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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Stouts fire burns 15,000 acres and counting ... 'Mitigation banking' ... The El Niño effect ... Stouts fire burns 15,000 acres and counting ... 'Mitigation banking' ... The El Niño effect ... SUNDAY FOCUS: COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Road to health: Bike and pedestrian paths play greater role in transportation project funding Comment By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 5, 2015 at 2:00 AM By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 5, 2015 at 2:00 AM » Social News Pedestrian paths and painted bicycle lanes that seemed to randomly appear along roadways in the past sometimes would satisfy bureaucratic requirements but little else. That's changing. State agencies have come to see transportation as not just moving people and freight, but also helping build healthier communities by connecting pedestrian and bike routes to the places people want to go. The Oregon Department of Transportation now has an Active Transportation Section that addresses pedestrian and bicycle elements and how they tie in with public roadways. More recently, the Oregon Health Authority was given a say in ODOT plans with an eye toward producing future generations that are leaner and healthier. The metamorphosis has changed thinking at every level and impacts how projects are funded, said ODOT Active Transportation Section Manager Mac Lynde. "It helps improve community health, whether they're students or the older generation, or simply reducing congestion, reducing emissions and number of vehicles on roadways," Lynde said. "It adds to the community's livability, leading to improved health and spending less on health care." Historically, funding merely for walking paths and bike lanes led to a disconnect from overall transportation planning, said David Lohman, member of the Oregon Transportation Commission and Ashland's city attorney. "There's been an increasing recognition that our transportation system has become multimodal, and that we're not just moving vehicles, but people in general," Lohman said. "Over the past 10 years, it has become increasingly that way." Gas taxes were tied constitutionally to road improvements, while other projects depended on federal funds and foundation grants that had their own restrictions. "ODOT handles money from a lot of different silos, and it is working to find ways to cross over those barriers," Lohman said. "Increasingly, ODOT is asking local jurisdictions what the relationship is to the rest of the transportation system and how roadway improvements impact other modes of transportation." From adoption of the 1971 bicycle bill — which requires facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists wherever a road is being constructed or reconstructed — to ODOT's present active transportation component, pathways have gained prominence, both in function and funding. Given the relative dearth of resources available for transportation these days, the holistic approach makes both fiscal and physical sense, said Mike Baker, ODOT's Region III planning manager. "We are trying to accommodate connections to neighborhoods, maybe providing bicycle lock-up facilities, pedestrian-scale lighting and other safety features," Baker said. The paths need to not only connect people to the places they're going, but also provide reasonable assurance they can get there in one piece. "A lot of sidewalks and bike lanes are built because they're required to be built," Baker said. "They're built without consideration of what they connect, how they work, and who they support." Mike Montero, co-chairman of Rogue Valley Area Commission on Transportation, points to the asphalt path passing beneath his office on East McAndrews Road as a case study for interaction of pedestrians and cyclists with a four-lane boulevard. A wide path — accommodating cyclists, runners and walkers with their dogs — on the north side of the east/west road draws hundreds of people daily, while a standard sidewalk lining the south side is largely ignored. "There is a contrast when you look at bike lanes that run on roadways, because there is a safety element," Montero said. "It never ceases to amaze me how many people are walking that path every day." Existing road and trailscapes won't necessarily change overnight, but as new neighborhoods are built, the possibilities grow. "Retrofitting neighborhoods will be difficult," Montero said. "I would argue the low-hanging fruit is connecting already existing trail assets together. What makes those trails more used is when they connect activity centers together. When you simply have a trail for trail's sake, it's not going to have as high of a use as a trail connecting places and things where people want to go." It hasn't taken long to see the influence of healthy-living proponents on state-funded projects. In five rounds of Connect Oregon grants over two years, bike and pedestrian projects accounted for 14 percent of the funds, or $6.3 million. When a city or county demonstrates its ability to integrate the various aspects into its projects, it garners state favor. "When they are showing how it fits into the whole transportation system with multiple benefits across the modes, and not just the mode they are focusing on initially for the project, it will end up ranking higher in the selection process," said Lohman. The second phase of Medford's Larson Creek bike path recently meshed nicely with ODOT's goals in distributing $43.4 million in state and federal funds during Connect Oregon V. Larson Creek placed No. 13 out of 40 approved projects, attracting $868,000 from the state to go along with $217,000 from local sources on a $1.09 million project. Two other pedestrian/bike projects submitted by the city of Tualatin and Lane Transit District made the top 5. The Larson Creek Trail is part of a larger system of paths that would connect Bear Creek Greenway with Prescott Park on Roxy Ann Peak. If completely funded, Larson Creek Trail would stretch to North Phoenix Road, swing north and continue east from the planned Southeast Village commercial center through a future Summerfield neighborhood to Chrissy Park and north to Prescott Park. With both future commercial and residential elements still to build, there isn't a firm timeline or completion date, Montero said. But it is fair to say that within the next five to 10 years much of the project will go from lines on maps to physical reality. "I can't tell you with precision how quickly anything will occur," Montero said. "It will occur with urbanization. If you're trying to build a trail in an already built environment, then it's difficult. If you're planning to have a path and trail as part of a project, then you're dealing with different circumstances." While Medford has been astute in taking advantage of the new multimodal thinking, Lohman said, other areas have, too. "It's like a long-distance race where someone is in the lead," Lohman said. "Then someone else takes over, and then it switches again." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31, and read his blog at www.mailtribune.com/ Economic Edge. Larson Creek Trail by Mail Tribune By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Greg Stiles Mail Tribune Posted Apr. 5, 2015 at 2:00 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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