Thank you for your submission and helping to ensure your neighbors voices are heard. We’ve taken these and other comments into account in updating our proposed safety improvements on Ascension Drive.   The City Engineer is planning the following safety measures:

• Remove parking on one side of Ascension in the curves to remove visual obstructions to line of sight in the curves.  The parking removal will be focused on the inside of the curves, so it will be partially on side, partially on the other side of the street.
• Add a center stripe in the street with tactile bumps in the curves to add another visual cue to drivers to stay in their lane in the curves.
• Add a permanent electronic Your Speed Is feedback sign leading into the curves.
• Ask city council to adopt a 20 mph speed zone for some priority neighborhood streets (including Ascension).  This requires council adoption and must follow requirements of state legislation passed in 2019 that now allows for some streets to have reduced enforceable speed limits.  (The 15 mph signs at the curves are advisory only and not enforceable, per state law.)   This would likely be implemented starting 2021.

Additionally, city staff are working on developing a citywide traffic calming program including a clearer process for addressing traffic safety complaints.  Traffic humps will be considered as a potential tool in the traffic calming tool kit, and therefore may become a future tool again in the city (the city does not currently have a traffic hump program, although it did place speed humps in some locations many years ago).  There will be criteria for prioritizing and technically approving use of all traffic calming tools.   This work to create a program will be completed by the end of 2020.   Ascension may or may not qualify for speed humps (the steepness of the street and lack of line of sight in the curves create safety issues for humps); but if it does qualify, would be prioritized along with other city streets with speed and traffic safety issues.  Prioritization criteria may include topics such as measured speed, accident records, traffic volume, adjacency to schools, width of street, presence of sidewalks, etc.   In developing this program and recommending that resources be found for it, city staff will be utilizing the input we have received from Ascension neighbors, complaint information from others throughout the city, the Tigard Transportation Advisory Committee, and city council.

Yes, the City Engineer plans to move forward with removal of parking on one side of SW Ascension in the curves.   This will be partly on one side, partly on the other side, focused on removing parking on the inside of the curves where the vision obstruction of parked cars is the worst.   The recent accident definitely illustrated the problem of reckless driving in the curves.   Thankfully it was not worse and not a complete head-on collision.   This did not disprove the problem of visual obstruction in the curves when parked cars are present.   It did showcase that this location has multiple issues including both line of sight issues and reckless driver issues.  The immediate (next few months) planned work includes the partial removal of parking (for line of sight), addition of striping (for a visual cue to stay in your lane), installation of a permanent Your Speed Is Sign (for speeding feedback), continued annual monitoring of speed and traffic volume (to create data to evaluate for future needs and compare with other problem sites citywide), and pursuit of the enforceable 20 mph speed limit.

City engineering staff review all received traffic safety complaints.  The city put into place some mitigation measures on Ascension in 2017 based on speeding/reckless driving.  Collected speed data since that time did not suggest that Ascension should be at the top of the list for further mitigations at this time.  The latest complaint in February 2020 about lack of visibility and concern for head on collisions in the curves was reviewed and prioritized after engineering staff field-confirmed the issue.  A hybrid response with multiple measures is now planned after engineering review and considering all the input from neighbors.

Regarding speed humps:   the information I previously shared noted that we are working on a citywide traffic calming program including a clearer process for addressing traffic safety complaints.  Traffic humps will be considered as a potential tool in the traffic calming tool kit, and therefore may become a future tool again in the city.  There will be criteria for prioritizing and technically approving use of all traffic calming tools.   This work to create a program will be completed by the end of 2020.    Ascension may or may not qualify for speed humps; but if it does, would be prioritized for funding and implementation along with other city streets with speed and traffic safety issues.   Prioritization criteria may include topics such as measured speed, accident records, traffic volume, adjacency to schools, width of street, presence of sidewalks, etc.   City staff are currently working on this and will be utilizing the input we have received from Ascension neighbors as well as complaint information from others throughout the city, the Tigard Transportation Advisory Committee, and city council.

