Last winter, Multnomah County and four cities in the area created the East Multnomah County Transportation Safety Action Plan.
It was created based on survey data the county gathered from East Multnomah County residents to identify problem hotspots for transportation safety in Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview and Wood Village.
Vince Jones-Dixon is the chair of the East Multnomah County Transportation Committee. We’ll check in with Jones-Dixon about the issues the county has identified and the steps that are being taken to improve traffic safety in the area.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed using AI and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller coming to you today in front of an audience at the new East County Library in Gresham. The number of people killed or seriously injured in crashes in East Multnomah County nearly tripled between 2013 and 2022. 473 people were seriously injured in that time,104 lost their lives. This is why the county and four cities in the area created the East Multnomah County Transportation Safety Action Plan last winter. It identified stretches of roads that are particularly dangerous and steps to make them safer. Vince Jones-Dixon is the Multnomah County Commissioner for District 4 and the chair of the East Multnomah County Transportation Committee. He joins us now. It’s great to have you back on Think Out Loud.
Commissioner Vince Jones-Dixon: Yeah, thank you for having me.
Miller: I was struck by the cover photo of this action plan that you and others put out. Folks in the audience here can maybe see it, although it’s such a big auditorium you barely can. Folks on the radio obviously can’t. But it shows, in the background, there is a man in a wheelchair, a man on a bicycle, and then in the foreground, blurry – because maybe they’re going fast – are some trucks. I’m just curious what goes through your mind when you see that picture?
Jones-Dixon: Well, I also see the library, as well, so I see hope and then opportunity…
Miller: …in construction.
Jones-Dixon: ...in construction, yes, so I see hope and opportunity, ultimately. And ironically, over the last two months I’ve been paying attention to the amount of people that are walking from the shopping center that’s across the street, and it’s pretty busy, and just watching how the driving behaviors have changed because of the building.
Then also, seeing folks in wheelchairs and on bikes and walking with kids to and from, so looking at the picture, especially based off the topic that we’re discussing this afternoon, I see the opportunity as far as speed remediation.
Miller: You analyzed crash data from 2013 to 2022 for the report, and the areas that showed the biggest uptick in crashes were around Wood Village and Fairview. What did you and others learn about what was behind that huge increase?
Jones-Dixon: Again, needed speed of remediation, so I was talking to Mayor Jairo and the city manager in Wood Village, simple things like having crossings, safe places where folks can cross to and from, north and south across the streets and having the flashers as well, and then updating the roads and the sidewalks.
Miller: What did you hear from people? There were extensive surveys and listening sessions going on for like a year and a half or so, as part of this report. What most stood out to you?
Jones-Dixon: For me personally hearing just the fact that we’re actually listening from community members and wanted to hear their experiences. Again, “safe,” I’ve heard from students, as far as seeing sidewalks, lighting as well, and then for folks that are riding bikes, safe pathways and clean pathways to go to and from work and places of worship.
Miller: I’d love to hear from folks in the audience here, how safe do you feel on the streets here, and what are your biggest concerns? And also, what would you like to see changed to make you feel safer? We have one person here. What’s your name?
Elaine Woehlert: I’m Elaine Woehlert, and I’m a Gresham resident and we live off of Orient Drive. And my biggest concern is the sidewalks. We have lots of new developments where all the new houses are built, you have sidewalks, and then you’ll have a half a block, a block and a half, two blocks with no sidewalks, and then sidewalks. You have bus stops where people are waiting for buses and you have just barely enough room between the traffic lane and the edge of the street to wait for buses. Kids are waiting for buses.
Miller: If I could just interrupt, so, for the first part where you’re saying there’s new developments and sidewalks for a while and then no sidewalk for a couple of blocks and then sidewalks again, do you see people walking on the sidewalks and then walking on the side of the road and then walking on the sidewalks again?
Woehlert: Oh, yes, we have to, yes, all the time, and there’s a large stretch that goes from Salquist Street all the way to 82nd, which is probably, I don’t know, two miles, where there’s very, very little sidewalk. And there was a big development on Chase Road and Orient Drive where they had put, like, I don’t know, a landing, so when you cross the street, there’s no crosswalks, and you’ve got a convenience store, you’ve got neighborhoods, and there’s no crosswalks. There’s no lines that are painted, there’s no flashing lights, there’s nothing out there, and it’s dangerous. And there’s lots of kids and lots of people walking, and lots of people on scooters, and it’s very dangerous out there, and that’s a very big concern of mine.
Miller: Thank you very much. We’ve got another person behind you there, sir. What’s your name?
Stefan Potter: Stefan Potter. And where we live in Southeast Portland, we have barely any sidewalks in the area that we’re actually in, and I was in Northeast Portland today, in a very busy intersection on MLK, and there’s Biketown racks all over the place but there were no bike lanes for bicycles to actually ride down. I thought that was odd to see people having to go onto the sidewalk on their bikes that they just rented from – or however you call it off of the Biketown bikes – and then they had to get onto the sidewalk just to get off onto the pedestrian walkway. I thought it was just strange that it wasn’t easily accessible to go ahead and ride down the street on a bike lane because there was no bike lane.
