Salem Poised to win two Safe Routes to Schools Construction Grants

ODOT announced today that two Salem projects are being recommended for Safe Routes to Schools funding in the latest round of construction grants.

Both projects look to be approved

They said,

The Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee is recommending 28 projects for funding, totaling $31.4 million, for ODOT’s Safe Routes to School Competitive Construction Grant Program. This grant provides state funds to build safety projects—such as sidewalks and crossings—within a two-mile radius of schools to address barriers to students walking and rolling to school. These funds will focus on under-resourced communities and safety.

In August 2024, ODOT received 51 applications from across the state for the Safe Routes to School Competitive Construction Grant Program totaling $67.8 million in needed safety improvements. The committee and staff put in more than 100 hours reviewing and evaluating potential projects using the scoring criteria and priorities determined by the committee in early 2024. All applications addressed barriers to students walking and biking with needed safety improvements.

The Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee met on Nov. 21 and Dec.16, 2024 to approve a recommended project list for the Safe Routes to School Construction Competitive Grant Program for the Oregon Transportation Commission’s consideration. The commission will vote on the project list at their Jan. 16 meeting.

Back in July Council had reviewed these two applications and it is terrific Salem looks to win awards on both.

But both cross-sections on Market Street and Pringle Road are untouched, still optimized for capacity and speed.

In an article not yet in print, which we'll discuss more in a day or two, former Councilor Stapleton said

“We really need to lean into that conversation [about safety] as a community and see what we value more,” Stapleton said. “Do we value being able to drive fast and not have any kind of delay, or do we value the lives of all residents?....The No. 1 thing we know is that speed kills,” she said. “The faster a vehicle is going, if they hit a cyclist or somebody walking, the lesser their chance of survival is, and also the same is true for somebody driving a car.”

This, exactly this. This is the discussion we need to have, and this is the tone advocates like Salem Bike Vision and Safe Routes should lean into. It's the cars, their drivers, and speed.

As the ODOT release says, the OTC will meet mid-month to ratify the approvals.

Pedestrian Victim-blaming Playbook Halts new Stop Signs at Parrish in 1924

Within just a few months of opening Parrish School in 1924, parents were immediately concerned about speeding drivers on Capitol Street, which was the Pacific Highway at that time.

December 12th, 1924

In mid-December the afternoon paper said

Complaints of parents of some of the 860 children now attending the Parrish school that truck and car drivers are speeding past the school house without regard for the safety of the children are chiefly responsible for the agitation for immediate action.

A few days later an ordinance for stop signs was at Council.

December 16th, 1924

Alas, the victim-blaming playbook was already effective and support for the stops ebbed away.

Conversation around Raised Crosswalk Highlights need to De-Stroadify

Over at our Strong Towns group they've got a good conversation going about an apparent refusal by the City to consider a raised crosswalk right at a middle school. This illustrates our problem with unsafe lawful speed, and our problem with looking at system/corridor speeds vs spot speed.

via FB

A raised crosswalk at the school would be a terrific and valuable thing!

You might recall back in July the City's application for funding from the State's Safe Routes to School Infrastructure program:

Pringle Road SE School Zone Improvements: Install pedestrian median island on south leg of intersection with Tiburon Court SE and Leslie Middle School driveway, construct ADA ramps, install additional overhead school zone beacon, install two variable speed zone signs. Estimated project cost is $690,000. Serves Leslie Middle School. This project ranked 37 out of 89 statewide based on [an earlier] review.

So it's not like the City's refusing to do anything here, but the further upgrade to a raised crosswalk would offer additional traffic calming. This whole stretch of Pringle Road/Battle Creek Road desperately needs to be reconceived as a neighborhood street, even if it remains a minor arterial. You will remember its place in the debate over the Meyer Farm project. Pringle/Battle Creek is no longer some semi-rural sub-urban quasi-highway. It needs to be destroadified!

City Council, July 22nd - Safe Routes to School Better Crosswalks Grant Application

One of the items on Monday's Council agenda is an application for grant funding on two sets of crosswalk improvements near middle schools.

