HAND
By Paul Coleman
The public HAND board meeting occurred on Tuesday, July 21. and focused on the Vision Zero Initiative as well as safety design improvements for the SE 8th Ave, SE 11th Ave and SE 12th Ave TriMet crossings. Vision Zero is a program of the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) to make our transportation system the safest possible and to move towards zero traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in the next 10 years.
The Clinton Bikeway is a street that has seen increased motor vehicle traffic over the past several years (2000-3000 cars per day) and the city would like to lower that daily car count to 1500 per day to have it in line with the policy and goals of designated bicycle greenway. The focus of the PBOT activity this year will be to have traffic diverters in place by the end of Fall 2015. PBOT is very open to public feedback as this process unfolds.
Specific attention will be given to the Clinton intersections of 12th, 17th, and East of 26th. PBOT anticipates a draft plan towards the end of August.
As TriMet prepares for the opening day of the Orange line on September 12 (mark your calendars, people!), TriMet has begun to observe car, bicycle, and pedestrian movement at the 8th, 11th and 12th Avenue crossings. Currently the heavy rail and light rail signals are synched and that has caused confusion. TriMet is in the process of decoupling these signals so only light rail trains will initiate light rail signals. TriMet offered suggestions on design improvements for the pedestrian and bike crossings with a keen focus on swing gates and switch back designs. The board provided feedback on these design ideas and will continue to be in conversation with TriMet in the weeks and months ahead.
The Board worked to finalize its response to the City’s proposed Right to Dream Too relocation plan. Lastly, the Board offered its support to the Friends of Trees group who are beginning to plan  their December 5 tree planting day. If you know a neighbor who needs a tree (and who doesn’t love shade in our summer heat?), pass their name along to the Friend of Trees team 503.282.8846  www.friendsoftrees.org
The next HAND meeting will be on September 15. For specifics see www.handpdx.org.