Super-Sized Wallace and Glen Creek Remains Charlie Foxtrot for Many

Is there any point to talking about Wallace and Glen Creek again?

But the autoist propaganda machine is at it again! So it seems like it's necessary to rant point out that there's a lot of cost to the intersection engorgement.

While the existence of crosswalks - indeed an increase from three to four crosswalks -  sounds like it might be an improvement, because of the massive widening, the intersection will be more forbidding than ever before to travelers on bike and on foot.

On a map it looks like it might be easier to cross, but in reality the crossings will be longer, there will be more lanes of streaming car traffic to contend with or evade, and it will be more stressful, not less. Hale and hearty 20-year-olds might not find it difficult, but those at the ends of the 8 to 80 spectrum will certainly do so. How many parents would send their kids alone across the intersection? How many would want their own parents walking across it?

It's also clear the "improvements" are fundamentally hydraulic autoism, all about flow and pumping more cars through the intersection. (We might, for example, have spent $10 million on alternatives to drive-alone trips, thereby reducing traffic rather than accommodating it and inducing even more traffic and congestion in road widening.)

Once the lights are turned on the traffic lanes are opened, drivers will have some major changes to contend with. The new configuration will provide dual left-turn lanes from northbound Wallace to westbound Glen Creek, in addition to dual right-turn lanes from eastbound Glen Creek to southbound Wallace. There also will be two dedicated left turn lanes, rather than one, from westbound Glen Creek onto southbound Wallace Road.

“What we hope to accomplish is getting more of those cars off of Wallace during the evening peak hours, and in the morning peak hours getting more cars off of Glen Creek onto Wallace,” [Project Manager] Kimsey said.

The crosswalks and necessary traffic light timing for them all constitute "pedestrian impedance," delays and clogs in the ideal world of free-flow and autoist trafficky goodness. 

Here again are the plans from 2011 with an inset of the now-former conditions:

This is from 2011 and may not represent the final, built design
click to enlarge and see notes

Maybe on a sunny day it after the traffic wands and barrels are gone it will be possible to take a picture from the west, uphill side that will show adequately the vastness of the intersection. It's an urban highway, not some pedestrian-friendly byway!

On Glen Creek looking west, up the hill

Postscript

Here's a second thought: How much Cherriots service, calculated from the current "inefficient" configuration, would $10 million buy? Is that months of service, years of service, decades of service? How far would $10 million go just in West Salem?

It is convenient, but not very truthful, to treat the system reboot
and the Third Bridge as wholly separate matters

This is hypothetical, because the funding sources are entirely different, but that might be the best way to think about the opportunity cost of super-sizing the intersection here.

Also, previous notes on this project, going back to 2009, are collected here.

January 11th, 2015

Here's some praise.

No people, no cars, no life
via Moving Salem Forward

There are no people, no cars, no life. I'm just not seeing "WOW" or "transforming investment" or "positive change" or "livability." This is just sloganeering as empty as the intersection. Has the writer actually walked or bike through the intersection? I suspect the photo is taken from a car window, though it is possible that traffic was light enough they walked into the road. At any rate it is taken from a car lane, and represents the perspective of a driver, not a different user of the road.

Anyway, it's good to read the other side...

Update, April 2015

Would you send your child to the park on this by bike?
Note two people on bike in the crosswalk!
(Looking down Glen Creek towards Wallace Park)

Construction on Glen Creek at Wallace Road and Wallace Park Show Incoherence

At this point there's nothing useful to say about the construction at Wallace and Glen Creek - but holy smokes, have you walked the intersection lately?

On Glen Creek looking west, up the hill

It's so big. It's a highway, it's a canyon: Depending on how you count, as many as seven or eight lanes wide.

It's just insane. That's all.

The plan from 2011

A few blocks down the street on the edge of Wallace Marine Park, the connecting path between the Union Street Railroad Bridge trestle and Glen Creek Road is finally underway.

Concrete and grading on the Glen Creek Path

It's interesting to see the way the final design deviates from the desire path already well-established.

West Salem Neighborhood Association Monday: Super-Sized Wallace and Glen Creek - updated

While the actual magnitude of potential savings and costs on a new Police Station and Civic Center seismic retrofit remain uncertain, the City is moving forward on a ginormous and extravagant $15+ million enlargement of the intersection at Wallace and Glen Creek.

This is from 2011 and may not represent the final design
click to enlarge and see notes

On Monday the West Salem Neighborhood Association will hear the latest from the City on the project.

That meeting starts at 7pm, but is preceded by a 6pm Open House on the "Potential Public Safety Facility and Civic Center Seismic Need."

From higher up - Proposed City Hall and Police Station
Image: CB|Two

The juxtaposition of the two projects is an excellent chance to consider a comparative perspective on priorities - on how we invest/disinvest in neighborhoods, livability, sustainability, and creating economic value.

The conclusion here is that the intersection project will make it more difficult to walk, bike, and even drive from West Salem neighborhoods to Roth's, the Library, the Post Office, and to Wallace Park. If we want to reduce traffic congestion by making it easier not to drive, it's the wrong project, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

And if we wanted to grab some savings, killing this urban highway project would be a great start!  (Not to mention that a seismically stable City Hall, Library, and Police Station will be a heck of a lot more useful than an enormous intersection when the earthquake hits.)