• Market Street NE at 15th Street NE: Install Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) on east leg of Market Street NE at 15th Street NE intersection, restripe existing crosswalk, install ADA ramps, additional lighting, and signage. Estimated project cost is $610,000. Serves Parrish Middle School and North Salem High School. This project ranked 15 out of 89 statewide based on [an earlier] review. 
• Pringle Road SE School Zone Improvements: Install pedestrian median island on south leg of intersection with Tiburon Court SE and Leslie Middle School driveway, construct ADA ramps, install additional overhead school zone beacon, install two variable speed zone signs. Estimated project cost is $690,000. Serves Leslie Middle School. This project ranked 37 out of 89 statewide based on [an earlier] review.

The funding would come from the $26.25 million allocation in the 2025-2026 round of the State's Safe Routes to School Infrastructure Program.

Existing crosswalk at 15th and Market, looking west

Between Barrick Field and the schools

Market Street and Pringle Road are both zoomy and have problems with speeding drivers, so the upgrades to the crosswalks will be real incremental improvements. (Market Street, of course, also needs a 4/3 safety conversation with a median island at that crosswalk.)

Safety at the MPO

A year ago the MPO project to write a Metropolitan Transportation Safety Action Plan held an open house and survey. They've published a summary now, and it is interesting to consider a little.

The Policy Committee for the MPO meets on Tuesday the 28th, but there's not really anything much to say on that agenda, so we'll talk about that safety plan instead.

Survey summary

The results in general do not seem very surprising: People feel more safe walking than biking, people really feel vulnerable while on bike, intersections are a problem, and people feel safe in their cars.

Leveraging the precarious feelings of being on bike to support better bike lanes is wholly warranted.

But should messaging also underscore that you are not as safe in your car as you might think?

A few days ago

Just a few days ago the husband or relative of retired Librarian Judy Brunkal lost control of his vehicle on Croisan Creek Road, and she died in the crash.

In February a passenger, Lynda Rohrback Bush, died when her driver apparently tried to sneak across 12th street at Oak Hill in south Salem.

The lethality of autoism claims as many lives as gun violence.

It's not just those on foot, on bike, or otherwise rolling, who are at risk.

When he was at the paper, Dick Hughes used to say "Driving is the most dangerous thing that many of us will do in our lifetimes." 

Maybe in a strict actuarial sense this isn't the best way to put it, but he was right to underscore the dangers of driving! Drivers are the author of calamity.

One of the best things a transportation safety plan could do is say loudly and often, "Driving is dangerous and employs lethal force. The drive not taken is the safest drive. As often as you can, don't drive." Not-driving meets the exigencies of our moment: Climate as well as safety.

Pushing back on the illusion of safety when a person is inside a car would be salutary.

By a Divided Vote, SKATS Finds Path for Aumsville to Join: At the MPO

On Tuesday the 23rd, the Policy Committee for the Metropolitan Planning Organization meets. Last month they did what had seemed increasingly unlikely. They voted to add the City of Aumsville and to add an additional voting representative from the City of Salem.

A substitute motion

You will recall that Mayor Clark of Keizer and Chair of the MPO had introduced a motion to add Aumsville to the MPO without any changes to the voting structure.

The original motion

Councilor Phillips of Salem offered first a friendly amendment for Salem to have an additional seat and vote on the Committee, and after it was not seconded this became a substitute motion.

After a good bit of debate, Mayor Clark called for the vote and herself voted for it. It passed 4-3, with Marion and Polk Counties and the City of Turner opposed.

Calling the vote

It had not seemed likely that Mayor Clark would support Councilor Phillips and the City of Salem. So that was a nice surprise.

Still, there was some maneuvering. Commissioners Mordhorst and Cameron of Polk and Marion Counties respectively proposed to eliminate the School District from having a vote. If that happens, that might dilute the new vote from the City of Salem.

