City Kicks-Off New Second Street Project With online Open House Tonight

Because the City has not yet published any supporting documents, there is not very much definite to say about tonight's online Open House for the segment of Second Street between Gerth and Wallace in West Salem.

A concept for Second Street in March 2015

You may recall talk of an underpass or other grade-separated crossing and a connection to a future Marine Drive. The segment between Patterson and Wallace has been of special interest with the prospect of direct connection to the Union Street Bridge.

You might also remember hopes for "craft industrial" redevelopment. Here's part of the student projects from a decade ago.

Final proposal in plan view (updated with Goodwill)
UO SCI project, Salem Undercrossing Study

The City did rezone three small sections of land in the "code clean-up" project.

Just this Winter, a panel from the Urban Land Institute was going to write a report on the area with suggestions for accelerating redevelopment, which has seemed to stall. 

At the moment there are many moving parts and little definiteness.

Nevertheless, the City is moving forward on something. What that something is, is hard to say. Crucially, nothing is clear about Marine Drive and any grade-separated crossing across Wallace Road.

Improvements to 2nd Street NW began in 2013 with construction from Rosemont Avenue NW to Gerth Avenue NW. The City of Salem is working with a consultant, Century West Engineering, to design the remainder of 2nd Street NW from Gerth Avenue NW to Wallace Road NW. Construction will include new curbs, sidewalks, lighting, stormwater facilities, water and sewer system upgrades, and other pedestrian-friendly features along the corridor. Funding is through the West Salem Urban Renewal Area.

The purpose of the project is to make the entire corridor consistent and safe. The project will improve local connectivity for all types of users. It will also remove an obstacle to the redevelopment of the old industrial buildings that are there today.

The Open House will zoom at 7pm, tonight the 17th:

Virtual Open House on Design Progress of 2nd Street NW
Time: Feb 17, 2022 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89846078694
Meeting ID: 898 4607 8694

Once the City publishes some documentation there will certainly be more to say, and it will be possible to place it better in the decade of conversation and planning, and to separate the false-starts from more productive concepts in the current round of project development.

But whatever they do, they should be planning for low-speed auto travel, not for some high speed collector or arterial in a Marine Drive fantasia.

The talk of an undercrossing prompted many posts here last decade. Here are some more recent posts about the immediate vicinity:

• "Yet More on a Bolt-on Footbridge over Wallace at Edgewater" (2017)
  
• "City Scores Own Goal with Goodwill Driveways off Second St NW" (2018)
  
• "Clinic Monoculture is Defeating Edgewater Mixed Use Zone" (2019)

Update, March 7th

The City's published "meeting notes," which contain a cross-section, and it's a dud and business as usual.

All about cars

There's nothing about bicycle transport, not even mention of sharrows. The auto travel lanes are too wide at 11 feet, and a five foot sidewalk seems a little narrow for what is supposed to be a more urban feel. Really a missed opportunity.