Clackamas County and consultant Kittleson & Associates opened a public workshop focused on the East County portion of a countywide update to the Transportation System Plan (TSP), the 20‑year roadmap the county uses to prioritize roads, sidewalks, freight routes and safety programs.

The project team said the update will revisit the county’s 2013 vision and goals, gather technical data and public input, identify potential projects, then prioritize them into three tiers. "Tier 1 is fiscally constrained tier," consultant Mark Batorick said, explaining that Tier 1 projects reflect what the county expects it can fund within the next 20 years. The county aims to produce a draft TSP next year and pursue hearings and adoption in 2027.

Why it matters: the TSP guides how Clackamas County allocates limited transportation dollars and how it coordinates projects with cities and state agencies. County staff emphasized that the update focuses primarily on unincorporated areas while coordinating with incorporated cities so projects align across jurisdictional boundaries. "We really are focused here at the county scale on the unincorporated areas mostly," Jeff, a county staff member leading the presentation, said, noting staff will follow up with city partners to ensure coordination.

How to take part: the team demonstrated an interactive virtual open house and comment map that allows users to pin locations, select a mode (pedestrian, operational, gap) and classify concerns (safety, capacity, missing infrastructure). The map supports four languages and will remain open for about six weeks; consultants said the virtual open house closes around Feb. 16 and encouraged residents to leave mapped comments so others can see and 'like' them.

Public engagement and governance: the project includes technical advisory committees (agency staff), a public advisory committee (appointed residents) and geographic subarea meetings to tailor outreach. Batorick said the county is breaking the county into six subareas to better capture local needs and will take public input into drafting project lists and priorities.

Next steps: project staff said they will compile mapped comments, produce draft project tiers for public review in the spring and return to subarea meetings in June to review draft project lists before the planning commission and Board of County Commissioners hearings in 2027.

The county posted project resources and the virtual open house link and asked residents who cannot attend workshops to submit comments through the map and project website.