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Traffic committee urges council to direct engineers on speed cushions and school-zone safety
Summary
The Estacada Traffic and Public Safety Committee asked council to direct city engineers to design an engineered traffic-calming solution — including speed cushions or alternatives — for steep streets, and the committee also flagged 13 school-area intersections for a school-safety initiative.
Members of the Estacada Traffic and Public Safety Committee said they are asking the city to direct engineers to develop traffic-calming designs for steep streets after citizens and the committee repeatedly received alternative suggestions that the committee considers inadequate.
Jim Moriarty, chair of the Traffic and Public Safety Committee, reviewed the committee’s recent work, including an expanded intersection and culvert replacement at Southeast Lawrence Road in cooperation with Clackamas County. On ongoing speed-calming requests for Southeast Oakview Lane, Moriarty said the neighborhood application — supported by 10 signatures — did not meet slope requirements for standard speed humps and that the committee had reviewed alternatives (rectangular rapid-flashing beacon and driver-feedback signs) that the committee found unacceptable. "Both of these recent solutions to the speeding on Southeast Oakview Lane are not acceptable solutions to the public's application for speed cushions," Moriarty said, and the committee tabled those recommendations pending further engineering study.
Councilor Jonathan Metcalfe pressed for a clear engineering path. "What I'm asking is that we direct the engineers, not the citizens, to come back with a solution that meets what they are asking for by design," Metcalfe told the council, urging the city to have engineers prepare a stamped design for cushions or an applicable road device suitable for steep slopes and local plow constraints.
Committee members noted examples of speed cushions on steep roads in Portland and said some other jurisdictions with snow and hillside conditions have implemented traffic-calming devices; the committee requested staff and engineers revisit whether any engineered cushion-type device can be used here without interfering with snow-plow operations. The committee also reported continuing monthly coordination with public-safety leadership and described a new school-safety-zone campaign addressing crosswalks, sidewalks, signage and lighting at 13 intersections serving River Mill Elementary, Clackamas River Elementary, Estacada Middle School, and Estacada High School. The committee said it will present specific suggestions to council next month for those locations.
Councilors expressed support for further engineering analysis and asked staff to return with the engineers’ recommendations, the committee’s documentation, and the communication record between staff and the committee so the council can evaluate the technical and operational tradeoffs (plowing, safety, maintenance) before approving a specific device.