The Open House and Neighborhood Association meeting is at Roth’s West, Mezzanine level, at 1130 Wallace Rd NW on Monday, January 6th.

For more on the project see here and here.  (About the Police Station, well, plenty has been said lately!)

Update, Monday the 6th

Some interesting bits from the paper:

In the Monday paper:  That's a whole lotta congestion!
We have tons of excess capacity, actually

Open House:

An informational meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 14 at the West Salem Library, 395 Glen Creek Road NW, behind Roth’s Fresh Market. Salem Public Works Department staff members will be on hand to answer questions.

Greenwash and Spin!

These are not improvements for people on foot and on bike...interesting that the path connection is sortof being folded into the larger project:

Among other things, the $10.4 million project will add dedicated left-turn lanes from Wallace Road, dedicated right- and left-turn lanes from Glen Creek Road, and other improvements for vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists. A separate project will improve pedestrian and bicycle access from Wallace Marine Park to Glen Creek Road.

With actual bids, cost revised downward from $15M+?

$10.4 million; $7 million from bonds that Salem voters approved in 2008 for street and bridge work, and $3.4 million from federal grants through the Oregon Department of Transportation. The project is managed jointly by the Salem Public Works Department and ODOT; Wallace Road NW is a state highway.

Super-Size Me! Open House on Wallace at Glen Creek Project

Tomorrow night learn about the intersection widening for Glen Creek and Wallace Road.

It might be the most important City road bond project (background analysis here) for people who walk and bike. This is an $11+ million project that will significantly enlarge the intersection and put more cars through it.

If you think it's difficult to cross the roads now, just wait until Wallace has 7 travel lanes and Glen Creek has 6. Getting to Roth's, the Post Office, the Library, the Transit Center, or the Union St. RR Bridge will be that much trickier for people who live in West Salem. It really makes the moat much deeper and wider.

(Click to enlarge)

5 car travel lanes will be added to 3 directions of travel through the intersection.

Wallace at Glen Creek: Main Entry to the Bridge to get More Difficult

Wallace at Glen Creek NW is almost certainly the most important entry on the west side to the Union Street Railroad Bridge. It's already a very difficult intersection, and one of the Keep Salem Moving road bond projects is an $8.5M widening of the intersection.

Under the guise of "congestion relief" the city's plan will create two right-turn lanes from Glen Creek. This will only make the pedestrian and bicycle crossing longer, double the cross-traffic lanes, and make it more dangerous.

Update:Here's the project description from the city.

Wallace Road NW at Glen Creek Road NW Intersection
Dual Left-Turn Lanes - Start of Activities
City Project #709501 - ODOT Key #14870

....
The basic project will widen the roadways to create Wallace Road northbound dual left-turn lanes to westbound Glen Creek Road, and a Glen Creek Road eastbound dual right-turn lane to southbound Wallace Road. Work will also be done on the other two intersection approaches, along with a new traffic signal....

The City of Salem and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) are working jointly to accomplish improvements at this intersection. Glen Creek Road NW is a City street and Wallace Road NW is the Salem-Dayton OR 221 Highway.

ODOT will lead development activities with support from the City of Salem....Public involvement will be sought periodically during development of the project. Presentations will be made to interested parties when more information is available. Construction will start in 2014.

The total cost of this intersection improvement project is approximately $11 million, comprised of $8.5 million in city bond funds and $3.4 million in federal/state funds....

The plan is a terrific example of a feedback loop going in the wrong direction. The intersection will become more difficult for pedestrian and bicycle trips - the very kinds of trips that would take cars off the road and relieve congestion. In the end, the project will pump more autos through, induce increased demand, and create even more congestion.

Let's take a look at existing conditions.

From Wallace heading into town, a left turn onto Glen Creek requires a left merge from the bike lane across two very busy auto lanes of traffic. The road widening will only make this worse.

The alternative is for a bicyclist to go right, dismount, and use the crosswalk.

From Glen Creek, the bike lane ends mid-hill. It just simply disappears. To continue through the intersection a bicyclist must merge left across right-turn-only traffic.

Here's the turn lane. There's no crosswalk on the right hand, inbound side. If you want to use the crosswalk, you have to use it three times for a chunk of out-of-direction travel.

Adding an additional turn lane from Glen Creek to Wallace will also exacerbate this problem for bikes and peds.

The funny thing is, just a little bit further down Glen Creek, the Courthouse has a lovely pedestrian median for the stroll from the parking lot to the gym.

Maybe the Courthouse privately paid for this improvement...but you know, it's pretty sad when the road engineering offers a better way to walk from the auto parking lot to the gym than a way to use active transportation to walk or bike to the gym and bridge. Glen Creek is not difficult to cross at the gym, and the concrete budget might have been more usefully directed to making Wallace easier to cross.

One of the recommendations of the Salem Rivercrossing Alternative Modes Study is to make the intersection easier for bikes and peds. Hopefully, the project will be reconsidered and redesigned in ways that will actually reduce congestion.

Update, April 2015

Here's the finished work:

Would you send your child to the park on this by bike?
Note two people on bike in the crosswalk!
(Looking down Glen Creek towards Wallace Park)