It should not happen. The School District has a vital interest in traffic safety and Safe Routes to Schools. And since SR2S staff are now employees of the COG/MPO, it is appropriate for the School District to sit on the Committee and to vote as part of it.

This is something to watch.

More than a bike rodeo!

In the miscellaneous updates for the current meeting it was great to read that a multi-week Bicycle Safety Education course would be returning to Salem schools after an absence of a few years, having been very incompletely replaced by bicycle rodeo concepts. (See "Bike Safety Education and the Hammond Bike Train" from 2010 for a brief hit on an earlier example of multi-day Bicycle Safety Education.)

The Policy Committee meets Tuesday the 23rd at noon. Meeting information, agenda, and packet is here.

Safe Routes to Schools and Incoherence on Safety: At the MPO

The Policy Committee for the Metropolitan Planning Organization meets on Tuesday the 27th, and Mayor Hoy will be a special guest as they talk about the lack of proportional representation at the MPO and how to incorporate Ausmville.

There's not really much new to say on that, and it is more interesting to consider a program that reports up into the same org chart as the MPO staff. It is formally separate, but very related.

In the paper yesterday was a nice feature on Safe Routes to School.

Yesterday's paper.

It's great to see more visibility for the Safe Routes to School program, which has struggled for traction here over the years.

It is important to teach kids how to walk and how to bike. Especially if they do not have parents modeling walking and biking, how will they learn? We might think of walking as some "natural" activity, and it is that, but there are also a number of conventions for the urban environment that need to be learned and are usefully taught. An anthropologist from Mars who happens to be bipedal would need to learn quite a bit for walking in a city.

Of course, the piece has some limits from genre constraints. Formally it's a feature on a person, not an analysis of a system.

Even so, the profile's frame also perfectly encapsulates what is wrong about so much of our conversation and approach to safety. Its balance is really off.

On Feb. 8, a Parrish Middle School student was hit by a car in a crosswalk outside the school, near where a student had been hit 10 months earlier.

A week later, Beth Schmidt was at the same intersection handing out safety bracelets to students.

This lede not only erases the driver in the "hit by car" trope, but also draws a problematic relation between cause and solution: A driver hits a student in a crosswalk, and the solution is to hand out safety bracelets to students. Who is the problem here? This mismatch characterizes so much of our safety conversation and analysis.

City Council, December 11th - Safety for Whom? And Crosswalks, Capitol Street, Green Paint

You might remember a couple of years ago a new project concept for the junction of the 12th Street cutoff and south Commercial. It was not funded, as I recall, but something of a revised element of it appears in a set of three suites of applications for ODOT All Roads Transportation Safety funding at Council on Monday.

Who are we protecting here with the rail placement?

The new project seems, however, to slight non-auto travel. It identifies this site as one of three to "provide guard rails to address risks of roadway departures at three locations that have a history of roadway departure crashes or that have conditions that indicate a high risk for roadway departure."

But any "roadway departure," whether from jaydriving and high speed or from the impact of another vehicle in a crash, will endanger anyone walking or rolling here. This is a real problem with "forgiving" design and its emphasis on safety primarily for those inside of cars. 

This is an opportunity for a segment of protected bike lane! (See BikePortland for a recent note on a location there where the railing is in the traditional, and wrong, place.)

An unsuccessful project application (2021)

The current application doesn't mention the crosswalk or any of the other elements in that 2021 project scope. But turning around 180 degrees shows the messed up crosswalk, dead-ending in landscaping and the light standard, and without any connecting sidewalk.

The crosswalk dead-ends into landscaping

Isn't it embarrassing to scope a project only for drivers and passengers here? At the very least this deserves more discussion as an explicit "phase" in a solution for this whole area.

Notes on Walk to a Park Day

In the press and city PR for National Walk to a Park Day this week, the City underlined that only half of residents live within a 10 minute walk to a park. Here are some meandering notes on that - a walk, as it were.