City engineering staff have information about 6 reported accidents since 2009 on Ascension Drive.  Four of those occurred between 2016 and present.   This is data for all of Ascension Drive.  Specific to the curves are three of those data points, including the crash in July 2020.

Parking will be removed along the inside of the curves, which is the location where parked vehicles cause the most obstruction to line of sight.  So the No Parking zone will be partially on one side, and partially on the other side.   The exact design has not yet been prepared, but we can send out to adjacent neighbors a map prior to installation of No Parking signs.

As noted in the prior response, we are further reviewing safety measures, and can still do so in the future.   Stop signs are placed according to national standards and restrictions under the Federal Highway Administration’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.   The short answer is that a small cul-de-sac side street such as Oxalis does not meet the standards for application of an all way stop.  We do get your and other neighbors underlying concerns about reckless driving behavior and speeding, as well as sight distance limitations.  Coupled together this makes for a complex situation.  We are developing a plan, based on input, data, and engineering standards that we can implement soon.   We also will continue to monitor traffic speed and volume, and as noted above are working on some citywide traffic safety programs that may help as well.  More to come in the next couple weeks.

Thank you.   We have had individual conversations with the Ascension neighbors who live in the curves.  In response to their concerns about the impacts of removing parking, the city has adjusted the original proposal to remove parking on both sides.  The proposal now is to remove parking on one side, coupled with other safety measures.    These are described at the top of this web page in the “What’s Next” section.  Also, we will  further review our response and proposed safety measures after the survey closes, and considering the recent accident in the curves.

Regarding traffic volume:  

You and many of your neighbors have expressed concerns related to the increasing traffic.  I will repeat here some of the information previously posted about this issue.   Citywide we are all seeing the traffic impacts of city and regionwide growth, including both infill development and urban growth boundary expansion (such as River Terrace).   And more growth is going to continue with expansion planning underway for South and West River Terrace in Tigard, King City, and the Cooper Mountain area in Beaverton.  If you have questions about this urban growth planning for Tigard, please contact Senior Planner Schuyler Warren at SchuylerW@tigard-or.gov.   

Also the city is embarking on an update to the Transportation System Plan (TSP), which is the document that includes the designations of roadway classifications, connectivity, priorities for transportation projects, and programmatic policies and needs.  There will be lots of public input opportunities over the next year, and please contact Senior Transportation Planner Dave Roth if you have specific questions at DaveR@tigard-or.gov.  

I understand the concerns about increasing traffic.   It is a larger issue than any one street.  We are a city with poor connectivity already due to past development patterns, and it is not city standard practice to close off or divert traffic from one street to another.  Community Development and Public Works staff try to improve connections for cars, bikes and pedestrians wherever we can so traffic can be distributed and dispersed and is not overwhelming any single route.  It’s difficult and expensive to do, and most such improvements occur as requirements attached to new development or redevelopment projects.  We agree old patterns of development that did not include complete connections such as Greenfield are not helping.   There is not an easy answer to this.

Regarding history and background related to the sight distance/no parking issues:

Rather than repeating it all here, I hope you will find answers to your questions in the Background information above, as well as in responses to other questions posted here, which give history, timeline, reasoning, etc.

Regarding speed humps:

Many in the Ascension neighborhood clearly want speed humps.   This is loud and clear in your and other neighbors questions and ideas shared.   As I have noted previously in answer to several similar questions, the city does not currently offer a speed hump program and staff have concerns about speed humps being the appropriate or safe response to the reckless driving issues on Ascension.  Please see additional detail in the responses below. Thank you.

Regarding the accident:

Thank you to multiple Ascension Drive neighbors for sharing the collective information about the collision in the curves on July 23^rd.   Your photos, descriptions and video must have been very helpful to the police.   Thankfully no one was hurt.   This is an unfortunate live example of what you have been sharing about reckless driver behavior.  We’re looking into this further and I am looking into ways to modify our proposals to integrate further safety updates.  These will be announced along with a summary of results of all the information on this web page in the next 2 weeks.   

