Road sign on North 5th Street in Jacksonville honors the author of the Oregon Bike Bill.
The reason we have pretty good bikeways and lanes in Albany and in cities all over the state is the Oregon Bike Bill of 1971.
And the reason we have the bike Bill is the late Don Stathos, a Republican state representative from Jackson County from 1969 to ’72. (I worked in Ashland then, so he was my state rep too.)
Stathos was in the insurance business. He was the son of Greek immigrants and a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II who died in 2005 at the age of 81.
He once told an interviewer that he had the idea for the bike bill after he and his daughter were run off the road while riding a tandem between his home in Jacksonville and Medford.
The bill he sponsored requires all agencies receiving state highway funds to invest in bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure when building, rebuilding or maintaining roads and streets. The court of appeals upheld the law in 1993.
In 1979, the route between Jacksonville and Medford was named as a bikeway in Stathos’ honor. It is not actually a bikeway in the traditional sense, consisting merely of the shoulders of North Fifth in Jacksonville and West Main Street on the Medford side.
ODOT is taking note of the 55th anniversary of the enactment of the bike bill.
“This historic legislation was the first of its kind in the nation, requiring road projects to include accommodations for bicyclists and pedestrians and designating at least 1% of highway funds for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure,” the agency said in a press release.
To mark the occasion, ODOT invites the public to a ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, at the Capitol State Park in Salem, on the north side of Court Street.
If you don’t want to make the trip, you can instead take advantage of an extended online open house and comment on ODOT’s latest planning for a section of the proposed Albany-Corvallis bikeway and shared-use path.
You can access the open house here. The comment period has been extended until June 14.
Or, to enjoy the benefits of Don Stathos’ 55-year-old law, you can just get on your bike and ride around town, in Albany or wherever else in Oregon you happen to be. (hh)
This plaque, authorized by the state Senate in 1979, marks the Stathos Bikeway on North 5th Street in Jacksonville.
Bike, Bottle, and Beach bills. Oregon had some innovative thinkers in the past. Not so much anymore.
I love this!! Thank you for highlighting this important part of our community!!