News

The seventh Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting was held Thursday, April 18 at 6:00 PM at SE Works, 7916 SE Foster Road, Suite 104 (TriMet bus line 14, bus line 72, or bus line 10). Click the following links for the agenda, enhanced crossings presentation, and the streetscape elements presentation. 

Project Goals

At the Stakeholder Advisory Committee meeting on October 17, the project goals were adopted by the committee:

• Streetscape: Make the street a safe, pleasant, attractive and comfortable place to live, shop and linger.
• Access: Provide balanced access to and from Foster to adjacent businesses and residential neighborhoods for all modes.
• Pedestrian Travel: Create a safe walking environment for pedestrians on Foster, with enhanced safer crossings and shorter crossing distances.
• Motor Vehicles: Create a safe corridor for motor vehicle travel with smooth, consistent traffic movement. Provide adequate on-street parking, access opportunities, and encourage the shared use of off-street parking.
• Transit: Improve quality of service on Foster, maintaining and improving access for local and regional trips, including future high capacity transit service.
• Bicycle Travel: Create a safe attractive, and comfortable cycling environment on Foster for both local and non-local trips, and provide safe crossings and adequate bicycle parking.
• Green Infrastructure: Provide opportunities for additional street tree canopy and stormwater management features on Foster.
• Equity: Strive for an equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of change among the area’s diverse communities.

Purpose

This planning process will update the 2003 Foster Road Transportation and Streetscape Plan, which identified multimodal transportation Improvements along Foster Road from SE 50^th to SE 90^th Avenues. This effort will revisit and finalize the recommendations in the original plan prior to constructing safety (e.g. curb extensions, marked crossings, medians, etc.) and streetscape (e.g. trees, street lights, etc.) improvements in the stretch of Foster from SE 50^th to SE 84^th Avenues, scheduled to begin in 2014.

Background

The 2003 Foster Road Transportation and Streetscape Plan was developed via a public process and outlined improvements for the street and sidewalk on Foster Road to improve safety and appearance of the street and support the people and businesses of the surrounding community, from SE 50^th to SE 90^th Avenues. 

In early 2012 the City of Portland was awarded $1.25 million, as part of the 2012-15 Regional Flexible Fund Allocation, to implement many of the improvements identified in the plan related to safety and streetscape.  The Portland Development Commission also set aside $2 million for this effort, bringing the total to $3.25 million. The Regional Flexible Funding application, with project locations and descriptions, can be downloaded by clicking here.

Since 2003, the City of Portland has adopted two plans that directly affect Foster Road: the Portland Streetcar System Concept Plan and the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030.   These plans call for adding both streetcar and bicycle infrastructure (e.g. bicycle lanes) on Foster Road sometime in the future.

Objectives

This process will study cross section options that accommodate bicycle infrastructure, anticipate future streetcar as well as confirm and prioritize with stakeholders the safety and streetscape improvements identified in the Regional Flexible Fund grant.   These elements will be incorporated into the update of the Foster Road Transportation and Streetscape Plan.

Plan elements:

• Identify potential changes to the cross section (the space allocation in the public right-of-way) of Foster Road

• Identify and prioritize safety and streetscape improvements along Foster, to be constructed starting in 2014

• Identify transportation improvements that support and complement the efforts of the Foster Lents Integration Partnership (FLIP) process, a multi bureau effort by the City for the Foster corridor, currently underway.

Stakeholder Advisory Committee

This process will have a significant public involvement component. In addition to open houses and other public events, a SAC will be established to advise the process. The SAC will include representatives from a variety of private, community, institutional, and business interests. The primary responsibilities of the SAC are to:

• Advise staff

• Provide two-way communication to groups and constituencies that SAC members represent

• Make  recommendations on future access and circulation alternatives, transportation improvement projects and project priorities/phasing

• Participate in public events related to the study, including, for example, attendance at the public events/workshops, and future public hearing(s) at Planning and Sustainability Commission and City Council.

The SAC is expected to meet approximately every 4-6 weeks, though more than a meeting a month may occasionally be needed to keep up with the plan’s schedule. Each SAC meeting will be facilitated to ensure that members can provide input on the plan and that staff obtain direction from the group as a whole on key aspects of the plan. All SAC meetings will provide an opportunity for public comment.

Timeline

The planning process is expected to last approximately 10-12 months. At the end of the process a Draft Plan will be developed for adoption by City Council in 2013.

For more information, please contact:

Mauricio Leclerc
Senior Transportation Planner
Portland Bureau of Transportation
503-823-7808
mauricio.leclerc@portlandoregon.gov