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Gladstone board reviews five‑year crash data, hears plans for traffic‑safety plan update
Summary
At a meeting of the Gladstone Traffic Safety Advisory Board, a volunteer board member presented five years of crash data highlighting hotspots such as Oakfield Road and River Road; the police chief outlined plans to seek state funding for an update to the city's traffic safety/transportation plan.
Benjamin Hurt, a member of the advisory board, presented a five‑year crash analysis and urged the board to use the data to target enforcement and engineering efforts.
Hurt told the board he pulled crash records from ODOT's TDS mapping tool and exported 2020–2024 records to identify recurring locations. "It's just looking at the data," he said, describing the work as an informational review, not a formal engineering recommendation. Hurt said the dataset (excluding ODOT routes) included 204 crashes within city limits and that roughly 24 percent of those involved bicyclists or pedestrians.
The presentation identified several repeat hotspots: the 82nd Drive/I‑205 interchange (which Hurt excluded from some citywide tallies because of jurisdictional overlap), Oakfield Road at Webster and the Caldwell–Oakfield corridor, River Road at the Meldrum/Bar Park intersection, the downtown Portland Avenue stretch, and Arlington Road near a 24‑hour fitness driveway. Hurt reported about 20 crashes at Oakfield intersections over five years and described a cluster at River Road with a higher share of pedestrian and bicycle incidents.
Why it matters: the board wants evidence to direct limited enforcement and engineering resources where they will have the most effect. Hurt said crash characteristics varied by location: many Oakfield incidents were turning or rear‑end collisions; River Road crashes were frequently speed‑related; downtown Portland Avenue saw a majority of turning‑related, low‑severity collisions but included several pedestrian collisions.
Chief (police) told the board enforcement could be targeted if the city identifies the right times for patrols. "When I'm driving through the neighborhoods, at any uncontrolled intersection, I'm almost coming to a complete stop," the Chief said, emphasizing driver behavior and attention as contributing factors. Board members pressed Hurt for additional breakdowns (time of day, day of week, and DUI flags) to help schedule enforcement shifts; Hurt agreed to pursue those fields from the TDS data.
On a separate but related item, the board discussed a public email about whether to place a stop sign at East Exeter Street and Columbia Avenue. John Kilstrom, a board member who reported the complaint to staff, said the obstructing tree on private property "has been trimmed back so that there is now clear vision." Hurt noted that MUTCD stop‑sign warrants generally require three crashes within 12 months or documented sight‑distance problems; the intersection in question had two crashes in the previous year and the sight‑distance issue appears to have been addressed, so the matter will be monitored rather than immediately changed.
Traffic safety plan update: the Chief said the city intends to submit a pre‑application in spring 2026 to the Oregon Transportation Growth Management program to fund an update to the Transportation System Plan and traffic safety elements. He gave a cost range of $150,000 to $350,000 for the work and said the city would likely fall toward the lower end; the program requires a local match of about 10.27 percent, which can include staff time. If funded, the project could begin in summer 2027, and the public works and traffic safety advisory board would be involved in the update.
Community input and next steps: Councilor Andrew Rathman and other members urged keeping update costs down and said the existing TSP contains much useful material. Ken Engstrom, who joined late, suggested yield signs on some cross streets as a lower‑threshold alternative where full stop signs are not warranted. Board members asked Hurt to return with time‑of‑day and DUI‑flag analyses to help prioritize enforcement and agreed to keep monitoring the Exeter/Columbia location.
Votes at a glance: the board moved and seconded approval of the June 23 minutes (the clerk said she had not called roll at that moment). A later motion to adjourn was seconded and carried on a roll call in which members present voted "yes." The meeting was adjourned.
The board expects follow‑up data (time‑of‑day, DUI flags) from Hurt and noted a planned public involvement period if the city pursues the TSP update grant application.
