Forest Grove's Transportation System Plan (TSP)
Introduction

The Transportation System Plan (TSP) is mandated by the State of Oregon's Transportation Planning Rule, part of the land use planning process. Forest Grove's effort began in early 1999 with the selection of DKS as consultants to do the plan. After numerous public meetings and conferences with the Technical Advisory Committee and Community Development Dept. staff, the final report is now taking shape and will have its first hearing before a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and the City Council on 8 Nov. 1999. Some extracts follow. The whole thing can be found at City Hall in the Community Development Department or at the Library.

Included are the

Summary:

The Forest Grove Transportation System Plan (TSP) has been developed to bring an earlier 1987 City TSP into compliance with the Oregon Transportation Planning Rule. The plan is a multi-modal plan, addressing improvement to existing roadways, new pedestrian and bicycle facilities, improvement in public transit service, and transportation demand management (TDM) strategies. The plan also includes a transportation improvement program, as well as changes to Forest Grove codes and standards to implement the TSP recommendations. Recent planning studies completed by the city have been incorporated into the TSP including the Bike & Pedestrian Network Plan, June 1995, and the more recent Town Center Plan.

The plan includes the following major components:

  1. Modifications to the street functional classification system to reflect current street function and development patterns, in particular changes between the collector and neighborhood route designations streets.
  2. Modification to the city street standards to include Regional Street designs standards, and access spacing criteria.
  3. Identification of signal system and intersection improvements, to increase capacity in the roadway system at traffic congestion locations.
  4. Expansion of the city's system of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, with the objective of sidewalks or pathways for pedestrians on all collector and arterial streets, and bike lanes or bikeways on major collectors and arterials.
  5. Extension of the public transit system, including additional bus shelters, park and ride lot, and a dial-a-ride service to feed to the central fixed route bus services.
  6. Additional east-west street connections in the growing northwest sector of the city to replace lost opportunities carried over from past plans.

A total of 50 transportation improvement project have been identified to be implemented in Forest Grove over the 20 years, totaling about $41 million dollars (not including improvements to the Northern Highway 47 Bypass). Projects have been prioritized for implementation for the short-term and long-term time frames. To achieve this program, new transportation funding sources - federal, state, and/or local - will be required. An added $10 million over the next 20 years (beyond the current funding programs) will be required.

The TSP is consistent with Metro's Regional Framework and Transportation Plans, Washington County Transportation Plan, and Tri-Met's Primary Transit Network Plan.

See also the Goals and Policies

Approval of this application would result in the following change in the Zoning Ordinance:

  1. Add the provision that developments larger than 5 acres submit a traffic impact analysis from a traffic engineer to determine the effect upon the volume/capacity (V/C) ratio level of service (LOS) of the road facility and whether the adopted level will be exceeded.

Approval of this application would result in the following changes in the Land Division Ordinance:

  1. Require new developments to graphically show how new streets and utilities will connect to the Local Street Connectivity Plan.
  2. Require that development plans show residential full street connections and accessway connections for pedestrians, bicycles or emergency vehicles at intervals of no more than 330 feet.
  3. Add a design standard for Neighborhood Route of minimum 54' right-of-way width and 28' minimum roadway width with on-street parking on one side only.
  4. Future extension of streets to vacant or primarily undeveloped land must be in conformance with street projections shown on the Local Street Connectivity
  5. Add a proviso that street block patterns are required unless prevented by topography, barriers such as railroads or freeways, or environmental constraints such as major streams and rivers.
  6. Add access control per each classification of street within the TSP which shall be implemented when a new street or extension is built.
  7. Add full street connections for mixed-use developments at intervals of 330 feet unless restricted by conditions described in No. 4 above.
  8. Add a mandatory requirement for sidewalk and/or walkway connections within developments and/or neighboring developments or land uses when the street network does not provide safe, direct, and convenient routes for bicyclists and pedestrians.
  9. Add a mandatory requirement for accessway connections of no more than 330 feet for pedestrians, bicycles or emergency vehicles on public easements or right-of-way where full street connections are not possible. Exceptions are allowed for conditions described in No. 4 above.

The TSP identified and preliminarily examined three special study areas: the intersection at Thatcher Road and Gales Creek Road; the extension of 19th Avenue at Poplar Street to intersect with Highway 47; and a proposal to realign the proposed collector north of the High School around an adjacent 10 acre parcel. The Thatcher / Gales Creek Road intersection will be studied in greater detail as a separate project and is identified as a special study area in the TSP. The proposal to reroute the collector north of the High School around the 10 acre parcel was not supported by the TSP traffic consultant, DKS, as a preferable alternative. A cursory examination of extending 19th Avenue to join Highway 47 has been identified as feasible provided intersection controls are implemented. Limiting access out of and on to the 19th Avenue / Highway 47 intersection to right turns only would appear to be indicated at this point. Further study and modeling is warranted and will follow the TSP. Adoption of the TSP is not dependent upon the total resolution of these special studies.

Return to top of Page MLB Home Page