Crossing Liberty near Skyline - via FB

Wednesday paper

Proximity alone is not always an inducement or barrier. The quality of a walk matters also! Does it feel comfortable and safe? Often enough a 20 minute walk on pleasant streets beats a 10 minute walk along a dusty, zoomy stroad.

The City said

Salem joins the Trust for Public Lands and its 10-Minute Walk initiative to build quality parks close to home and eliminate the park equity gap.

It would be helpful to learn more about the 51% statistic (and its reciprocal, 49% live within a 10 minute walk). 

The Trust for Public Land itself appears to make a different claim, and suggests 71% of Salem residents live within a 10 minute walk. That's a non-trivial gap of more than 20%!

Trust for Public Land assessment

In the 2013 Parks Master Plan, the deficiencies seemed to be clustered in unincorporated Marion County, east of I-5.

Proposed parks, 2013

Additionally, however, there might be data weirdness. The Trust for Public Land map for Liberty School and Wendy Kroger Park looks very odd. (This cropped up in the first instance of the map from 2020.)

Maps, Aumsville, and Voting Structure: At the MPO

The Metropolitan Planning Organization meets on Tuesday the 22nd, and they are a little bogged down in some tedious map-making and line-drawing.

FAUB, UGB, City Limits in West Salem

One of the events the 2020 Census triggered was redrawing the Federal Aid Urban Boundary. 

On map-drawing

Unfortunately, different regulatory schemes demand slightly different maps, and the discontinuities look like they might add a lot of administrative sludge to the total amount of red tape: The Federal Aid Urban Boundary is not the same as the Metropolitan Planning Organization Boundary is not the same as the Urban Growth Boundary (which is not the same as city limits also):

the Federal Aid Urban Boundary (FAUB) is updated every ten years following the decennial census. The FAUB is intended to reflect the areas that are “urban” based on the Census Bureau’s methodology for defining urban areas.

The revised FAUB is used as part of the process to update the Federal Functional Classification (FCC) of roads. The FAUB informs the revisions to SKATS MPA (metropolitan planning area) boundary. However, it is not the same as the MPA boundary. The MPA is larger than the FAUB. The MPA boundary, along with the Air Quality Boundary, will be evaluated later to determine what revisions need to be made....

Mr. Jackson reminded the group that Oregon has Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) that other areas of the country do not have. The Census definitions of “urban” are applied nationwide.

Climate affects in today's headlines

The boundary lines matter because "Chair Cathy Clark noted that one of the benefits including specific areas in the FAUB is the ability to use federal urban funding for improvements on major roads."

Walking School Bus centers Enforcement and Engagement

It was very interesting to see the walking school bus on the front page today.

Front page today

Back in 2020 the National Safe Routes Partnership dropped the E of Enforcement from their "five Es" and "six Es" framework:

For more than 15 years, Safe Routes to School programs have used the five E’s (Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Evaluation, and Engineering) as their organizing framework. In recent years, we added a sixth E, Equity, to bring the focus towards creating healthy, thriving communities for people of all ages, races, ethnicities, incomes, and abilities. Effective immediately, we are dropping Enforcement as one of the 6 E’s of Safe Routes to School....We recognize that there may be healthy, community-driven relationships with law enforcement that support some programs across the nation; however, we will no longer recommend such partnerships as foundational to the start, maintenance, or growth of a successful Safe Routes to School program.

In a note on social media the local Safe Routes group says:

Safe Routes to School will welcome Salem Police Department as we walk to school with Washington Elementary School and Community Members.

Safe Routes to School is comprised of six E’s: Engagement, Engineering, Education, Equity, Encouragement, and Evaluation. It is my pleasure to grow the Salem-Keizer Safe Routes to School program through engagement within our community. Engagement is, “connecting directly with students, parents, teachers, and community members to hear their needs and to work together on designing programs that will authentically benefit their schools and build connections with local resources.”

Parents and neighborhood organizers deserve great deference as they formulate plans responsive to local conditions.

As we continue to debate modes of policing for our current moment, and try to shift our paradigm of safety so that it is not so autoist and does not sideline those not in cars as marginal or secondary users, it will be interesting to see how our Safe Routes group employs or varies this approach across the city.

