Metro planners will give government, business and nonprofit leaders a first peek next month at draft recommendations for improving commerce and transportation in the region's northeastern corner.
A solid grid of streets overlays much of Gresham, Fairview, Wood Village, Troutdale and pockets of unincorporated Multnomah County, yet there are significant gaps in the transit, bicycle and pedestrian network. What's more, there are spots where cars and trucks speed by or bottle up because of poor road configuration and traffic light timing.
The East Metro Connections Plan will consider increasing bus service, adding sidewalks, coordinating traffic signals, changing road widths, and re-designating freight routes – "small fixes" to the existing web of arterials that connect commercial centers and Interstate 84 and U.S. 26, explained Dana Lucero, a spokeswoman for Metro's corridor planning department. The plan will also consider recommendations for improving road access to Springwater, a proposed industrial, commercial and residential area southeast of Gresham.
The growth east Metro will likely experience as a result of new jobs or residents can be accommodated by the existing road network, Lucero said. Planners didn't see a need based on traffic volumes for a new or drastically widened road, she said.
"This represents a distributed system of gives and takes," said Lucero, who will provide a project steering committee recommendations for review at the group's March 14 meeting. "It's small fixes to the existing system."
The committee includes representatives from state and local government agencies, as well as private-sector organizations, such as the East Metro Economic Alliance, Columbia Slough Watershed Council and FedEx Corp., which operates a major distribution facility in Troutdale.
Choosing the roads forward
The plan is the fruit of a 2007 agreement between Multnomah County and the four cities to work together on helping the economy by improving north-south transportation. The cities have a checkered history of cooperation, and that's a major reason why the east part of the region is not as prosperous as the west, said Metro Councilor and steering committee member Shirley Craddick.
"Most of the people who live in east Multnomah County commute 10-to-15 miles to their job," said Craddick, whose Metro district includes the study area.
There were roughly 47,000 homes and 32,000 jobs in the plan area in 2010, according to Metro. The region forecasts that the area will have about 60,000 homes and 62,000 jobs in 2035. Local leaders contend that transportation fixes will help alter the jobs-housing balance, but officials haven't been able to agree on a road forward.
A long-held assumption was that a single, major connection – either a new route or expanded arterial – was needed between I-84 on the north and U.S. 26 on the south. The political sticking point was where the connection would go and who would bear the traffic burden.
Rather than focusing on one north-south connector, Metro planners will suggest improving traffic flow on several arterials in the area. That could include Halsey, Burnside and Division streets for east-west traffic and 181st, 182nd, 223rd, 238th, 242nd and 257th avenues for north-south traffic. The strategy is part of a focus at Metro on achieving one of its so-called desired outcomes for the region: fairly spreading the benefits and burdens of growth and change.
"One north-south thoroughfare is not really the answer here," said Steve Entenman, a member of the steering committee and East Metro Economic Alliance board. "It has to be a combination of things."
Fairview Mayor Mike Weatherby, who signed the 2007 agreement, said his fellow steering committee members must prioritize transportation projects so as to get the biggest bang for the buck. Among Weatherby's top priorities is extending Fairview Parkway south from Glisan Street to Stark Street in Gresham. The parkway's northern stretch connects with Sandy Boulevard and I-84.
"Everybody keeps talking about limited funds," Weatherby added. "If we improve every street, the money gets diluted."
A Metro transportation analysis shows that trucks make up just 3 percent of the area's daily traffic. Further, truckers traveling through the area generally don't prefer 181st and Burnside – which the planners designated as a main freight route – as much as 257th and Kane Drive, and other north-south routes. Truckers reported safety concerns, conflicts with light-rail trains and slower travel times as reasons they avoid the Burnside and 181st route.
"As (we've) gotten into the data, we've realized there is a good grid system in this part of Multnomah County, and that it isn't really necessary to focus on one corridor," Craddick said. "It is really better to enhance the corridors that currently exist so that they work better."
Lucero said Metro planners may recommend that Burnside, between 181st and 223rd, be removed from the Regional Transportation Plan's list of freight corridors to reflect the route's actual usage and resolve safety concerns. Taking the route's place in the plan would be 223rd, between Glisan and Burnside, as well as 257th and Kane.
Active transportation ideas being discussed include improving pedestrian infrastructure in Rockwood and downtown Gresham, introducing bus rapid transit along the Division/Powell corridor, and creating better transit connections with Mt. Hood Community College, Lucero said.
Planners' recommendations will also focus on ways to spur economic development in existing and planned commercial and industrial hubs. Among the roadway projects to be evaluated is the widening of Halsey Street to a three-lane minor arterial with a center turn lane and median, sidewalk and bicycle lanes, consistent with the Halsey Street Conceptual Design Plan. Halsey passes through all four cities.
"Economic development follows transportation improvements … active and vehicular," Entenman said.
Preparing for change in Springwater
Planners will also evaluate street improvements, including a U.S. 26 interchange, amid the 1,272-acre Springwater area that was brought into the urban growth boundary in 2003 but has not been annexed by Gresham. Undeveloped lots, farms and single-family homes dot Springwater today, but the city's 20-year master plan for the area envisions a village center, residential community and high-tech and industrial campuses supporting 15,000 jobs.
"The city has significant challenges to opening it up because of the financial burden – getting sewer, water and road infrastructure there," Craddick said. "Industry isn't necessarily just going to drop in there; they want shovel-ready."
The East Metro Economic Alliance ranks developing Springwater among its top priorities. But Carol Rulla, a stakeholder committee member and president of the Coalition of Gresham Neighborhood Associations, called the Springwater development plan a double-edged sword.
"It would be great if we had those jobs," added Rulla, who lives in southeast Gresham. "But it'd be difficult for the people who are here already and on the route because of all the traffic development would bring."
Metro staffers will convene the steering committee three times between now and the end of May and ask the Metro Council and Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village and Fairview city councils to approve a plan by July. If elected officials can agree on an equitable way to spread transportation benefits and burdens, Rulla predicted, the area will become less congested and more attractive to employers and residents.
"If you want to make it so businesses want to come to the community, you need to make it an attractive place to live," she added.