Connect Cascade Locks: A Trails Plan for Economic Development

Located in the heart of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, the City of Cascade Locks is a point of entry for regional and national trail systems. Recreational development opportunities abound for the community including mountain biking, hiking, sailing, bird watching, road biking, wind surfing, fishing, and camping. As the only city located directly on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cascade Locks sees thousands of hikers pass through every year. The Historic Columbia River Highway, a National Scenic Byway, draws in bicyclists and motorists from across the region. With these opportunities in mind, Celilo Planning Studio worked with the Port of Cascade Locks to develop a plan that identifies potential areas for economic growth. The purpose of Connect Cascade Locks is to increase the economic development prospects of the community of Cascade Locks through a regionally integrated recreational trails network. Connect Cascade Locks focuses on increasing access to regional trails in town, trail stewardship, identifying goods and services that trail users desire, developing opportunities for local businesses, and recognizing existing local attractions. This plan capitalizes on existing opportunities as well as the enthusiasm of the Cascade Locks community to help revitalize the town. Connect Cascade Locks has already galvanized partner organizations such as the Port and ODOT to start planning new trails and outdoor recreation opportunities in Cascade Locks. The plan is also available at: www.portofcascadelocks.org. This project was conducted under the supervision of Ethan Seltzer and Gil Kelley

The dynamics of bike-sharing in Washington, D.C. and Brisbane, Australia: implications for policy and planning

The rapid growth in public bike-sharing programs (PBSPs) worldwide has left numerous research gaps, particularly related to environmental benefits, social benefits, and data from systems in cities with historically low bicycle ridership. We offer a battery of metrics and present results on their application to Washington, DC’s Capital Bikeshare and Brisbane's CityCycle. These metrics, which examine neighborhood performance and temporal and spatial ridership trends, initiate discussions on the policies and planning that make for a successful PBSP. We found that providing helmets, expanding hours of operation, and adding stations in suburbs with few or no stations leads to higher ridership