Bicycle & Pedestrian Planning

Portland's Bikeway Network


Portland is addressing the needs of its bicyclists with three main types of bikeways:
 

The city’s streets classified as collector and arterial streets are the city’s busiest. They include Forest Avenue and Brighton Avenue (examples of arterial streets) and Deering Avenue and Ocean Avenue (examples of collector streets). Bikeways on these streets are important because, like motorists, many bicyclists seek the most direct routes over longer distances to the destinations they wish to reach.

Neighborhood Byways designate local streets to provide safer, more convenient and attractive biking and walking to connect the places people live, go to school, shop, work and play. It's a shared roadway - local vehicle traffic continues to use the streets (with no change to the number of lanes), too, but walking and biking are made much more visible through pavement markings, the quality of the streetscape and signs. Their locations focus on good transportation connections between schools, neighborhood centers, parks and open spaces, and residential areas.

Shared Use Pathways are a type of shared bikeway and pedestrian-way physically separated from the roadway and are intended to be shared by multiple types of pathway users, serving both transportation and recreational purposes.

Different types of bikeways serve different bicyclists based upon the characteristics of the street. These characteristics include the volume, type, and speed of motor vehicle traffic. For example, younger or less experienced cyclists are generally less comfortable bicycling on busy streets with their faster traffic and higher traffic volumes, while many local residential streets meet their needs well.  To view the above map full screen, click here.

Bike Share


Portland has been exploring opportunities for bike share since 2012.  The City was selected by the E.P.A. for a technical assistance grant for a bike share feasibility study.  The report concluded that Portland was a good candidate for a bike share program given its high quality urban environment and healthy tourism sector. You can read the 'Next Steps' report here.

Portland released two Requests for Proposals in 2019 seeking a bike share vendor.  Neither resulted in an implemented system.  In 2021, the RFP was revamped to attract a vendor for implementation in June 2022.  As part of the RFP effort, the City conducted a bike share business survey in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and Portland Downtown.  Although limited, the survey found support for bringing a bike share program to Portland.  The survey results can be found here.

In August 2021, the City selected Tandem Mobility to plan, operate and launch a bike share system in collaboration with the City and local partners, with a target date of summer 2022.  Numerous steps will need to be accomplished prior to the launch including:  securing the needed bike share system sponsorships; identifying bike parking 'hubs' where bikes will be checked out-checked in and locked; developing the system's naming and branding; and, the hiring by Tandem of maintenance and operations staff.  For more information, contact Bruce Hyman at bhyman@portlandmaine.gov

Bicycle Parking


​Portland has been adding to its bicycle parking consistently over the years.  Most new development is required to provide bicycle parking both typically within sidewalks and for the developments' tenants within buildings or parking garages.  Bicycle parking accessible to the public was inventoried in 2019.

Abandoned Bicycle Policy


Removing abandoned bicycles helps keep the City's limited bicycle parking and scarce sidewalk space useful and free of clutter.  For information on procedures for handling abandoned bicycles, please see the following:

Abandoned Bicycle Policy
Abandoned Bicycle Donation Application

Bike Corral Program


For more information or to request a bike corral, please fill out the application below: 

City of Portland Bike Corral Application