Kuebler Widening Looks to Hoover up Bond Surplus

The final recommendations for the bond surplus are out and will be decided at Wednesday 's Council Streets and Bridges Bond Subcommittee meeting.

Recommendations seem follow tactics of ad hoc dispersal rather than a strategy of concentration.

Brown Road:  No sidewalks or bike lanes
Shouldn't we be investing more in basic mobility?
Too often this is our baseline.

I have listed the total cost in order to show the larger sense of priorities, so the total is substantially larger than the expected bond surplus.  In many cases the bond surplus is being used to back-fill with completion funding or used as a local match for other funding sources.

Of course these things are political as well as strategic, so some amount of "local pork" and "retail" neighborhood projects will be sprinkled in.  But as I read the list, it is striking how little from Bike and Walk Salem is recommended for funding.  It's almost as if that project never happened.  The selection critierion is independent of Bike and Walk Salem - "provides access to schools, parks, transit." So it doesn't look like the plan is meaningfully directing future investment or strategy.  Instead, the project list looks like an ad hoc response to local politics.  On the surface, there's not much strategy here. (Maybe you see something I don't?  It's hard to see a politically realistic balance that yet advances substantially our investments in basic mobility and non-auto travel.)

Selection Criteria (click to enlarge)

In an alternate universe, it is plausible that the bond surplus would fund a large number of high-priority projects from the new biking and walking plan - maybe even a complete corridor or family-friendly bikeway. In this world we would take greenhouse gas reduction goals seriously, and show a serious commitment to mobility choice and transportation options.

Instead, one capacity expansion project gets the largest share:  Kuebler widening is assigned $3.2M out of just over $8.1M.

And, remember, Kuebler already got a big chunk of the first round of surplus!  With those savings,

Council adopt[ed] Resolution No. 2013-46 authorizing use of Streets and Bridges Bond proceeds to fund improvements at the Commercial Street SE/Kuebler Boulevard SE intersection ($2, 187,000), Fairgrounds Road NE/Hood Street NE intersection ($325,000), and 25th Street SE/Madrona Avenue SE Intersection ($5,000,000).

So that's $2.2M out of $7.5M.  Why, just why?

There might be more bikes parked at the Union Gospel Mission
than anywhere else in Salem on a daily basis.
Many of those who ride and use the Mission's services are Veterans.
Don't we owe them better support for bicycling and
a better set of transportation options?

In a world in which we don't have a complete sidewalk and bikeway system, in a world in which maintaining our bridges and fixing "structurally deficient" ones remains a fantasy, in a world in which we clearly cannot maintain the roads and bridges and sidewalks we already have, why are we expanding any road capacity for cars?

So, I guess those are leading questions.  Still, what do you think about the list?

Primary Recommendations:

Category	Location	Total Cost	Priority
Arterial Safety	Brown Road upgrade (extends existing project)	$2,750,000	first
Pavement Rehab	Eola Drive pavement rehab (extends existing project)	$700,000
Neighborhood bike/ped	RR quiet zone crossing improvements at Woodrow and Silverton Road NE	$1,750,000	not listed!
Neighborhood bike/ped	Court Street wood bridge over Mill Creek	$250,000	not listed!
New Capacity	Kuebler at Commercial dual turn lanes	$4,700,000	this makes things worse!
Bridges	Scour Mitigation for 13th st bridge over Shelton Ditch	$100,000
Neighborhood bike/ped	New and repair sidewalks - inner Salem neighborhoods	$1,500,000	unknown
New Capacity	Widen Kueber, I-5 to Commercial	$5,000,000	this makes things worse!
Arterial Safety	Brush College (north side sidewalks)	$1,435,000	second
Safety	Fixed-Pole Radar signs	$50,000

Secondary Recommendations:

None of these are high-priority, first-tier projects:

Category	Location	Total Cost	Priority
Neighborhood bike/ped	River Road South - repair path and retaining wall, rehab pavement - between Fir and Croisan Creek Rd	$1,500,000	second
Neighborhood bike/ped	Cunningham Lane South - 1/2 street bike lanes and sidewalks	$1,500,000	second
Neighborhood bike/ped	Sidewalk at Madrona and Liberty for Salem Heights Elementary School	$200,000	third?
Neighborhood bike/ped	Sidewalks on Lone Oak (Silver Hills to Cimarron)	$420,000	second
Neighborhood bike/ped	Sidewalks on Doaks Ferry (Glen Creek to Grayhawk)	$300,000	second
Neighborhood bike/ped	Sidewalk on Orchard Heights (south side east of snobird along city reservoir)	$430,000	second

Two important projects look to have funding from other sources now and are not included on this list:

Category	Location	Cost	Priority
Neighborhood bike/ped	Signal and Crossing at Union and Commercial	$1,075,000	first
Neighborhood bike/ped	Minto Brown Trail (augment existing funding)	$1,000,000	first

Brown Road

The Brown Road project heads the list, and it is interesting to look at the way the project is being funded.  The project was important enough to head the list in several funding rounds - but never important enough to fund outright in one complete package.

With the bond surplus, STP-U/TA funds will
complete the section south of San Francisco

There are four major funding sources:

• Flex Funds for the County section
• TE/OBPAC funds for City section north of San Francisco  
• STP-U/Transportation Alternatives for City section south of San Francisco
• Bond surplus for City section south of San Francisco

The difficulty in funding what is a high-priority project like this for the City speaks volumes to the second-class status still of active transportation and legacy remediation for basic sidewalks and bikelanes.  I mean, really, does it have to be this difficult?

The subcommittee meets at noon on Wednesday the 13th, in the Public Works Conference Room at City Hall, 555 Liberty Street SE, Room 325.

If you think Bike and Walk Salem is more important than more Kuebler, let the subcommittee members know!

	Ward 3  Councilor: Brad Nanke Email: bnanke@cityofsalem.net Phone: 503-399-7803 Term Expires: December 31, 2016 Address: 555 Liberty St SE, Room 220, Salem OR 97301
	Ward 4  Councilor: Rich Clausen  Email: rclausen@cityofsalem.net Phone: 503-399-7804 Term Expires: December 31, 2014 Address: 555 Liberty St SE, Room 220, Salem OR 97301
	Ward 8 Councilor: Dan Clem Email: dclem@cityofsalem.net  Phone: 503-399-7808 Term Expires: December 31, 2014 Address: 555 Liberty St SE, Room 220, Salem OR 97301