XPost: or.general, or.politics   
   From: bshatzerNO@comcast.net   
      
   lein wrote:   
      
   > Bill Shatzer wrote:   
      
   >>lein wrote:   
      
   >>>Don Homuth wrote:   
      
   >>>>As for your invented "ratio" that's what's nonsense.   
      
   >>>I know, it's likely greater.  Much greater.   
      
   >>Your claimed 100 to one seems unlikely.   
      
   >>Vehicle count numbers for the four bridges I could find numbers on are:   
      
   >>Bridge       Bicycles      Motor Vehicles   
      
   >>Hawthorne    4,829         29,412   
      
   >>Steel        2,112         18,791   
      
   >>Broadway     2,081         27,259   
      
   >>Burnside     1,170         39,085   
      
   >>All traffic counts are for 2005 - daily averages for bicyclists and the   
   >>Portland BoT listed one day count for motor vehicles.   
      
   >>It would seem the ration varies between 6 to one on the Hawthorne to 33   
   >>to one on the Burnside.  All considerably short of 100 to one, much less   
   >>"Much greater".   
      
   > How about the Marqum and Freemont bridges?   
      
   Marquam Bridge traffic volume is 136,000/day while the Fremont (one 'e')   
   Bridge handles 115,000/day.   
      
   Obviously there's some double counting - some not insignificant amount   
   of traffic crossing the Fremont and Marquam bridges also crosses the   
   four listed surface street bridges. However, even without factoring in   
   the double counting, the total vehicle traffic comes to about   
   366,000/day and total bicyle traffic over the four bridges alone comes   
   to just over 10,000 - still a 36.5 to one ratio and still only a third   
   of your claimed "100 to one" ratio and even less than your claimed "much   
   greater".   
      
   > How about 26 to/from   
   > Wash.Co.?  How about I-5?   
      
   So far as I know, no one's done bicycle counts along the Sunset and I-5   
   corridors. Unlike the surface bridges which form natural "choke points"   
   where bicycle counts can be obtained rather easily, the Sunset and I-5   
   corridors have a plethora of surface routes and attempting to establish   
   counters at all possible bicycle routes would be difficult if not   
   impossible.   
      
   Still, there's no particular reason to assume that the motor   
   vehicle/bicycle ratios are noticably different than those observed on   
   the four surface bridges.   
      
   Your claimed "100 to one" is nothing more WAG and seems unlikely to be   
   accurate. Certainly the evidence points in that direction in any event.   
      
   Peace and justice,   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)