For one thing, the bicycle mode share in Portland is still only about 7% -- and in recent years it has declined slightly -- in spite of Portland's being the showcase city in the USA for urban cycling.

For another, much of the special construction consisted of improvements to bridges. That construction certainly increased traffic across the bridges where the traffic counts were taken. These counts are not representative of bicycle use throughout the city.

And also, San Francisco provides an important comparison: during more than two years when there was no bikeway construction whatever due to an injunction filed by a right-wing bikeway opponent, bicycle traffic counts increased by 40%. A similar comment may be made about Cambridge, Massachusetts, where there was very little additional construction between 2000 and 2009, but a very substantial increase in bicycle use.