a joyous occasion for many folks who’ve waited years for major safety upgrades. On a personal level, I’m beyond excited for the transformation of a busy bicycling corridor I’ve biked and driven on thousands of times in the past 20 years.
That’s why I was surprised and disappointed to see a Facebook post* last week from Oregon House Representative Travis Nelson (*note that the original post is in a private group, so that link goes to a different, public post with a different comment thread). In what I’ve almost come to expect once a high-profile, bike-related project breaks ground, Rep. Nelson posted: “Are you all aware of the dramatic changes coming to Willamette Boulevard? I wasn’t made aware and I’m the State Rep. Do you approve of the changes? Why or why not?” (The post then linked to a BikePortland story from January 2025.)
Rep Nelson — a Democrat, Registered Nurse and grandson of Louisiana sharecroppers — was first elected to represent North and Northeast Portland in 2022, seemed to be making a classic anti-bike move: shield opposition to a project by complaining about the integrity of the process. But there’s more to Nelson’s concerns than he first revealed…