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Beaverton unveils proactive traffic-calming program: temporary measures, new prioritization and equity scoring
Summary
City staff proposed an update to Beaverton’s traffic-calming program that shifts to a proactive, staff-led prioritization, adds equity and transit proximity to scoring, and uses temporary measures first to shorten implementation time and allow iterative adjustment.
Beaverton staff presented a proposed update to the city’s traffic-calming program in a June 3 work session, aiming to shorten project timelines, increase equity-based prioritization and deploy temporary traffic-calming devices before constructing permanent measures.
Under the proposed approach, staff will identify all streets eligible for traffic calming — local streets, neighborhood routes and two-lane collectors — score them using an expanded eight-criteria rubric, and proactively notify neighborhoods of where their street ranks. New criteria include an equity index (seven Census-derived social-vulnerability factors) and transit proximity; existing criteria such as measured speed, traffic volume and crash history remain important.
The update would move from a predominantly resident-initiated process to a staff-driven prioritization. Staff said eligibility excludes very short streets (under 600 feet) where typical traffic-calming devices are ineffective, and that roughly 100 miles of local streets are in scope. Prioritization also considers proximity to schools (which receive top points), sidewalks and bike facilities.
A staged implementation is central to the proposal: staff would build temporary measures — rubber speed humps, painted curb extensions with posts, and rubber curbs for medians or pedestrian refuges — within about five to six months of initiating a project. Temporary installations would stay in place for at least three months while staff re-measure speeds, collect feedback via surveys and adjust plans before a final public hearing at the Traffic Commission and construction of permanent devices, if warranted.
Council members supported the direction and asked for publicly accessible GIS dashboards showing prioritized streets and project status. Staff said they intend to publish a dashboard, update crash data annually (ODOT publishes crash data in a format ready for the GIS tool), and continue to take resident requests — which staff will test and, if necessary, slot into the prioritization and implementation pipeline. Several councilors praised the iterative temporary-first approach and asked staff to provide follow-up information on long-term effectiveness of prior permanent installations.
No formal council action was required; staff will bring the finalized program back to the Traffic Commission for a work session in August and, if recommended, to council consent in September.