Bike Bus Bill has Hearing at Legislature Monday the 20th

One of the most exciting bills at the Legislature is HB 3014, which would fund more flexible school transportation than merely yellow bus service. Chief sponsor Rep. Pham is calling it the "Bike Bus Bill."

There's a hearing on Monday the 20th - which seems a little odd because of Presidents Day, but that's what everything says.

via Twitter

Part of the bill says:

The rules adopted under this subsection must allow for the reimbursement of costs incurred by a school district in lieu of providing transportation, including public transit passes, payment for crossing guards or pedestrian or bicycle group leaders and payment for the promotion and coordination of alternative transportation options.

Projects like bike buses that depend on volunteers are hard to sustain year after year. By making jobs out of it, a more sustainable structure can be put into place.

See the discussion at BikePortland, "‘Bike Bus Bill’ would give school districts more flexibility with transportation funding."

Mayor Hoy and Manager Stahley on left
Councilor Gonzalez out of camera - via FB

It was great to see Mayor Hoy, Councilor Gonzalez, and City Manager Stahley, in pictures from the winter Walk + Roll to School Day last week.

How often did Mayor Bennett and Manager Powers do stuff like this? I think this is a real change in tone and interest. It's very encouraging.

The Bike Bus Bill would help fund walk leaders so walks like this could be more frequent and not depend on parent volunteers. It would allow Safe Routes staff, who are also in the photos, to build out more programming not dependent on their presence. The bill has a force multiplier effect.

Buffalo Soldiers and 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, Winter Walk and Roll to School Day

Oregon Black Pioneers has news of a free showing of the documentary, Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts.

They say:

Presented by The Conversation Project at Willamette University, “Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts” is screening free on Thursday, February 9th at 7:00 PM in Smullin Film Studies Theatre (Room 122) in Ford Hall. Following the screening, director Dru Holley will be joined by Oregon Black Pioneers’ Zachary Stocks to discuss Buffalo Soldiers and answer questions from the audience.

Clearly the focus will be on civil rights and a longer scope, but there is another, narrower part of the history to remember! 

The 25th Infantry formed a bicycle corps in the late 1890s.

(Frank Jay Haynes, Northern Rockies Heritage Center
The link from 2010 is now dead)

Since we last mentioned this over a decade ago, there's so much more out there on the corps!

Three of Seven Safe Routes to Schools Applications Look to Win Funding

And some real news!

ODOT announced yesterday the list of recommended projects for the next round of Safe Routes Infrastructure Funding. Three are from Salem, keyed here to the priority list of seven they submitted (with more detail on locations also) back in June:

• Project No. 3 for a crosswalk, flashing beacons, overhead lighting, and crosswalk visibility enhancements for student at Washington Elementary School. $389,600
• Project No. 2 for a crosswalk, pedestrian refuge island, overhead lighting, and pedestrian signage for students at Swegle Elementary School. $260,000
• Project No. 4 for sidewalks, stormwater collection facilities, and ramps for students at Mary Eyre Elementary School. $334,400

ODOT recommends 3 of 7 for funding

Projects near Englewood, Crossler, Morningside, and Grant were not recommended for funding. It looks like average income levels was a very strong factor in the scoring.

More from the ODOT press release:

We are excited to share that the Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee recommends funding 26 projects totaling $32.4 million for ODOT’s Safe Routes to School Competitive Construction Grant Program. These funds will focus on under-resourced communities and safety....

In August 2022, ODOT received 83 applications from across the state for the SRTS Competitive Construction Grant Program totaling $80 million in needed safety improvements. The Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee met on November 17 and approved a recommended project list for the Safe Routes to School Construction Competitive Grant Program for the Oregon Transportation Commission’s consideration at its January 12 meeting.

City Council, June 27th - Safe Routes to Schools and the Big Bond

At Council on Monday there is news of a suite of Safe Routes To Schools applications for funding from ODOT in the 2023-2024 cycle. 

