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Milwaukie council adopts updated Transportation System Plan after public hearing
Summary
The Milwaukie City Council voted 5–0 to adopt a two‑year update to the city’s Transportation System Plan, adding multimodal functional classifications, new pedestrian and bicycle performance metrics, zoning tweaks to support active transportation, and a financially constrained project list focused on walking and biking.
Milwaukie — The City Council adopted an updated Transportation System Plan (TSP) after a public hearing, voting unanimously to approve the comprehensive multimodal roadmap city staff and consultants developed over two years.
City officials said the update expands planning beyond vehicle traffic and adds formal performance standards for pedestrian and bicycle comfort. Senior planner Ryan Dyer summarized the change in approach, saying the city created “network maps with those hierarchies for our other types of transportation” to bring the same intentionality to walking, biking, transit and freight that exists for vehicles.
The plan identifies priority focus areas—quarter‑mile buffers around key destinations such as schools, parks and grocery stores—and maps existing facilities that fall short of adopted standards. Consultant Matt Hugard said the financially constrained project list emphasizes pedestrian and bicycle work: “more than 79% of those projects are in that bicycle and pedestrian category,” he said, adding the projects are intended to move measurable system completeness scores for key street types.
The TSP also adopts pedestrian and bicycle levels of traffic stress (PLTS and BLTS) as performance standards and requires tracking progress toward those targets. Staff presented baseline completeness metrics and scenario projections showing how implementation of tier‑one projects would raise completeness percentages on major corridors.
The update includes code and policy changes to support the TSP goals, such as extending site‑design standards used downtown into some commercial zones, better aligning parking location rules so building entrances face sidewalks, and incorporating the new PLTS/BLTS measures into transportation impact study requirements.
State partners praised the work. Kenny Worth of the Oregon Department of Transportation said, “This TSP is the first in the state to put those new rules into action,” and congratulated city staff for techniques other communities can use.
Council members asked detailed questions about freight routing, enforcement of weight restrictions on certain collectors, and how transit service changes (including upcoming TriMet adjustments) affect long‑term planning. Staff said the maps intentionally show both current conditions and aspirational future transit corridors to make the plan resilient to service changes.
The council voted to adopt an ordinance adding the TSP as an ancillary document to the Milwaukee comprehensive plan and to amend related development regulations. The ordinance passed on first and second reading, with a roll call reading of votes recorded as: Council President Anderson — I; Councelor Stavenger — I; Council Kerati — I; Councelor Massie — I; Mayor Batty — I. The council directed staff to continue pursuing grant funding and SDC (system development charge) methodology work to refine financing strategies for projects.
Next steps: staff will publish the final TSP materials, begin regulatory updates tied to the plan, and continue pursuing grants and coordination with regional partners to advance priority projects.
