Tuesday, August 2, 2016

West Salem Urban Renewal Board Meets Wednesday, Undercrossing Open House on the 17th

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 3rd, the West Salem Redevelopment Advisory Board meets and there are a couple of items to note. (Meeting packet and agenda here.)

Most interesting is the announcement of an Open House on the proposed crossing under Wallace Road along a Marine Drive extension and Second Street alignment.


The Open House will be Wednesday, August 17th, from 6 - 8 p.m., in West Salem Roth’s Fresh Markets Oregon Room, 1130 Wallace Road NW.

Below is the latest map that shows the proposed alignment along Second Street and the left turn transition into Marine Drive (green).

New is the proposed right turn lane from the Marion Street Bridge (blue) and the connection to Musgrave Lane (light purple).


It also shows the way Marine Drive would alter the Union Street Railroad Bridge trestle and require new path segments (dark purple).

One thing that has not been thought through entirely is the fact that a plaza concept, perhaps dormant or discarded now, was proposed for the north side of Second Street, tucked in below grade alongside Wallace.


Below-grade plaza at one point was proposed
(in pink, upper right of plan view above)
But if the path connection from the Union Street Bridge is on the south side of the Street, the underpass concept has no crosswalk and way to reach the north side of the street.

This is another clear sign of the way that autoist through-movement on Marine Drive has come to dominate the concept at the expense of those on foot and on bike.

It is also interesting to note that there is a new member of the Board, unfortunately someone with very public disapproval of facilities for people who bike. As important it is to improve walking and biking in West Salem, this seems like a retrograde, anti-urban move.

WSRAB meets Wednesday the 3rd from 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM in the West Salem Public Library, 395 Glen Creek Road NW.

For more on doubts about the latest undercrossing plan see here. All notes on the undercrossing and Edgewater District are here.

No comments: