The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) and friends this morning kicked off their campaign to get City Council to not only adopt the 2030 Bike Plan but actually build it.

"Most transportation plans are adopted and then they go on a shelf and are forgotten," BTA advocate Michelle Poyourow told reporters this morning outside the BTA's office on the downtown transit mall. "This plan is different. It will be built and it will be built quickly." The pricetag for the first phase of the plan is $100 million, but Poyourow steered clear of naming a dollar amount the BTA wants the city to put toward the plan, instead focusing on the health and community livability benefits of getting 25 percent of trips in the city on bikes by 2030.

Asked by a TV news reporter how "cyclists should pay for the plan since all money for bike infrastructure comes from gas taxes" (a common misconception) Poyourow responded that funding for bike projects comes from federal funds, development funds, gas taxes and city funds and that the city should explore all these options for funding the projects.

The BUILD IT slogan is the centerpiece of an entire social media campaign, including a sleek website, Facebook site and Twitter hastag #Buildit that the pro-bike team hopes will get people out to the City Council vote on the plan this February 4th. Maybe they took a cue from the city audit showing the majority of policy conversations online happen outside mainstream media?

The BUILD IT website is asking supporters to snap a picture of themselves with the campaign poster and send it into the site. I support building a better bike system in Portland, so my picture is below the cut.