Safe Routes to School, Cordon Road, Draft 2021 TIP on Agenda at MPO

The Technical Advisory Committee for our MPO meets next Tuesday the 10th, and there are a few things to note in passing.

Last month at the February meeting they got updates on several planning projects, and one of particular interest is the Cordon Road plan.

Walking is a problem - February 2020

Last month a driver hit a person walking and you might also remember last year the horrific, high speed crash involving Christmas Tree workers.

End of November last year

The project will have a heavy emphasis on capacity and speed, but it needs also to include safety and provision for people on foot and on bike.

Update on the plan

Shifting to the current agenda, more happy to note are a couple of things in the Safe Routes update.

In Hit and Run, Driver Strikes and Kills Person walking Bike on McGilchrist Street at 22nd

On a road without sidewalks and bike lanes, signed for a lethal speed too fast for an urban context, and very near our emergent brewery district, a driver last night struck and killed Mario Lopez-Lopez walking a bike on the shoulder of the road. The driver compounded the catastrophe with the crime of hit-and-run.

The first release from the Salem PD:

The Salem Police Department is looking for anyone who may have information regarding a fatal hit and run crash which occured late on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020. At approximately 11:29 pm on March 3rd, 2020, Salem officers responded to McGilchrist St SE and 22nd St SE on a report of an unconscious male. When officers arrived they located the male laying on the north shoulder of McGilcrist St SE, between 22nd St SE and Ford St SE. The male was pronounced deceased at the scene. It appears the male had been walking his bike along the shoulder of McGilcrist, near 22nd St SE, prior to being struck by a vehicle, which left the scene without stopping. Investigators had McGilcrist shut down for several hours while they investigated the crash. Anyone with information regarding the driver and/or the vehicle involved in this crash, or who may have been in the area at the time the crash occured and may have seen something, are asked to contact the Salem Police Department TIPS line at 503-588-8477. Investigators are working to identify and contact the next of kin for the deceased.

A first update:

The victim in yesterday's fatal hit and run crash has been identified as Mario Lopez-Lopez, a 44 year old Salem resident. Next of kin has been notified.

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

The area is slated for the first phase of modernization on the McGilchrist corridor, which will provide sidewalks and bike lanes, but the changes may make it even more zoomy. It's a mixed bag of improvement.

22nd will be straightened out with a swoop

This is an unsafe stretch of road for non-auto users of all kinds. Last summer, on August 22nd at about 7am, Margaret Foresee was traveling westbound in a Jeep Wrangler on McGilchrist and turned left onto 19th Street SE. She turned in front of and hit Todd Dowty, who was traveling east on McGilchrist by motorcycle. Dowty died at the scene.

Early Cherries Just Starting at the Capitol, Maybe the New Normal

In the past day or two the very first Cherry blossoms at the Capitol have opened. There not be enough heat for them all to open in a glorious rush, but they are starting, a little like the first popcorn, one at a time, then a handful.

This might be a Plum, not Cherry
 but it's at about the same stage
as the Cherry trees on the Capitol Mall now
(mid-February elsewhere this year)

Last year they didn't start until later in the month, and at this time in early March, the buds were small and pretty tight. This seemed late, but it was more in line with historical norms.

This year is early again, but that early is maybe the new normal. On the sixth or seventh of March in 2015 the paper published one of their best stories ever:

According to 88-year-old Wilbur Bluhm, the cherry blossom trees in front of the State Capitol building are blooming about two weeks earlier than they normally do.

Each week Bluhm takes a stroll through Bush Park, the Willamette University campus, Chemeketa Community College campus, Deepwood Estates and a couple of other parks to collect plant, flower and tree data.

The retired horticulturist of 30 years records a variety of information including when trees are leafing, flowering, done flowering, bearing fruit, showing fall colors, and when they lose their leave among other things.

Bluhm has been collecting this the data each week for the past 56 years and says that this spring season is the third earliest date that the cherry blossoms have been blooming outside of the capitol.

"On average, the cherry blossoms bloom around March 15," Bluhm said. "But this year they started on March 1."

According to Bluhm, the flowers on the cherry blossom trees are usually in bloom for about a month, usually ending around April 19.

"This warm weather has definitely accelerated spring as far as the trees go," Bluhm said.

