Moving Forward TV Highway Background
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Background Summary Report The Moving Forward TV Highway Enhanced Transit and Access Plan is studying the feasibility of enhanced transit service in the TV Highway corridor, primarily within unincorporated Washington County between SW Cornelius Pass Road and SW 160th Avenue. The TV Highway corridor was selected as a “Next Phase Regional Priority Corridor” in Metro’s 2035 High Capacity Transit (HCT) System Plan and has been the subject of substantial state, regional, and local planning work. The County is undertaking a corridor refinement study that will define feasible transit concepts, identify needed access improvements such as bicycle and pedestrian facilities and highway crossings to potential transit stations along the corridor within the project area, and lay the groundwork for the corridor to be elevated to a regional priority HCT corridor. This report documents relevant plans, studies, projects and policies derived from prior planning efforts. These plans, studies and projects are listed below in Table 1, and summarized in Appendix A. Table 1. Guiding documents for Moving Forward TV Highway Plan or Study State Oregon Highway Plan (Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), 1999) Oregon Freight Plan (ODOT, 2017) Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan and Implementation Work Program (ODOT, 2016) Oregon Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Implementation Plan (ODOT, 2014) ODOT Region 1 Active Transportation Inventory (ODOT, ongoing) Regional Regional Transportation Plan (Metro, 2014 and 2018 [draft]) High Capacity Transit System Plan (Metro, 2009) Transit System Expansion Policy (Metro, 2011) Regional Freight Plan (Metro, 2010) Regional Active Transportation Plan (Metro, 2014) Regional Mobility Corridors Atlas (Metro, 2015) TriMet Pedestrian Network Analysis Project (TriMet, 2011) TriMet Bike Plan (TriMet, 2016) Local TriMet Westside Service Enhancement Plan (TriMet, 2013) Washington County Transportation System Plan (Washington County, 2015) TV Highway Corridor Plan (ODOT and Washington County, 2013) Aloha-Reedville Study and Livable Communities Plan (Washington County, 2014) Aloha Tomorrow (Washington County, 2017) Washington County Freight Study (Westside Economic Alliance, 2017) Washington County Arterial Pedestrian Crossings Project (Washington County, 2017) Regional Active Transportation Management Project (ODOT and Washington County, ongoing) Page | 1 Line 57 Existing Conditions Currently, TV Highway is served by TriMet Line 57, which is a Frequent Service bus route between Forest Grove and Beaverton Transit Center. It has the highest ridership of any bus line in Washington County and the ninth most in the entire TriMet bus network, with 7,540 average weekday boardings. 1 Line 57 is also the seventh most productive bus line in the system, with over 50 boarding rides per vehicle hour. Line 57 provides approximately 22 hours of service every day of the week, at a typical frequency of 15 minutes. However, frequencies are slightly lower during early morning hours (4-6AM) and substantially lower during late evening hours (10PM-2AM). While Line 57 already offers the longest span of service among all buses in the county, TriMet has proposed initiating 24-hour service on Line 57 as part of their Fiscal Year 2018/19 service updates, which would fill the existing 2 hour gap in overnight service. According to TriMet, Line 57 ranks tenth in the TriMet system in terms of providing access to communities of concern, jobs, housing, and social services. Relative to other lines in the TriMet system, Line 57 scores particularly high in serving multiple populations (minority, low-income, limited English proficiency, and youth), and provides a high level of access to affordable housing and services.2 Within census block groups located ¼ mile of Line 57, there are 65,000 residents with 45 percent of the population below 200 percent of the poverty line. In addition, there are almost 30,000 jobs within ¼ mile, with nearly 60 percent earning less than $40,000 per year.3 Review of Existing Plans and Projects The Oregon Highway Plan (Oregon Department of Transportation [ODOT], 2009) is the roadway modal element of the Oregon Transportation Plan (OTP), which is the overarching policy document among a series of plans that together form ODOT’s long-range multimodal transportation plan. The Oregon Highway Plan (OHP) establishes long-range policies and investment strategies for the State Highway System. The plan does not specifically address state facilities, but places the highest priority for making investments that improve the safety of the highway system, and for the management and preservation of the physical infrastructure. In addition, the plan does not classify the facility as a freight route, but TV Highway is included in