Milwaukie planning commissioners revise Transportation System Plan priorities, elevate multiuse-path and central bikeway projects

Milwaukie Planning Commission members spent a work session reviewing and revising the draft Transportation System Plan (TSP) project prioritization, asking staff and consultants to update project descriptions, cost estimates and tiers before the plan goes to the City Council.

The TSP team told the commission the city used Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) guidance to produce a financially constrained list based on a 20-year revenue forecast. “There’s a forecast of $22,000,000 available for capital projects,” consultant Amy Griffith said during the presentation, and the constrained list was sized to about 125% of that figure (roughly $27.5 million). Staff then used scoring criteria and public input to sort roughly 200 candidate projects into tiers.

Why it matters: the prioritized list guides which sidewalk, bicycle, transit and roadway projects the city will pursue or seek funding for over the next two decades. Commissioners emphasized multimodal connectivity to existing destinations, corridor safety, and leveraging outside funds where projects cross jurisdictions.

What the commission discussed and recommended

- Public engagement and criteria: Staff summarized summer outreach (a June public workshop, market and targeted focus-group meetings) and explained the numeric scoring used to rank projects. Laura (city planning staff) told commissioners the scoring emphasized safety, mobility and equity and noted that project descriptions are…