On average, the cherry blossoms bloom around March 15.

We need to Center Autoism in Tree Canopy Conversation and Analysis

Yesterday, Salem Reporter published a dive into our recent reports on trees in Salem. In "Salem is more shaded than ever, thanks to city tree projects but gains are uneven" they published a map of median incomes by census block that showed a correlation between richer areas and better canopy coverage, and poorer areas with sparser coverage. (That's a key to the piece, so click through to see it!) What prompted it was likely this map in the City's report also grouped by census block.

Urban Tree Canopy Assessment (Dec 2019)

The comparison is useful, but not likely complete. Though the City's comments also alluded to zoning, the piece did not include a zoning map, and that seems like a relevant detail. There's a stew of variables, some of them causal, more of them correlating or confounding. Income is an important one, but it may be more of an effect.

New Governors Safety Report on Walking Raises Concern, Misses on Speed; Grant NA to try out Crossing Flags

Last week the Governors Highway Safety Association released their latest report on walking deaths and walking safety.

February 2020 report on 2019

It is an interesting and unfortunate rhyme that the cover image corresponds a little with our troubles on Market Street at Winter, right by the school.

People keep hitting stop sign on Market at Winter
(end of January and the installation last July)

Their press release singles out three points:

A number of trends offer insight into the many causes behind the rise in pedestrian fatalities:

• Most pedestrian fatalities take place on local roads, at night and away from intersections, suggesting the need for safer road crossings and increased efforts to make pedestrians and vehicles more visible. During the past 10 years, the number of nighttime pedestrian fatalities increased by 67%, compared to a 16% increase in daytime pedestrian fatalities.
• Many unsafe driving behaviors – such as speeding, distracted and drowsy driving – pose risks to pedestrians, and alcohol impairment by the driver and/or pedestrian was reported in nearly half of traffic crashes that resulted in pedestrian fatalities in 2018.
• Pedestrians struck by a large SUV are twice as likely to die as those struck by a car. Although passenger cars are the largest category of vehicles in fatal pedestrian crashes, the number of pedestrian fatalities over the past decade involving SUVs increased at a faster rate – 81% – than passenger cars, which increased by 53%.

But that cover image already shows something of a problem. If that florescent yellow sign keeps getting hit, then "efforts to make pedestrians...more visible" are perhaps not the signal issue and solution.

Detours and Closures on Liberty, Division, and Commercial for Police Station this Spring

The front page today has a great shot of the charlie foxtrot on Commercial at Front and Division. It was a terrific idea to send the photographer to the top of the new Police Station.

Great image of the charlie foxtrot on Commercial
at Front and Division - front page today

The photo supported a longish piece on the street closures and changes coming to the area because of the new station. It was nice also to read more reporting than merely churning the City's press release.

Street closures - via City of Salem

Here's the City's release:

Beginning Monday, March 2, 2020, Liberty Street NE between Division Street NE and the Mill Creek bridge will be temporarily closed to all through traffic. The northbound lane on Liberty Street NE will re-open in early April. Pedestrians and motorists are asked to use caution and plan for some delays as traffic is re-routed toward High Street NE and Commercial Street NE.

This street closure is necessary for the construction of streetscape and pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements adjacent to the new Salem Police Station. Additional street closures along Liberty Street and Division Street will occur in phases through June 2020 as follows:

• Division Street NE and Liberty Street NE intersection (closed late March through early April),
• Division Street NE and southbound Liberty Street NE between Division Street NE and the Mill Creek bridge (closed late March through early June).

This construction will change the streets and traffic signals to improve access and traffic circulation in the area. The work will provide additional on-street parking, landscaping, street lighting, sidewalks, and stormwater improvements.

Street closure dates will be posted on digital signs in the project area prior to the closures.

Smallpox and Influenza Returned in February of 1920; City Hospitals Break Ground for New Buildings

Back in the winter of 1920, Salem faced a resurgence of two infectious diseases. The flu was not as intense as the bout of 1918-1919, either in quantity or in deadliness, but it was still more significant than "average" flu seasons in previous years. There was also an outbreak of smallpox, and the City initiated a vaccination campaign.

Smallpox prompts vaccination campaign
February 6th, 1920

Both influenza and smallpox on the increase
2000 residents vaccinated
February 10th, 1920