Whackadoodle Crossing on Mill near 12th at SESNA - Updated

Just one item in the Neighborhood Associations this week. SESNA will discuss a tricky crossing made difficult by the railroad.

For people on foot and on bike the "Quiet Zone" projects have been a little mixed.

12th and Chemeketa seems to work just fine, much better than I expected, but 12th and Mill is still counter-intuitive, complicated, messy, and even unsafe. It turns you into a darting and unpredictable "urban deer." If good design makes the desired actions seem "natural," then the work at 12th and Mill is a broad failure for people on foot and on bike (it seems to work ok for those in cars).

Original concept for 12th and Mill contained a crosswalk

In the original plan there was a north-south crosswalk at the terminus of the Promenade.

The jumble at 12th and Mill - crosswalk deleted

But in the final plans it was deleted. People still cross here and use, in fact, the railroad bed itself, because it has new concrete, it's level, and the contrasting materials make it look like a crosswalk even. The "natural" thing and best way is exactly what the railroad and City doesn't want!

So. What to do?

SESNA  meets on Tuesday the 23rd, and they'll be talking about the rehab of the Baggage Depot as well as this crossing.

The agenda listing is brief, so it's hard to know who is driving the conversation and what outcome is imagined. At least on paper, the Baggage Depot has a third phase concerned with circulation for those on foot and on bike, and hopefully they are thinking about this vital connectivity with the Promenade. But I worry that under the guise of "improved safety" the intersection and crossing would get restricted and screwed up even more.

Busted Post and Mount in Median on 12th at Mill

An earlier round of "safety" improvements involved a full "pedestrian displacement system" in the overpass footbridge. Sometimes our approach to safety is to eliminate collision hazards and simplify traffic flow for those in cars by simply getting all others out of the way. It would be bad if this kind of displacement strategy is extended to the problem of the north-south crossing on Mill. (See the discussion of trees in median refuges in the comments here for more on displacement.)

Separately, in the median refuge on 12th at Mill, you may remember the busted post and mount from last summer. Plainly a car had crashed in to it.

The whole configuration here just seems like it needs a substantial round of refinement and adjustment, unfortunately.

McGilchrist at the SSA Office:
40mph, no sidewalks - but watch out for pedestrians!

They'll also be talking about McGilchrist Road, which is in the planning stages for a major project. It is in an important industrial area, but also now has a nascent cluster of breweries, the Social Security Office, and a Veteran's Clinic. It should be walkable. But it is signed for speeds too high, it lacks sidewalks and bike lanes, and, prone to flooding, it has tricky drainage and stormwater requirements. It's complicated, and will certainly entail compromises.

SESNA meets Tuesday the 23rd at 7:00 p.m. in the Capital Park Wesleyan Church, 410 19th St SE. 

Update, Feb 24th

A reader sends in the concept that was presented at the meeting.

White text, black text, black arrows added

Basically you've got two off-set half crosswalks with offset median refuges. Each elbow would be behind a gate, so if a train comes, you'd have a place to wait. The turning radius looks tight for a long-tail or trailer, however, as the reader points out. The off-set also affords a nearly perpendicular crossing of the tracks themselves - helpful for avoiding the problem of involuntary dismount!

It looks like it "flows" pretty well if you're on foot and, working out the bike movements, I think that it works well heading southbound (east or west) off of the Promenade, and rates at least "OK" heading east from 12th and then north onto the Promenade.

That looks like a promising first draft.

What do you think?