Are you passionate about making Portland a great walking city?
Apply for our Community Advisory Committee!
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is excited to announce PedPDX, Portland’s Citywide Pedestrian Plan. The plan will prioritize sidewalks, crossing improvements, and other investments to make walking safer and more comfortable across the city. It will identify the key strategies and tools we will use to make Portland a truly great walking city.
To help guide development of the plan, PBOT is now recruiting Portlanders to apply to serve on the PedPDX Community Advisory Committee (CAC). PedPDX CAC members will serve as public officials for the duration of the planning process and provide feedback that will be considered for integration into the plan, which will go before City Council for adoption in approximately Fall/Winter 2018.
About PedPDX
PedPDX is an update of Portland’s 1998 Pedestrian Master Plan, which has served as a model across the country for pedestrian-friendly policies and design. It includes a citywide project list that has guided pedestrian infrastructure investments for the past 18 years.
However, despite consistent investment in the pedestrian network, significant gaps and deficiencies remain, and new policy questions have emerged. An incomplete pedestrian network limits the City’s ability to absorb growth and meet the livability and access needs of residents, including safe walking access to public transit and essential services. The 1998 Pedestrian Master Plan has served inner Portland well, but has often struggled to provide adequate guidance for areas such as East Portland and Southwest Portland that present environmental challenges and right-of-way constraints.
PedPDX will reflect changes to pedestrian policy and best design practices that have emerged since the original Pedestrian Master Plan was adopted, including an emerging understanding of transportation equity and a Vision Zero approach to pedestrian safety. The updated plan will ensure that the City continues to lead the way in walkability, and allow Portland to absorb growth in a sustainable way that encourages residents to walk, whether for commuting, shopping, going to school, or recreation.
PedPDX will:
- Establish a clear plan vision, goals, and objectives
- Identify gaps and needs in Portland’s pedestrian network (including needs for new sidewalks, crossings, and other pedestrian improvements)
- Prioritize needs to ensure that we are directing funding to locations with the greatest needs first (project prioritization will reflect the City’s commitment to improving equity outcomes and reaching our Vision Zero goal)
- Articulate the strategies, actions, and tools we will use to improve walking conditions within prioritized areas, and across the city
- Identify context-sensitive design solutions for various part of the city
- Update the City’s pedestrian classifications and designations, which help drive pedestrian design requirements; and
- Identify the performance measures we will use to track our progress implementing the plan over time
Click to learn more about CAC Responsibilities + Membership Selection Criteria
PBOT will select approximately 15 applicants for membership on the committee who represent as much of Portland’s geographic diversity as possible while also fulfilling additional preference criteria. Preference will be given to applicants who:
- live, work, or go to school in the City of Portland
- express willingness to take a holistic systems perspective for the benefit of all Portlanders
- exhibit a passion for/commitment to improving walking conditions in Portland
- contribute to a diversity of pedestrian-related perspectives on the committee, such as any combination of the following demonstrated interests/perspectives:
- commercial/ business/ economic development knowledge
- disability experience/ awareness of the different ways people “walk”
- safety advocacy
- social or racial justice experience
- recreational user (such as leisure walking, running/ jogging, dog walking)
- transit (bus, MAX, etc.) ridership/advocacy
- children/ education/ youth engagement
- service to vulnerable communities/ underserved Portlanders
Apply online now through Sunday April 16, 2017