Ascension Drive Safety Updates

Update 8/25/20: The final report and Council presentation have been added to the 'Key Documents' section on the right column of this webpage.

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The City of Tigard is making safety changes on Ascension Drive in response to community concerns. Earlier this year, city staff moved toward removing parking on Ascension based on a traffic safety complaint. After hearing a broad range of input, the City Engineer has revised the initial proposal to include removal on only one side of the street.

Update 7/23/20: Letter from the City Engineer

Dear Ascension Drive neighbors,

I want to express my apologies for what has been an imperfect at best communications process around traffic safety and parking issues on SW Ascension Drive. Read more...

Background

• In February, the City of Tigard received a traffic complaint of low visibility through the back-to-back curves (S-curves) on SW Ascension Drive.
• Engineering staff visited the site and decided to limit on-street parking through the curves. The city sent a mailed notice to property owners in March.
• In May, in response to community concerns and questions, the city mailed a second notice with more detail about the decision.
• In June, city staff met individually with property owners along the curves to better understand their concerns.

What We Heard

• Concerns from neighborhood residents about the lack of visibility for drivers in the S-curves when parked cars are present.
• Concerns with the proposed removal of on-street parking:
  • Deliveries
  • Guests
  • Parking impacts to adjacent street
  • Limit ‘no parking’ to just one side of the street
• Additional safety concerns:
  • Speed
  • Increased traffic volume
• Concerns about the level of neighborhood involvement in responding to traffic safety complaints.
• Read more...

What We Learned

• The community has requested a comprehensive approach to addressing safety concerns. In this case, removing parking addresses visibility — but no other important traffic safety concerns.
• In response to previous community concerns, the city has monitored speed on Ascension Drive since 2017. The average speed is 26 mph, with 85 percent of drivers below 30 mph — but there are a few outliers and even that speed seems fast in the back-to-back curves.
• Traffic volume has increased from about 730 motor vehicles per day in 2016 to 1,050 per day in 2019. Tigard and adjacent communities have seen significant development. All public streets, including neighborhood routes, have seen higher traffic volumes.
• Read more...

What’s Next

• The City Engineer, Lori Faha, has outlined upcoming traffic safety improvements to be installed later this summer:
  • No parking on one side of Ascension Drive through the back-to-back curves.
  • Add striping in the curves, to serve as a visual clue to slow and stay in the correct lane.
  • Commitment to pursue a 20 mph neighborhood streets program with City Council, including implementation on Ascension Drive.
• Development of a citywide neighborhood traffic complaint program with clear avenues for neighborhood feedback and clear criteria for prioritizing and addressing issues.
• Read more...

We know this decision won’t satisfy everyone, but we are looking forward to improving safety in this area.