Main Street Safety Project Update 6-4-2021: Summary of City Council Meeting and Next Steps

June 8, 2021

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Direction Received from City Council

At their Work Session on May 10, 2021, the Springfield City Council gave our project team direction to proceed with developing a draft Main Street Facility Plan. This direction was provided after receiving a presentation that covered the results from the third round of community engagement for the Main Street Safety Project. Plus, feedback received from the Planning Commission and the Main Street Governance Team. The City Council also confirmed that the toolbox recommendations met their expectations and direction to date, including:

Addressing safety on Main Street;
Recommending implementation of infrastructure elements with a balanced approach to improves safety and supports business/economic development on the corridor; and
Presenting the recommendations with a toolbox approach that is simple, flexible, and can be implemented gradually in phases.

Additionally, our project team shared the misconceptions about what the project is or is not that we communicated in our last e-update. You can review them here.

City Council acknowledged community input and reaffirmed that there really is a serious safety problem on Main Street, that it is ODOT and the City’s duty to tackle the problem, and that the Main Street Safety Project’s approach is sensible and responsible. They also emphasized the importance of continuing to engage community members and make adjustments during future design phases.

You can review the Council minutes on the City’s website.

Visit City Council Meetings Page

Next Steps

Based on direction and feedback from the City Council, the project team will start drafting the Main Street Facility Plan. This work will occur over the next three months.

As part of this work, the project team will be scheduling the final two Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings for the Planning Phase of this project. The meetings will occur in late summer and fall of this year.

The final Strategic Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting will also be scheduled for this fall to review and provide feedback on the Draft Facility Plan. We will share dates and agenda packets for these meetings once confirmed.

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Project Purpose

Springfield’s Main Street is consistently ranked as one of the most unsafe city streets in Oregon based on the severity and frequency of traffic crashes. The Oregon Department of Transportation and the City must address this problem to save lives, reduce injuries, and lessen property damage due to crashes. The purpose of the Main Street Safety Project is to select infrastructure solutions that will make Main Street safer for people walking, biking, driving, and taking transit.

The selected safety improvements will provide for the movement of goods and people, support the economic viability of the corridor, accommodate current bus service and future transit solutions, and complement traffic safety education and enforcement.