Ian Davidson Named new ODOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager

Though ODOT does not seem to have made a formal announcement, in the agenda for the next OBPAC meeting there is a pleasant kind of Easter egg.

On a summer 2023 ride (FB)

Ian Davidson, whom you will know from Salem Bike Vision and the Cherriots Board, is listed as the new Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager. (It's listed with "pedestrian" first, and perhaps this is not an accident. But historically it has been "bicycle" first.)

OBPAC agenda for this month

ODOT had announced the recruitment in May, and it's good to see it filled.

Interestingly, Davidson seems to have more of a background as administrator in government, and not a background as engineer or planner, like previous occupants of the position. This may be significant for ODOT upper management and the way they see the job.

Until Jessica Horning maintained a base in Portland, first Michael Ronkin and then Sheila Lyons maintained a base in Salem, and hopefully this will return with Davidson. Portland might be the leading bike city in Oregon, but Salem needs all the help it can get, and other cities, except perhaps those with large universities, have problems more similar to Salem's than to Portland's.

At the same time, institutionally ODOT has ensured that OBPAC and the programming associated with it remained very marginal. They have input on statewide project funding in the tens of millions of dollars per year, but little input on larger projects. Freight interests and cars always are primary. Getting incrementally larger tiny slices of the pie is nice, but these remain tiny slices. There are larger structural and institutional changes that need to be made at ODOT and even the OTC in order to make the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program something more than signalling and amenity on the margins.

It's the cars, driving, and their speeds that need adjustment.

There are other issues, too. 

Ebikes and scorching is an increasing problem.

It will be interesting to see if focus at ODOT shifts to protected bike lanes or to sidewalkification and multi-use paths.

And there is ODOT's appetite for more funding for mega-projects and how better funding for walking and rolling will fit into any new Legislative program in 2025.

All in all it's a moment with challenge and with opportunity.

Congratulations to Davidson, and Good Luck!