Miller: Thank you. We have one more voice, way in the back.
Emerett: Hello, I’m Emerett, so my friend here, Tiffany, she lives in Gresham, and I just practically live at her house because I’m always there. And she lives on this one road that is just a drive-through street near the Fred Meyer and the Winco and all that jazz, and the people that race through there, where there’s a blind curve, is just abysmal. The amount of people that just cross the road and they don’t see or whatever it is and then the amount of people that are on like, the mini bikes or the scooters, and they’re on the sidewalks, and I’ve watched a woman just get run over by somebody on a scooter going 20, 30 miles on the sidewalk when there are already bike lanes
So I don’t know how we’re gonna be able to get legislation or anything on that, where people, like, there’s bike lanes but they’re still driving 20-30 miles on the sidewalk and hitting people and all that jazz. So that’s one thing that I’ve noticed around here is people running around on those, like the kids essentially, just being menaces, I guess.
Miller: Thank you very much. Commissioner Jones-Dixon, I mean, just in three comments from the audience, we got a small taste of how complicated this is, and how many intertwined issues there are. Not bike lanes in a certain place, people using bike lanes that are there in ways that they shouldn’t, no sidewalks or sidewalks and then no sidewalks, and then sidewalks again, people driving too quickly. I’m curious, what stood out to you just in the few things we just heard here?
Jones-Dixon: I always think about… Well, thank you for just the comments and sharing about your experiences, both in East Portland and here in Multnomah County. One of the things that I love about, we call it EMCTTC the East Multnomah County Transport Transportation Committee, we have representation from the city of Portland, the city of Wood Village, the city of Troutdale, the city of Gresham and the city of Fairview, all in one room, where we’re identifying these issues and challenges, and then also figuring out how do we work together to properly fund ensuring that we have sidewalks in communities – and technically that should be funded already, if it’s a new development, through system development charges. And that’s one of the reasons why we did the Transportation Safety Action Plan, so that highlighted a lot of things that were mentioned.
Miller: But speaking of funding, transportation funding is a gigantic question mark statewide right now. As you know, as probably most of our listeners know at this point, lawmakers didn’t pass a funding package and then were called back and did, and then voters recently said… I was gonna swear. They said, “No,” they said, “Absolutely not.”
Jones-Dixon: Not today, Dave.
Miller: Well, essentially 80% said, “Hell no.”
Jones-Dixon: Yes.
Miller: So, I’m curious where that leaves you. I mean, you said earlier “It’s easy,” …I don’t know if you said exactly “It’s easy,” but, “We know how to do this. We can put some lights here.” But even putting lights in a place, or a beg button so that it’ll flash and cars will maybe stop, that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars alone. We’re talking about a ton of money to make safe multimodal transportation a reality in large parts of any city.
Jones-Dixon: One of the things that I’ve learned about East Multnomah County is we have a ton of social capital. You mentioned the survey, and how many people completed the survey? Would you say? About three…
Miller: You’re asking me how many filled out your survey?
Jones-Dixon: Yeah, did you look at the…
Miller: I forgot the numbers.
Jones-Dixon: OK, it was quite a few. One of the things that I’ve learned as far as community engagement is just community education. I have two kids. I have a 15-year-old and a 9-year-old, and I’m constantly telling them, as we’re walking through Rockwood or downtown Gresham, “Look both ways,” and things like that, so that has reinvigorated as far as like safe routes to school and connecting with community, and we have a collective responsibility so we can’t just buy our way out of it. We also have to educate and then also let people know, like looking at that picture that you showed me, we have to be more aware of our surroundings and be more responsible drivers and neighbors, so that’s how I see things.
Miller: How do you get people to slow down if appealing to their better angels is not enough?
Jones-Dixon: There’s consequences. If you’re driving from here to East Portland down Division, they have safety cameras, so that’s one of the things when I was on city council we talked about things like that, and then also community education.
Miller: I was surprised to see that a lot of people, a lot of respondents said they want more of those cameras. Why do you think that is?
Jones-Dixon: Because it drives behavior. I slow down each and every time I drive down Division going to East Portland, and it’s a reminder, and it’s unbiased. And then once you have that ticket, that’s $65, you’re reminded, “Yeah, I should slow down in this area.” And then also when you see the flashing lights, too, it’s a reminder you have to be mindful of your speed.
Miller: Vince Jones-Dixon, thanks very much.
Jones-Dixon: Thank you for coming. We should do this again.
Miller: Vince Jones-Dixon is Multnomah County commissioner for District 4. He is the chair of the East Multnomah County Transportation Committee.
“Think Out Loud®” broadcasts live at noon every day and rebroadcasts at 8 p.m.
If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983.