A slightly revised bond proposal is also on the agenda.

Project locations for 2023-2024 applications

For the Safe Routes project applications, funded statewide by $26.25 million in this cycle, the City has identified seven projects, in rank order of priority [a few notes added in brackets]:

1. Market Street NE at 15th Street NE: Install Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) on east leg of Market Street NE at 15th Street NE intersection, restripe existing crosswalk, install ADA ramps, and signage. Estimated project cost is $464,000; City would be requesting $371,000 and providing $93,000 in matching funds. Serves Englewood Elementary School.
2. Market Street NE at Aguilas Court NE: Install marked crosswalk, pedestrian refuge island, street lighting, signage, and ADA ramps on the east leg of the Market Street NE at Aguilas Court NE intersection. Estimated project cost is $325,000; City would be requesting $260,000 and providing $65,000 in matching funds. Serves Swegle Elementary School [and also the new United Way cottage cluster].
   
3. Silverton Road NE at Sedona Avenue NE: Install pedestrian crossing with RRFB, ADA ramps, signage, and street lighting on the west side of Silverton Road NE at Sedona Avenue NE intersection. Estimated project cost is $487,000; City would be requesting $390,000 and providing $97,000 in matching funds. Serves Washington Elementary School and Waldo Middle School.
4. State Street Sidewalk Infill: Install new sidewalk on the south side of State Street between Oakmont Court SE and 49th Avenue SE. This project will connect to the new traffic signal anticipated to be installed at the intersection of Oakmont Court SE and State Street as a condition of development [at the former mushroom plant]. Estimated cost is $418,000; City would be requesting $334,000 and providing $84,000 in matching funds. Serves Mary Eyre Elementary School.
5. Liberty Road S Pedestrian Path: Install approximately 300 feet of dedicated pedestrian path and retaining wall on the east side of Liberty Road S from Summit View Avenue SE north to Davis Road S. This project will connect to the new traffic signal anticipated to be installed at the intersection of Liberty Road S and Davis Road S as a condition of development. Estimated project cost is $1,009,000; City would be requesting $807,000 and providing $202,000 in matching funds. Serves Crossler Middle School.
6. Pringle Road SE at Hillendale Drive SE Pedestrian Crosswalk and Sidewalk Infill: Install a pedestrian crossing with a median island, ADA ramps, and street lighting at the intersection of Pringle Road SE and Hillendale Drive SE. Construct sidewalk on the east side of Pringle Road SE from Morningside Court SE to Salishan Street SE. Estimated project cost is $1,832,000; City would be requesting $1,466,000 and providing $366,000 in matching funds. Serves Morningside Elementary School.
7. Winter Street NE at Gaines Street NE: Install a raised pedestrian crossing on the south leg of Winter Street NE at Gaines Street NE intersection, a high visibility crosswalk on east leg of the intersection, ADA ramps, signage, and new stormwater facilities. This project was identified by the Winter-Maple Greenway Plan. Estimated project cost is $302,000; City would be requesting $242,000 and providing $60,000 in matching funds. Serves Grant Community School.

With recent news of cost escalations on bids, and with the competitive nature of the application process, probably a reasonable expectation is for two, maybe three, of the seven to be funded. In the last cycle the City applied for five and won three, but this round seems sure to be tighter. (See previous notes on the Safe Routes infrastructure program here.)

Add Union St., subtract bridge railings

Also on the agenda is a revised project list for the big bond and a proposal to put it on the ballot for November.

Salem Area Looks to Win Six Grants for Safe Routes to Schools Projects

Without real transportation news, we've been hitting the history more, but here's some real news. 

Six Salem-area projects
recommended for funding (ODOT map)

ODOT and its Safe Routes to Schools program announced today it was recommending funding six Salem-area projects to the OTC in December for final approval.

We are excited to share that the Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee recommends funding 43 projects totaling $28.3 million for ODOT’s Safe Routes to School Competitive Construction Grant Program. These funds will focus on under-resourced communities and safety.

