SW Trails
August 22, 2013
Attendance: Don Baack, Lee Buhler, Glenn Bridger, Hans Stench, Wendy Wente , Doug Rogers, Arnie Panitch, Virginia Hendrickson, Gene Hamilton, Joan Hamilton, Terry Song, Michael Kisor
The meeting was called to order at 7:02
Arnie said he will will lead a walk on Saturday, September 21 at 9:00am. Meet at First and Meade.
The agenda was approved. The May minutes were approved.
Terry Song talked about the bridge for the Red Electric. He is with HNTB Corp. They have done several similar bridges and are hoping to do the bridge for the Red Electric Trail. Wendy Wente of Mason, Bruce & Girard, Inc. talked about the project. She has been with the company for 8 years and is an ecologist. She works with projects to help them go through the environmental permit process. Terry had a PowerPoint display on the bridges. He showed bridges they had completed. He showed an example of a cable stayed pedestrian bridge in Wichita Kansas and one in Nebraska across the Missouri river. He showed a tied arch bridge in Desp Moines and another one in Denver. He showed several other examples of pedestrian bridges around the country.
Glenn asked what they would have to do went the bridge has a slope. Terry said ADA compliance is 5%. If not they will have to provide landings. Doug asked what the length of the bridge would be. Terry said they did not know yet but thought it would be 150-200 feet. Don suggested a park like area at one end. Arnie said the slope on the the TriMet bridge is about as steep as you would want but it works well. Terry said the TriMet bridge slope is 4.5%. Arnie asked when it would be done. Terry said there have been several delays but he expects the RFP will be in September. He hopes that it will be done in 2015. Glenn asked Wendy what she would be looking for. He said that most of the plants are invasive. Wendy said they will go in and look for invasive species. Then, when construction happens they will remove invasives and re-plant with native species. There will be a five year control period. Glenn pointed out there is also a lot of garbage in there. Wendy said there will probably be a hazardous material removal. Arnie said it is important to keep the bus stop at that location. Don said the Hillsdale Plan has provision for bike storage with the idea people would ride to the site and then take the bus. Terry said they would also like to include sharos on Nebraska. Roger asked said it would be nice to replicate the trestles as a design element as it is historic for the community. Don said this was an O & C railroad right of way. Wendy said the Oregon and California was a railroad that was planned and never built. The land went back to the government. Doug said this was the only route to Washington County and it was very important. Southern Pacific took it over in 1880. He said Red Electric didn’t take if over until 1914 and it did not run very long, tracks were removed in late 1920’s. . Don id there was a fatal train accident south of where Chestnut Intersects Blvd c Ber now.
Don talked about Active Transportation. He said Bob Stacy talked to Metro about issues brought up at the last Trails meeting. Don suggested a follow-up letter. Doug made a motion to send a follow-up letter to make sure the routes discussed were included. Glenn seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. LETTER SENT
Don said Multnomah Days went very well. We got about 20 new members. Don said the banner went well. He suggested another banner for the front of the booth. He estimated the cost to be $50-100. Glenn said there were 1500 people in the parade. Arnie said buses were re-routed to Vermont and then 45th and then to Garden home and then left to Capitol.
Hikes: Virginia said Hans will lead the September hike. It will be loop through Marshall Park, Maracara Park and Tryon Creek Park. She said it will be a great hike.
Don talked about the work party at Wilson High. He said most of the school is locked up for construction but the trail will be available for work. He said a back-hoe removed a big portion of the stumps we creared last work party. He said the work should be fun. Bring gloves.
Don talked about the pedestrian walkway on Capitol Hill Road near the new Safeway. There is about 100ft of missing extended shoulder. We are asking that the guardrail be moved to separate the walkway. Don said he showed Commissioner Novick the problem and hopefully he will get involved. Doug said the Safe-Route-to School program might help.
Lee talked about the crosswalk at SW Natio and Whitaker. The lighted crosswalk has been approved but not built. It was scheduled to be built by this time. Lee made a motion to send a letter to ODOT, PBOT and Commissioner Novick requesting that this crosswalk be constructed as soon as possible. Don said it was important for OHSU, SW Trail #1 and as an alternate 4T route. Doug seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Letter not yet sent.
Don said Barbara suggested a meeting to talk about the membership brochure.
Glenn talked about the walk around with Commissioner Novick. He said it was important that commissioners see the issues first hand. They did a similar walk with Carlotta Collette. He said Carlotta was not aware of many issues such at the crossing at Boones Ferry. He said the Boones Ferry crossing will also help endangered species. Glenn said they showed Commissioner Novick several places where overgrown vegetation was a problem.
Don talked about the possible road diet on Barbur. Someone was hit and injured about 100 yards north of Capitol Highway. Arnie said the women that hit him was arrested today. She has been arrested many times and is being sued for another accident. Don said the police did not do a good job of investigating the accident. Arnie said KATU news picked up the evidence and was able to locate the perpetrator. Arnie suggested extending the green box. Virginia suggested signaling to let cars know you are not turning. Don said they drafted a letter from the Pedestrian Advisory Committee about the problem. Doug said there is a new road diet on Division that help a great deal. Glenn pointed out that Barbur is ODOT whereas the Division road diet was PBOT.
Don said there will be a walk around with Commissioner Fritz staff on Friday August 30th
Glenn passed out a summary of a meeting on the Red Electric . The goal was to organize support for all the neighborhoods that the trail goes through. Hopefully, there will be a joint letter from the neighborhoods.
Glenn said they have been working on a trail on Tunnelwood. Water flow wiped out the trail. BES and the Water Bureau worked to solve the problem. PBOT made an opening in a fence but they did it in the wrong place. Once they get the opening in the right place, BES can put some gravel down and we can complete the trail.
Don said they hope to have a press conference on extended shoulders on Maplewood.
Hans showed an aerial photo of the Coronado right-of-way. He said the right of way is a good connector for that neighborhood. He said the Neighborhood Association informed the neighbors and one neighbor assembled a group of opponents and got them to send a letter in opposition to the trail. Someone put up barbed wire on the trail. PBOT wrote a letter to the neighbors saying the public has a right to use the trail. Hans said he is trying to calm people and discuss the issue. Hans said there was a survey but it was not followed and someone built a fence in the right-of-way. Doug pointed out that 80% of the trail is adjacent to vacant land. Don said some of the neighbors are worried that they will be required to maintain the trail.
Glenn said he wrote to PBOT about markings on the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. He asked them to remove the “bike only” markings. He said they replied that they will be removing those markings. He said every section of improvement is good and a step in the right direction. He said this is a case where walking against traffic is not safe as you have to cross The Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway several times. Doug said his neighborhood has also been working with PBOT on this. He said people have a tendency to increase speed at the county line. Doug said city zoning forces low-income people to live on high traffic roads where it is the most dangerous. Arnie said several bus lines off-load in bad spots.
Don said someone contacted him about a problem at SW 52nd north of Martha. See the web site for more information on this. SWTRAILS.ORG
Michael said they talked about improving some trails in the Ashcreek Neighborhood. Don pointed out that if SW Trails worked on the trail it would remove the adjacent neighbors liability. Glenn pointed out that this would happen with another non-profit as well.
Don said there was a meeting on transportation projects as part of the SW Corridor Plan.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:36 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Lee Buhler
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