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City adds road-safety audits, alters Garfield plan and advances path and signal upgrades in CIP
Summary
City staff added road-safety audits and intersection-control evaluations to CIP planning, scaled back a planned signal at Garfield and Kings after it failed warrants, programmed a shared-use path alignment study and identified ODOT safety grants and signal upgrades for future work.
City transportation staff told a joint City Council and Budget Commission work session that the draft five-year capital improvement program (CIP) now reflects new road-safety audits and intersection-control evaluations that informed project scopes, produced a change in the planned Kings and Garfield intersection treatment and added grant-funded pedestrian and signal upgrades.
“An intersection control evaluation at Kings and Garfield originally planned for a traffic signal there. The evaluation found that it did not meet warrants and was not going to meet warrants in the foreseeable future,” staff said during the transportation section of the CIP review, and the project scope was revised to an enhanced pedestrian crossing instead of a signal.
Staff highlights and grants Transportation Division Manager Rory Rowan and staff described a new shared-use path alignment study (Circle/Harrison through the OSU Dairyland to Campus Way) to produce a grant-ready alignment and cost estimate. Staff also said the CIP proposes early accessibility improvements on Aspen and includes a set of ODOT safety grant-backed pedestrian crossing projects and signal upgrades (back plates, countdown heads and accessible push buttons) on select corridors.
Neighborhood bikeways and study approach Rowan told council the city will undertake a prioritization and scoping process for neighborhood bikeways before programming construction, so planned bikeway entries in the CIP may be revised after the study. Councilors pressed for safe connections to the county’s Highway 20 pathway and asked staff to keep working with Benton County on tighter coordination; staff said additional work on temporary connections would require a council directive and funding trade-offs.
Signal accessibility and maintenance Staff noted some signal upgrades will include accessible push buttons and audible signals; recent federal accessibility standards and local retrofits are increasing the number of signals with those features. Staff also flagged ongoing maintenance obligations for signalized intersections if new signals are added.
Ending Transportation staff said they would continue community outreach on corridor and bikeway scoping and return updates to council. Councilors urged close coordination with county projects to ensure connections, particularly for the Highway 20/Conifer corridor.