the National Highway System of roadways important to the nation’s economy, defense, and mobility. Another modal element of the OTP is the Oregon Freight Plan (ODOT, 2011), last amended in 2017. This plan was created by ODOT to guide freight-related operation, maintenance and investment decisions, with policies and actions developed to implement the freight goals and policies of the OTP, focusing specifically on the economic benefits the freight transportation system. The 2017 update addresses federal Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act requirements, such as an inventory of freight transportation facilities with mobility needs and a list of critical urban and critical rural freight corridors. The Freight Plan does not specifically address TV Highway within the project study area, however a half-mile portion of TV Highway near OR 217 in Beaverton is designated as a Tier 3 (lower priority) “Freight Highway Delay Area”, which are locations on Oregon’s highway network that are experiencing significant freight truck delay, unreliability, and increased transportation costs. The statewide Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan (ODOT, 2016) serves as the bicycle and pedestrian element of the OTP. The Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan (OBPP) contains a set of statewide goals and policies that provide a decision-making framework for walking and biking investments, strategies, and programs, and guides the state through efforts such as prioritizing projects, developing design guidance, collecting important data and other activities that support walking and biking in Oregon. The policies and strategies in this plan are written to refine the OTP and be consistent with the other mode and topic plans, such as the OHP, while providing 1 TriMet Transit Profile for Line 57 Memorandum, October 2016. 2 TriMet Transit Profile for Line 57 Memorandum, October 2016. 3 Based on data from 2015 American Community Survey 5-year estimates and Census Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Page | 2 additional considerations for the needs of people walking and biking. The OBPP does not directly provide implementation actions for improving specific state facilities like TV Highway, rather, the plan recognizes the role of regional and local plans in addressing bicycle and pedestrian user and system needs through the identification of specific actions and projects and having consistent policies and strategies with the OBPP. In addition, ODOT completed an accompanying implementation work program that identified several near-term action items from the plan that can be implemented in the next five years. These actions include defining the existing network, updating design guidelines for bicycle and pedestrian facilities, exploring new ways to collect and analyze data, and developing plan- and program-level performance measures that can be integrated into decision making processes. One notable recommendation is the completion of a Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) analysis to understand physical, natural, and safety/comfort barriers which impact the connectivity of the bicycle and pedestrian network. ODOT is working with local jurisdictions to incorporate LTS analyses in future Transportation System Plan updates. The Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Implementation Plan (ODOT, 2014) expands on the statewide Transportation Safety Action Plan by following a systemic safety planning process to prioritize corridors across public roads in Oregon based on the potential for reducing frequency and severity of pedestrian and bicycle crashes. In addition, the plan provides a toolbox of countermeasures aimed at reducing crashes on specified corridors, and developed a framework from which ODOT and local agencies can use to apply judgment and area-specific context to prioritized corridors when developing projects. The plan identifies TV Highway between Century Boulevard and 185th Avenue as a priority project corridor for implementation of pedestrian crash countermeasures based on several crash risk factors, but does not provide specific project suggestions for prioritized corridors. As part of its effort to define the pedestrian and bicycle network, the state is embarking on the Region 1 Active Transportation Inventory (ODOT, ongoing) to better understand pedestrian and bicycle travel needs on the existing system of ODOT highways in Region 1 (which includes the Moving Forward TV Highway Plan study area). This effort provides an inventory of existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities and an evaluation tool to assist with strategically identifying future projects that provide the greatest benefits for various users. The third and final phase currently ongoing will determine the facilities, design treatments, or other improvements to address the identified needs and potential