Milwaukie TSP Bike / Ped Meeting #1

The Milwaukie TSP (Transportation System Plan) Update Bicycle and Pedestrian Workshop meeting was held from 10am to 12pm, Saturday, March 24th at Milwaukie City Hall in the City Council chamber. Here is an overview of that meeting:

Katie Mangle, planning director for the City of Milwaukie, started off with an overview of the process. The bike/Ped workshop for the TSP update consists of two (possibly 3 if required) meetings. The first meeting (March 24th) is to identify current problem areas in the city, errors in the provided maps of bicycle facilities and pedestrian sidewalks, and areas for improvement. The second meeting (probably in late April, TBA) will list proposed solutions developed by City staff and DKS Associates, the transportation firm hired by the city to help them through the process.

Katie also presented the Draft TSP Goals:

1. Balanced transportation system that provides travel choices
2. Reduce length of trips; manage congestion
3. Safety
4. Enhance Milwaukie's livability
5. Promote economic vitality
6. Develop context-sensitive design standards
7. Sustainability (environmental, economic, social)
8. Coordinate with other jurisdictions & be consistent with the city's Comprehensive Plan
9. Efficiently use available funds/monies to implement recommended projects
   

There were approximately 20 members of the public in attendance, who were nearly equally split between pedestrian and bike concerns. The group split into 2 working groups - I attended the bicycle portion. After 90 minutes of discussion, the two groups reassembled to summarize the information.

I delivered a list of map errors to Alan Snook, the transportation planner from DKS Associates who is working with the city. Overall, the map of existing bike facilities (bike lanes, shared lanes) was reasonably accurate, with some disagreement over the designation of north Linwood as "shared lane" and the omission of the relatively unknown multi-use path along the river behind the sewage treatment plant.

Brett Kelver, Assistant Planner for the city, facilitated. Brett is handling the bike side of things, and Ryan Marquardt (also Assistant Planner for the city) is focusing more on the pedestrian side.

Members of the public around the table took turns describing the bike issues currently in the city. The following items were discussed:

• No signage for the trail behind the sewage plant- Bike lanes on lower Linwood poor quality pavement, full of debris
• Curbs separating Linwood bike lanes prevent sweepers from cleaning the lanes
• Crossings of Johnson Creek Blvd. are problematic and hazardous
• Lake Road: one side is not bike-friendly
• No good east-west connections in southern Milwaukie
• Railroad Avenue totally unsuited for bikes, hazardous
• The 1997 plan only addressed a few problems, most still exist
• Lake at RR / Harmony / Linwood intersection: paint on bike lanes worn off
• Upper Linwood does not have continuous paved shoulders
• Storm drain at Linwood & King right in bike path on turn
• Homeowner placing "For Sale" sign in the bike lane
• Drivers not respecting bike lanes, parking in them, etc (esp. King / JCB / River Rd / Linwood)
• No enforcement of bike lanes - PD needs to ticket more
• SE 17th has lots of gravel & debris, bike lanes not continuous
• SE 17th & McLoughlin: loop detectors not sensitive enough, bike lane outboard of right-turn lane
• SE 17th & McLoughlin: sharp corner, cars drive into bike lane rather than taking it wide
• SE 17th & McLoughlin: crosswalk button more than 10 feet from bike lane behind safety fence
• SE 17th at 224: northbound cars off 224 do not stop
• Springwater Trail - bumpy, debris, pothole in Tideman Park, bad surface quality
• RR crossing at 21st & Adams dangerous, road surface bumpy
• Stop sign lying on ground at Springwater and Precision Castparts Corp. parking lot driveway
• Need better signage on Springwater Trail
• Pedestrian ramp from 3 Bridges to McLoughlin poorly designed, sharp corners make bicycling dangerous
• Need to coordinate with Portland for the areas that straddle the city / county line
• JCB: If bike lane line worn off, cars veer into bike lane and crowd bikes out
• Sellwood bridge (outside study area, but impacting the study area) needs bike issues addressed
• Upper Lake Rd (east) has lots of debris
• Need to repaint (restripe) bike lanes on Linwood, Harmony, King
• Bike hit by car on JCB west of 42nd Avenue
• Need more education and enforcement re: bike lanes
• Low-speed, low-use roads better solution than bike lanes - people don't feel comfortable on King / Lake
• Bike lanes are rarely clean and usually full of gravel and debris
• River Rd descent problematic for bikes, especially those trying to turn left (west) into Island neighborhood
• Need safe routes to schools, and between schools and parks
• Concern over future Trolley Trail, and connections between it, Riverfront Park, and McLoughlin

There was also discussion about the good things in Milwaukie, mostly centered around the 3 Bridges project.

When the group reassembled, the bicycle and pedestrian points were summarized. There was little overlap between the two groups, and no stated major conflicts between them.

Kaite Mangle then outlined the process that was expected to happen over the next couple months. The planners will take the comments from this meeting, create a list of proposed solutions / projects for the city to incorporate into the TSP, and get public comment on them at the second meeting. After that meeting, there will be an open house in late spring / early summer for additional public comment, and then the main advisory committee for the project will take those recommendations and create a plan to submit to the Milwaukie City Council for final approval.