In August 2020, ODOT received 99 applications from across the state for the SRTS Competitive Construction Grant Program totaling $73 million in needed safety improvements

Thc successful City project applications were:

• Broadway Street NE @ Locust Avenue NE: Install median island in the north leg of the intersection to accommodate an improved pedestrian crosswalk and ADA ramps. Estimated project cost is $141,000; City would be requesting $112,800 and providing $28,200 in matching funds. Serves Highland Elementary School.
• Macleay Road SE @ Caplinger Road SE: Install sidewalk on south side of Caplinger Road SE and west side of Macleay Road SE. Install median island with crosswalk on Macleay Road SE at Caplinger Road SE. Estimated project cost is $2.3 million; City would be requesting $1,840,000 and providing $460,000 in matching funds. Serves Mary Eyre Elementary School.
• Sunnyview Road NE @ Hollywood Drive NE: Install median island in the east leg of the intersection to accommodate an improved pedestrian crosswalk, ADA ramps, and street lighting. Estimated project cost is $155,000; City would be requesting $124,000 and providing $31,000 in matching funds. Serves Swegle Elementary School.

Projects near Morningside and Pringle Elementary Schools were not recommended for funding. It's likely they didn't meet the equity tests as strongly.

All three of the County project applications were recommended:

• Auburn Elementary – A new crosswalk with Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons (RRFB) on Center Street located between Tierra Drive NE and Citation Drive NE. Auburn Elementary is one of the five pilot schools in the Salem Area SRTS program.
• Four Corners Elementary – A new crosswalk with RRFB on State Street at Elma Avenue SE, a separated and improved walkway on the east side of Elma Avenue SE filling walkway gaps between State Street and Craig Lane, an enhanced crosswalk at Mahrt Avenue and Elma Avenue SE, and traffic calming measures near the school.
• Mary Eyre Elementary – A new crosswalk and school zone flashers crossing Pennsylvania Avenue at Shenandoah Drive SE, additional school zone signage on Pennsylvania Avenue, new ADA ramps on Shenandoah Drive SE, new ADA ramps on Shawnee Drive SE.

The City and County had a very good batting average here on this round. (See previously here and here.)

More Safe Routes to Schools Applications: At the MPO

The Policy Committee for our Metropolitan Planning Organization convenes today, and several of the items we've already touched on in other conversations. So just a brief note.

Three County Safe Routes project applications

The MPO will likely submit letters in support of the five Safe Routes to Schools project applications from the City of Salem and the three from Marion County.

The County ones are:

• Auburn Elementary – A new crosswalk with Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons (RRFB) on Center Street located between Tierra Drive NE and Citation Drive NE. Auburn Elementary is one of the five pilot schools in the Salem Area SRTS program.
• Four Corners Elementary – A new crosswalk with RRFB on State Street at Elma Avenue SE, a separated and improved walkway on the east side of Elma Avenue SE filling walkway gaps between State Street and Craig Lane, an enhanced crosswalk at Mahrt Avenue and Elma Avenue SE, and traffic calming measures near the school.
• Mary Eyre Elementary – A new crosswalk and school zone flashers crossing Pennsylvania Avenue at Shenandoah Drive SE, additional school zone signage on Pennsylvania Avenue, new ADA ramps on Shenandoah Drive SE, new ADA ramps on Shawnee Drive SE.

At least one street is gravel, and several are over-wide residential streets missing sidewalks or with non-standard ones. Zooming is very likely a problem. This is basic remediation more than anything else.

City Council, August 24th - Safe Routes to Schools Applications

Also on the Monday agenda for Council is a suite of applications for the next round of State Safe Routes to Schools funding.

Salem area Safe Routes to Schools project applications

In the 2017 transportation package, the State created a Safe Routes to School fund. $26.25 million is projected to be available for the 2021-2022 funding cycle. (It would not be at all surprising for the Pandemic to take a bite out of this, however.) The City has identified five projects they think will be competitive. They say

Candidate projects were screened against the grant award criteria. High priorities for this cycle of funding include: proximity to Title 1 schools (with higher priority given to schools with higher percent free/reduced lunch participants); safety risk factors; elementary and middle schools; and project readiness.