Regarding speed humps:

Many in the Ascension neighborhood clearly want speed humps.   This is loud and clear in your and other neighbors questions and ideas shared.   As I have noted previously in answer to similar questions, the city does not currently offer a speed hump program and staff have concerns about speed humps being the appropriate or safe response to the reckless driving issues on Ascension.  I understand this is not what everyone wants to hear.  This is not a brush off.   And we appreciate that you and a couple of your neighbors are going to a lot of effort to try to find specific locations on Ascension that are not quite as steep and asking why we can’t put speed humps there.  The answer for now is no, but please keep reading.

There are multiple locations, citywide, with speeding, reckless driving, and other issues.    The city has admittedly not had a clear or coherent program in regards to these issues in the past, and staff just tried to respond to and accommodate what they could as time and funds allowed.  Also, in the past few years we have seen a big upward trend in such complaints which has added to the need for a more organized and fair program.   Speed hump requests are part of this, and if re-instated as a city program, must be implemented in a fair, equitable way citywide, and in a way that takes into account costs to implement.

So, staff have begun work on proposing clear, transparent, well communicated processes for receiving, sorting, prioritizing and responding to complaints.   Establishing a “tool kit” of available traffic calming measures is part of this process, including when and where different measures can be appropriately and safely used.  I expect speed humps to be proposed as a tool in the tool kit for some situations.  Also more use of “Your Speed Is” feedback signs, which is another tool that can work similarly to speed humps to encourage people to be aware and slow down.  Our work must consider needs citywide, and must establish priorities, since there will not be time or funding to solve everything, and certainly not at once.   We aim for this program development work to be completed by the end of the calendar year, allowing for input to be gathered from the Tigard Transportation Advisory Committee, City Council, community members (the Ascension neighbors input to date will be added to this), and city staff who must implement, maintain and enforce the measures.   Prioritization of SW Ascension for any additional measures beyond those we have shared that we can implement more quickly (speed humps or something else) will occur as an outcome of this citywide effort, and this will be shared and available to all Ascension neighbors.

I am sorry this is frustrating.   I will offer a few points of clarification in case they help at least provide some further explanation and rationale:  

• The 15 mph speed signs are advisory only and not enforceable.    The enforceable current speed limit on Ascension is 25 mph.   We anticipate leaving the 15 mph advisory signs in place.   In addition, staff are working on a proposal that will need public input and council approval, for an enforceable 20 mph speed zone that can be applied to some neighborhood streets.   
• Of course everyone does not follow every speed zone sign, but the goal of reducing speed limits on some neighborhood streets is for most people to do so and reduce the number of speeders.   Currently, the police department staff have noted that when they have conducted speed enforcement on Ascension, they are not observing speeding at a level for which they would issue tickets; this could change if the speed limit were 20 mph.
• The Your Speed Is signs are rotated between approximately 15 sites citywide.   I just learned that the signs have had programming and maintenance issues that our public works staff are working to resolve.   This is why the signs have not been seen as regularly as we would like.    We have a technology solution nearly in place and the signs will go out again on rotation shortly.  
• The removal of parking on one side of SW Ascension is for sight distance to improve vision of an oncoming vehicle, person or other obstacle in the roadway.  City staff are not prioritizing responses based on who complains or how many people complain, but rather based on the safety implications of the complaint.  A potential for a head-on collision in the curves is something we must take seriously, and yes, at this time was prioritized over prior speed complaints (which had been reviewed in the past and responded to with prior measures including the 15mph advisory speed signs and the purchase of Your Speed Is feedback signs that are rotated to locations around the city including SW Ascension).  
• The city annually monitors speed and traffic volume on SW Ascension and will continue to do so.  If increased speeds are observed, additional mitigation measures can be considered.
• Standards and guidance used by city staff include:  
  • Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) by Federal Highway Administration
  • A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets by American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials 
  • Guidelines for the Design and Application of Speed Humps by the Institute of Transportation Engineers
  • Tigard Community Development Code 18.910
  • Traffic Calming ePrimer – Module 3 by Federal Highway Administration