The City of Beaverton has opened a virtual open house for their first-ever Active Transportation Plan. The plan, which also includes walking-related infrastructure of course, will help city staff implement the right facilities in the right places.
In their first online open house, Beaverton planners learned that — surprise, surprise — people who want to bike more but are too afraid of traffic have a “clear desire” for separated facilities like multi-use paths and protected bike lanes. “Providing bicycle infrastructure that accommodates this group of ‘Interested but Concerned’ bicyclists has the greatest potential of increasing bicycling in Beaverton,” the city said.
In this open house, the city wants your feedback on two main topics: What streets should be prioritized for bicycle access updates, and what type of bicycle infrastructure should be implemented.
Similar to Portland (and other cities), Beaverton will label their bicycle network into various “functional classifications” ranging from “enhanced major bikeways” (fully-protected lanes on major arterials) to “neighborhood bikeways” (akin to Portland’s neighborhood greenways). The classifications will help determine what types of facilities are suitable in each location.
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You also have the opportunity to tell the City of Beaverton what type of facilities you prefer to ride in. Their current proposal includes four facility types: protected bike lanes, buffered bike lanes, regular old bike lanes, and sharrows.
Another way to share your feedback is to download the Ride Report app. Data from this app (which anonymously tracks your routes and allows you to rate them as stressful or pleasant) is being used by the City of Beaverton to help decide where to build new bikeways.
After processing community feedback, city staff will spend the next three months creating a project list.
You can sign up for an email list to stay updated on more open house and public outreach events. The plan is scheduled for adoption by Beaverton City Council in October of this year.
It will be a much better plan if you take a few minutes to share your opinions in the online open house.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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