The five projects (see map above, links in bullets added) are:

• Barnes Avenue SE: Construct sidewalk to fill gaps on the south side of Barnes Avenue SE between Andresen Street SE and Nightcap Street SE. Estimated project cost is $860,000; City would be requesting $688,000 and providing $172,000 in matching funds. Serves Pringle Elementary School.
• Broadway Street NE @ Locust Avenue NE: Install median island in the north leg of the intersection to accommodate an improved pedestrian crosswalk and ADA ramps. Estimated project cost is $141,000; City would be requesting $112,800 and providing $28,200 in matching funds. Serves Highland Elementary School.
• Macleay Road SE @ Caplinger Road SE: Install sidewalk on south side of Caplinger Road SE and west side of Macleay Road SE. Install median island with crosswalk on Macleay Road SE at Caplinger Road SE. Estimated project cost is $2.3 million; City would be requesting $1,840,000 and providing $460,000 in matching funds. Serves Mary Eyre Elementary School.
• Pringle Road SE @ Hillendale Drive SE: Install pedestrian crossing with median island, ADA ramps, and street lighting on north side of Pringle Road SE at Hillendale Drive SE intersection. Construct sidewalk on Pringle Road SE from Morningside Court SE to Salishan Street SE. Estimated project cost is $485,000; City would be requesting $388,000 and providing $97,000 in matching funds. Serves Morningside Elementary School.
• Sunnyview Road NE @ Hollywood Drive NE: Install median island in the east leg of the intersection to accommodate an improved pedestrian crosswalk, ADA ramps, and street lighting. Estimated project cost is $155,000; City would be requesting $124,000 and providing $31,000 in matching funds. Serves Swegle Elementary School.

Something that is not discussed in the Staff Report is any extent to which the School District's construction bond dovetails with any of these. Immediately at schools there are some street changes the District is funding, but they aren't of course responsible for the general street system. Still, we have read much more about parking lot expansion at McNary and South Salem, and very little about how the District might be thinking about Safe Routes to School for non-auto travel.

Intro to Biking Class, Woodmansee Park Update, Councilor as Cidermaker - Bits

via SBC

The Salem Bicycle Club is offering a "basic bicycling class" on Sunday August 2nd. If you just got your bike out of the garage in the Pandemic and want to commute or bike more, this class is for you! It's free, but registration is required.

Woodmansee Park

Existing Conditions at Woodmansee Park

The City announced an update for the master plan for Woodmansee Park. It's linked to the project for upgrading water storage in the fractured basalt far below ground. They've got an online Open House and survey.

Maybe we'll get an update on the Safe Routes project from a year ago. There was a grant to improve access to the park, but the thing just disappeared, and there has been no public update.

A year ago, past event, via Facebook

Safe Routes and the MWVCOG is also advertising for a part-time assistant:

The SRTS Program Assistant works under the direction of the SRTS Coordinator and may act as lead instructor in the absence of the Coordinator. This is a part-time, non-exempt position. Weekly hours will vary dependent on outreach activities and event opportunities and workload demands, as determined by the SRTS Coordinator. Maximum hours are expected to be ten (10) hours per week, although some weeks may have zero (0) hours.

See the full job notice all the details

Back-in Parking Valued in 1920, and Free Bike Repair - Bits

July 8th, 1920

Back in 1920, some "Salem autoists" preferred back-in angle parking as safer.

[A]t present a car while starting is moving in the same direction as are other autos...Drivers of machines traveling along the street will never know when a car is going to back out.

Here is it is on State Street in the early 1920s.

State Street circa 1920-1925: two-way travel,
back-in angle parking, streetcar in the middle
(unknown postcard source - via Strong Towns group)

July 20th, 1920

Photos dated to about 1930 show head-in angle parking, so some time in the decade it changed.