You might have read that the bailout of the distressed financial sector was sweetened with a number of additional provisions, including language of Congressman Earl Blumenaeur's bicycle commuter bill.

According to our fellow transportation eggheads at the University of South Florida, the Emegency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (H.R. 1424) expands transportation fringe benefits (Section 132(f) that allows up to a $20.00 per month for tax deduction for bicycle commuters.

photo courtesy of Jonathan Maus: www.bikeportland.org

The act allows employers to make tax deductible reimbursements of bicycle commute expenses (it doesn't require anything your employer to do anything). For example, the tax code already allows employers to reimburse employees of parking and public transit fare costs as tax deductible expenses. Now, if you buy a bicycle for commuting (and you actually commute with it), it appears that your employer could choose to reimburse up to $240 a year of those costs: you get the cost of the commuter bike reduced and your employer reduces its tax liability.

The bill's language will still need to be interpreted by the IRS.

You may view HR 1424 here: http://www.thomas.gov/

See IRS' Taxable Fringe Benefits Guide for more information about Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefit Guide: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/fringe_benefit_fslg.pdf 

The 38th annual Portland Marathon will be run on Sunday, October 5, 2008.  Traffic will be affected throughout the day, and some major streets and bridges will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. or later.  

SW Naito Parkway, SW Salmon Street, SW 3rd and 4th avenues, SW Broadway, NW Davis Street, NW Lovejoy, NW 9th Avenue, NW Raleigh and Thurman streets, NW Wardway, NW St. Helens Road, N Willamette Boulevard, N Greeley, and N Interstate are all impacted by the race to a significant degree throughout the day and should be avoided.

The Broadway Bridge will be CLOSED to westbound traffic from 10:00 a.m. to noon, and the Morrison Bridge will be CLOSED to westbound traffic between 6:00 and 8:45am. The Burnside Bridge will be CLOSED to westbound traffic between 6:30 and 9:00 a.m. The St. Johns Bridge will have one lane open to traffic in each direction.

TriMet routes will also be affected.  Click here for more on TriMet detours.

The Marathon Course route is closed to all unauthorized vehicular and bicycle traffic.  For more detailed information on the street closures, or to download a PDF map of the traffic control plan for this event, visit the Keep Portland Moving special events page.

The City of Portland's Pedestrian Advisory Committee, a group of citizens that meet montly to advise the Office of Transportation and City Council on pedestrian issues city-wide, are looking for a few good members. 

To read the notice and learn more, click here.