Cornelius Pass Rd. Citizen Advisory Committe 2nd Meeting
By Catherine Dalziel
The Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Cornelius Pass Road Safety Improvements project met on Jan. 14 to discuss how to prioritize funding for work on identified "hot spots" along the road.
But first, Multnomah County officials addressed data inaccuracy concerns expressed by neighborhood representatives, and presented revised crash data from four agencies; ODOT, MC Sheriff’s Office, TVF&R and Portland Fire & Rescue. They assured CAC members the ODOT data accurately represented crash location, numbers and history. CAC members were satisfied it more closely represented the data collected independently by neighbors and so approved its use for future decisions.
Present were both Captain Monte Reiser, MC Sheriff's Office, and Deputy Fire Marshal Drew DeBois, TVF&R, to point out safety concerns and problems with Cornelius Pass Road (CPR) for their organizations. Capt. Reiser testified that, according to law enforcement, the two leading causes for accidents on CPR are driver negligence and violation of law.
He explained CPR represents a "headache" for law enforcement with its multiple curves, shaded visibility, and lack of road shoulders or turnouts.
In addition, the deputy on patrol duty covers a district ranging from Lake Oswego to Scappoose. No Traffic Team is assigned to this area so the deputy can only offer "reactive response"—response to incidents— and no "proactive response,” such as traffic enforcement.
At best a deputy's response time to an accident can be 15 minutes or more. Reiser advised that if there were to be traffic enforcement on CPR, a deputy would need to be seen daily by traffic violators to be effective. Currently there is no budget for coverage, now or in the foreseeable future.
Although not present at the meeting, Portland Public Schools Transportation weighed in with a list of improvements necessary to make CPR safe for them to operate school bus routes and stops on CPR.
CAC members then listened to and discussed information on each of the six "hot spots."
Multnomah County presented slides on the qualitative criteria used in proposed funding decisions. CAC member Bruce Penney presented a slide comparing crash data and projected spending proposed by Multnomah County based on his independent research.
Following discussions, CAC members voted to prioritize the six "hot spots" according to urgency, as follows 1) S Curves, 2) 8th Ave. Curves, 3) Skyline intersection, 4) Sheltered Nook intersection, 5) Plainview Curves, and 6) Kaiser Rd. intersection.
To view the agenda and information presented at the Jan. 14 meeting, please go to:
https://web.multco.us/sites/default/files/roads/documents/cornelius_pass.... Complete information and documents are posted at the project website, http://web.multco.us/roads/cornelius-pass-road-safety-improvements.
The Citizen’s Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Cornelius Pass Road Safety Improvements project met on Jan. 14 to discuss how to prioritize funding for work on identified "hot spots" along the road.
But first, Multnomah County officials addressed data inaccuracy concerns expressed by neighborhood representatives, and presented revised crash data from four agencies; ODOT, MC Sheriff’s Office, TVF&R and Portland Fire & Rescue. They assured CAC members the ODOT data accurately represented crash location, numbers and history. CAC members were satisfied it more closely represented the data collected independently by neighbors and so approved its use for future decisions.
Present were both Captain Monte Reiser, MC Sheriff's Office, and Deputy Fire Marshal Drew DeBois, TVF&R, to point out safety concerns and problems with Cornelius Pass Road (CPR) for their organizations. Capt. Reiser testified that, according to law enforcement, the two leading causes for accidents on CPR are driver negligence and violation of law.
He explained CPR represents a "headache" for law enforcement with its multiple curves, shaded visibility, and lack of road shoulders or turnouts.
In addition, the deputy on patrol duty covers a district ranging from Lake Oswego to Scappoose. No Traffic Team is assigned to this area so the deputy can only offer "reactive response"—response to incidents— and no "proactive response,” such as traffic enforcement.
At best a deputy's response time to an accident can be 15 minutes or more. Reiser advised that if there were to be traffic enforcement on CPR, a deputy would need to be seen daily by traffic violators to be effective. Currently there is no budget for coverage, now or in the foreseeable future.
Although not present at the meeting, Portland Public Schools Transportation weighed in with a list of improvements necessary to make CPR safe for them to operate school bus routes and stops on CPR.
CAC members then listened to and discussed information on each of the six "hot spots."
Multnomah County presented slides on the qualitative criteria used in proposed funding decisions. CAC member Bruce Penney presented a slide comparing crash data and projected spending proposed by Multnomah County based on his independent research.
Following discussions, CAC members voted to prioritize the six "hot spots" according to urgency, as follows 1) S Curves, 2) 8th Ave. Curves, 3) Skyline intersection, 4) Sheltered Nook intersection, 5) Plainview Curves, and 6) Kaiser Rd. intersection.
To view the agenda and information presented at the Jan. 14 meeting, please go to:
https://web.multco.us/sites/default/files/roads/documents/cornelius_pass.... Complete information and documents are posted at the project website, http://web.multco.us/roads/cornelius-pass-road-safety-improvements.
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