This article is the nineteenth in a series profiling the varied and amazing nominees for the 2008 Alice B. Toeclips Awards, which will be presented to five winners at the Alice Awards & Auction tomorrow night. We won’t have time to interview everyone, so be sure to check out their descriptions online. This profile was written by BTA correspondent John McLaren
As administrator of the “And We Bike†safety campaign in Washington County, Hal Ballard 
organized roadside demonstrations last year featuring “burma shaveâ€-style signs showing bicyclists as a friend, a neighbor, a kid or a wife. Motorists, he believes, got the message.
Ballard, cofounder and director of the Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition (BTC), has a long track record of bike advocacy including seven years as chair of the Beaverton Bicycle Advisory Committee and five years on the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District’s Trails Advisory Committee.
As vice chair of the county’s Rural Roads Operations and Maintenance Advisory Committee, he proposes measures to alleviate cyclists’ concerns about those roadways. He also helps update county and city transportation plans – there are 13 cities in Washington County.
Certified as a League Cycling Instructor (LCI) and Coach by the League of American Bicyclists, Ballard believes education of motorists and cyclists is the key to enhanced safety on the mostly rural roadways of Washington County. Under his leadership, the WashCo BTC is seeking partners to open a bicycle transportation center where anyone can repair a bike, buy a used one, and learn how and where to ride. He would like to see other LCI’s in the area become active in bike education and safety programs.
Ballard was a Bicycle Transportation Alliance board member for four years, during which he was credited with stimulating more awareness and concern for bicycling issues outside Portland. The BTC, initially was formed as a BTA chapter, became an independent non-profit agency three years ago.
