Weak Representation From Bicyclists at SW Lombard Bike Lane Hearing

The Beaverton City Council held a Public Hearing last night on Traffic Commission Issue No. TC666: the striping of bike lanes and parking revisions on SW Lombard Avenue between 1^st Street and Denney Road.

The Traffic Commission proposed the addition of bike lanes on Lombard after the City of Beaverton received a number of calls requesting that the lanes be striped for the safety of bicycle traffic on the road.

The original demand for bike lanes, however, was noticeably absent in council chambers last night. Testimony from Lombard bicyclists and their supporters was few and far between in a steady stream of complaints, concerns, and opposition from Lombard residents, neighbors and motorists whose majority attendance at the hearing demonstrated a persuasive and palpable argument in itself.

The residents of Lombard Avenue were adamant in their “right” to park on “their street”.

From 1^st Street to 7^th Street, parking on Lombard is already prohibited. From Allen Boulevard to Denney Road, the road width is 40 feet, substantial enough to maintain parking spaces on one side of the road with the addition of a 5-foot bicycle lane on each side. The issue surrounding the striping proposal is the parking revisions on the stretch of Lombard from 7^th Street to Allen Boulevard where street parking would be removed to accommodate for bicycle lanes.

The city traffic planners surveyed this stretch of Lombard for a two-week period last February and noted the number of cars parked on the road at various times throughout the day. The stretch of Lombard from Allen to Denney Road demonstrated the highest demand for parking, and providing parking on the West side would accommodate for demand. From 7^th Street to Allen Boulevard, the proposed stretch for the removal of parking, only two vehicles were parked on the stretch over the entire two-week period of the survey.

One resident criticized the city survey for failing to measure parking demand during a holiday. Though he had parking space in his driveway for only three vehicles, the resident testified that his visiting family would need to park on the street and that to have his eight grandchildren cross a busy Lombard on a dark, rainy night is unacceptable.

Lombard Avenue is classified as a two-lane collector street. The road provides a north/south parallel route to Highway 217 and critical regional connectivity from the Fanno Creek Regional Trail to the Beaverton Transit Center. Margaret Middleton, a transportation planner with the Beaverton Traffic Commission who presented the Traffic Commission proposal at the hearing, described Lombard as Beaverton’s “connection to the world”: one can take Lombard to the Beaverton Transit Center, the Max Red Line to the Portland International Airport, and ultimately end up anywhere. Additionally, Lombard sees less traffic and reduced speeds compared to Hall Boulevard, which runs parallel and has existing bicycle lanes.

According to the Beaverton Transportation System Plan for 2035, all arterial roads will be required to have bicycle lanes in the future. On the other hand, a resident further testified that because Lombard includes driveways and residences, it does not actually meet criteria for an arterial road.

Residents further contended that bicyclists already use Lombard “just fine”, and are “giving up nothing” in the proposal. “This street is our home,” appealed one Lombard neighbor, “consider if you were making these decisions about what goes on at your home.” The overall feeling of the residents was that somehow the striping of bike lanes would be detrimental to the neighborhood atmosphere.

The strongest contention in opposition to the Traffic Commission’s proposal was a possible decrease in the property value of the residences on Lombard if on-street parking is removed. In fact, bicycle lanes have been shown to calm traffic on busy roads. The addition of bicycle lanes has the potential to make Lombard more neighborhood-friendly.

Wendy Kroger of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District (THPRD) Trail Advisory Committee did testify in favor of the bicycle lanes. “Roads and streets exist to move traffic, including bicycles,” Wendy stated, “We all need to share the road in Beaverton.”

Other supporters cited the important and overlooked point that the striping of bike lanes is not only safer for the bicyclists who commute on Lombard, but also for the motorists. The addition of bicycle lanes allows for the position of a bicyclist to be more predictable and a bicycle presence to be anticipated.

John Beaston, co-founder of Easy Street Online Services, a Bronze-level bike-friendly business, testified to the fact that though one third of his employees live in Beaverton, only one employee regularly bikes to work. His employees expressed that they did not feel safe on non-residential streets without bike lanes and that the bike lanes that do exist do not offer enough connectivity through the community to make commuting by bicycle a viable transportation option. “In the current situation, Lombard is useful only for what they call ‘strong and fearless bikers’”.

No decision has yet been made on the striping of Lombard and the parking revisions proposed. The city council is still accepting written testimony for those who could not make it to the meeting Monday night.

We urge you to send a letter to the Beaverton City Council to show your support for the proposal. For more background information and talking points to include in your letter, please refer to last week’s blog post on this issue.

Send written testimony– it can be as simple as an email supporting bike lanes–to citymail@ci.beaverton.or.us by July 19th.

If the bicycling community would like to see bike lanes, we must take action. A safe and accessible Lombard for bicyclists will not be possible without your voice.