BikeLoud PDX

All candidates

Joel Corcoran

Council - District 3

  1. Q1 A city to learn from

    What city has an approach to transportation that Portland should learn from? What specific policies, funding, design, etc., could be adopted to work here?

    Denmark and Amsterdam are international cities that provide great models for Portland to learn from, but within the United States, I would look to Chicago. The City of Chicago is now seeing the benefits of its Building a New Chicago program started in 2012, a focused, strategic initiative that coupled improving transportation infrastructure, expanding parks and recreation, and improving water, sewer, and other public works infrastructure together.

    All three cities demonstrate that the most effective way for cities to improve transportation over the long term is through a balanced, strategic approach that rests on four core pillars: improving public transit; enhancing active mobility and pedestrian infrastructure equitably; providing an integrated, seamless experience for users across transportation modes; and environmental protections and sustainability.

    In Chicago especially, the city has spent the past decade modernizing the Chicago Transit Authority and expanding services; improving and resurfacing over two thousand miles of sidewalks (while replacing hundreds of miles of water and sewer lines at the same time); and adding over 200 miles of bike lanes (esp. protected and buffered bike lanes) and several thousand bike racks. This effort has revitalized the city and completely transformed its waterfront.

    I think Portland could learn quite a bit from such an integrated approach.

    Private rating

  2. Q2 Got it right, got it wrong

    What is one specific Portland transportation project (built, abandoned, under construction, or proposed) that you think Portland got right, and one that Portland got wrong?

    Portland certainly got the Frequent Express (FX) bus line on Division right. While not quite the bus rapid transit system we need, it has proven to be a good model for similar blended bus routes across the city.

    The Springwater Corridor continues to be a struggling boondoggle of a project. I think it represents one of those transportation projects that had (and still has) great goals, but poor planning. We failed to plan for human impacts and worst case scenarios. But I still haven’t given up on the idea of continuing to improve the Corridor, and I think the problems still plaguing it can be fixed.

    Private rating

  3. Q3 Progress on biking, walking & safety

    Is Portland making progress on getting more people biking and walking, and on making streets safer? What do you think is behind that trajectory?

    Portland has made modest progress on street safety, but we need more convincing progress on getting more people biking and walking.

    I’m encouraged that traffic deaths fell from 69 in 2023 to 39 in 2025. This is a significant improvement, and the people doing safety work deserve credit. But 39 deaths are still 39 too many, and more than half of the people killed in 2025 were pedestrians. Meanwhile, the city’s bicycle counts were essentially flat for a second year. I would not call that the growth Portland says it wants.

    The trajectories we’re seeing represent both piecemeal success and systemic inertia. Safer crossings, lower speeds, and better bikeways help. But a person deciding whether to bike or walk a routine trip experiences the whole route: the uncomfortable crossing, the gap in a bike lane, the missing sidewalk, or the facility that is poorly maintained. One good project cannot overcome several places along the trip that feel unsafe.

    If elected, I would do everything I could to help Councilors Loretta Smith and Mitch Green obtain funding for their Sidewalk Improvement and Paving Program (SIPP) initiative and push it through to the success it deserves. SIPP is one of the few, comprehensive transportation-related strategies that the “new” City Council worked on, but it has stalled out for too long.

    Private rating

  4. Q4 How they get around

    How do you actually get around Portland day-to-day? Commuting, errands, evening plans, etc. What is the last trip you took by bike or transit, and what's stopping you from doing more of your trips that way?

    I usually walk or take the bus when commuting downtown or running errands, but I also drive quite a bit (a Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV that I’ve grown to love). I take care of my mom, and since she stopped driving a few years ago, I chauffeur her around to wherever she needs to go.

    I would like to get back to biking and skateboarding more often, but I still need to get in better shape for that.

    Private rating