Connection Study Ratified

Thursday, August 9th the Metro Council voted unanimously to adopt the study results East Metro Connections Plan. This is a study from I-84 to highway 26 which includes the four cities of east county. The influence area was also included Damascus and Happy Valley to the south of Gresham.

The purpose of the study is to identify transportation and other investments that improve economic and community development. The major participants came from the cities of Gresham, Wood Village, Fairview, Troutdale and Multnomah County.

Each of these cities including the county and Metro have voted unanimously to support the final product. This is a remarkable achievement but any one's measure. The count is 40 to 0.

At the Metro meeting yesterday giving testimony was Mayor Pat Smith of Wood Village, Mayor Jim Kight of Troutdale, and Commissioner Diane McKeel among the electeds'..

One of the major outcomes of the study was the proposed improvements to 238th Drive in Wood Village. Currently this corridor is very narrow and has drainage problems from springs that flow onto to road surface. Wood Village City Council, voted to allow design and improvements to this stretch of roadway. The changes include widening to accommodate freight traffic, sidewalks on both sides and a retaining wall on the south side. Also the water draining onto the road will be corrected.

Troutdale projects include: 257th Avenue pedestrian improvements at intersections mid-block crossings, creating a safety corridor on Cherry Park and 257th, and reconstruction Stark Street to arterial standards just to name a few.

The next step is to seek funding for the key projects from federal, state and regional sources. This will the same level of cooperation as experienced during the study. It has taken over 20 years to get to this point. The level of cooperation among the cities and elected officials that helped move this project to conclusion is now the envy of other regions throughout the Portland Metro Area. As an example there is the Southwest Corridor Study which currently is at loggerheads. One of the metro councilors commented that they need to bring a busload of east county electeds' and others involved  to the west side to teach the westsider's how to get alone.