Creating livable streets in Milwaukie

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Reviewing Standards and Policies 

As part of the TSP update, the city and its consultant team reviewed the city’s local street design policies and standards to see how they stacked up against regional best practices for creating livable streets. 

Livable streets are:

• Safe and comfortable places to travel for people of all ages and abilities
• Designed to encourage slower travel speeds
• Welcoming, spaces for people of all backgrounds
• Places to interact and linger
• Designed to foster a sense of community, ownership, and responsibility
• Designed to protect the environment
• Able to adapt to new mobility technologies
• Resilient to changing climates and the impacts of weather events

The review found that the existing policies and standards include a flexible policy framework, which is ideal for creating livable streets. The review also found some room for improvement and recommended that adjustments be made to Neighborhood Greenway principles and that the city consider adding policy guidance on unique street design treatments such as Woonerfs (see Figure 9 below).

Neighborhood Greenway Recommendations

To help guide future decisions regarding neighborhood greenways, it is recommended that the following performance guidelines be adopted

• Vehicle speeds should be no more than 20 mph on all neighborhood greenways.
• The ideal neighborhood greenway has a target volume of 1,000 motor vehicles a day or less.
• Neighborhood greenways can function effectively with added design features with an average of 1,500 motor vehicles per day.

Example Street Designs 

The review created illustrations depicting standard street designs. The city can use different designs based on the type of road and how much space is available for improvements. Put differently, the city isn't choosing between these designs, rather, these design types can be applied depending on the roadway's intended purpose, available resources, and existing constraints. Updated versions of these graphics will be included in the final TSP. Learn more by clicking here. 

Figure 1. Unenhanced Local Street

Figure 1 illustrates an unimproved local street cross section that would apply to existing streets in the City. This cross section recognizes a minimum design allowance for specific situations where a full local street upgrade is not feasible or necessary and overall traffic volumes and speeds are very low.

Figure 2. Local/Neighborhood Street with Sidewalks and On-Street Parking Figure 2 illustrates a local/neighborhood street cross section, enhanced to provide on-street parking and separate facilities for people walking. Bicyclists would share the roadway with vehicles. This cross section is appropriate for local and neighborhood streets with low traffic volumes and speeds. It could be a design application for a neighborhood greenway.

Figure 3. Local/Neighborhood Streets with Sidewalks on Both Sides Figure 3 illustrates a local/neighborhood street cross section, enhanced to provide separate sidewalk facilities for people walking. Bicyclists would share the roadway with vehicles. This cross section does not include on-street parking and would therefore only be appropriate on certain neighborhood streets that are not anticipated to have on-street parking needs. This cross section is appropriate for low traffic volumes and speeds. It could be a design application for a neighborhood greenway.

Figure 4. Low Volume Street

Figure 4. illustrates a low volume street cross section. The Low Volume Street (LVS) standard is not intended to be used in lieu of one of the City’s local street standards, but is intended to facilitate infill development in situations where development to the assigned standard would likely preclude such development. Appropriate for situations where traffic volumes and speeds should be considerably lower than the standards that allow 20 MPH streets.

 

Figure 5. Collector Street with Shared Use Path

 Figure 5 illustrates a collector street enhanced to provide separate facilities for people walking and biking on one side of the roadway while maintaining one lane of on-street parking. This cross section is appropriate for collector streets with moderate traffic volumes and speeds. It could be a design application in a constrained right-of-way setting when there is a need for enhanced bicycle accommodations. 

Figure 6. Collector Street with Separate Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities

 

Figure 6. illustrates a collector street cross section, enhanced to provide more traditional sidewalk and bicycle facilities for multimodal travel. Right of way permitting, the bicycle lanes could be designed as buffered bicycle lanes. It does not include on-street parking. This cross section is appropriate for collector streets (and arterials is some settings) with moderate traffic volumes and speeds.

Figure 7.Collector Street with Multiuse Path and Simple Sidewalk

Figure 7. illustrates a collector street cross section, enhanced to provide a separate multiuse path for walking and biking on one side of the roadway and a simple sidewalk on the other. This cross section is appropriate for collector streets with moderate traffic volumes and speeds when there is a need for enhanced bicycle accommodations.

 

Figure 8. Collector Street with multiuse path on both sides. 

Figure 8. illustrates a collector street cross section, enhanced to provide separate facilities for people walking and biking on both sides of the roadway. This cross section is appropriate for collector streets (and arterials is some settings) with moderate to high traffic volumes/speeds and where there is a need for enhanced bicycle accommodations.

Figure 9. Woonerf Design

Figure 9 illustrates a woonerf design, which is a type of road design that blends the vehicular and pedestrian spaces into one shared space. Typically, there is no formal division between the pedestrian zones and the mixed travel way zones, creating a pedestrian-focused space that is open for vehicles but with the expectation that vehicular travel will be minimal and at much slower speeds. Woonerfs have the following benefits:

• Creates a community-oriented space that is not dominated by vehicular travel.
• Encourages multimodal travel.
• Incorporates outdoor furnishings, landscaping, on-street parking, and lighting. These elements act as traffic calming devices to ensure slow travel speeds.