Portland gets ready for the Big One---with bikes!

The Antiplanner comments:

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the people with automobiles got out, and the people dependent on transit didn’t. This wasn’t because the city lacked a plan in case of a disaster. It had a great plan, but nobody bothered to implement it. After New York, New Orleans had the second-lowest rate of auto ownership of any major city in the country. 

When the disaster took place, there were Portlandia-like planners who bemoaned the fact that New Orleans was too auto dependent: if only more people there relied on transit, they would have gotten out. This, of course, was exactly backwards. 

Portland cyclists can have their fun fantasizing that they will come to the rescue in case of natural disaster. The city, however, is living dangerously when it thinks it can plan away the need for motor vehicles.