The Portland metropolitan region joined cities such as San Diego, Calif. and Nashville, Tenn. with the adoption of its first stand-alone Regional Active Transportation Plan.
The plan was adopted by the Metro Council yesterday and signifies a turning point for prioritizing and funding projects that increase safety for walking and bicycling, grow active transportation trails, or fill in gaps to the current network.
The plan was funded three years ago from a $280,000 Transportation and Growth Management grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation. Metro raised another $56,000 to add to the project.
Lake McTighe, the Metro project manager for the plan, presented to the council a vision that had been deeply vetted over the last years.
"The plan was developed with a wide range of input," McTighe told the council, adding that the plan was informed by freight transportation needs, high-capacity transportation as well as walking, bicycling and access to transit.
Dr. Philip Wu, a pediatrician working for community benefit at Kaiser Permanente spoke to the council about the health benefits of active transportation. Beyond getting more exercise, the plan touches on climate change, gas emissions and connecting underserved populations to transportation, all of which effect health, according to Wu.
"In some respects, the ATP is one big health plan," Wu said.
After the meeting Wu praised the plan, but also prescribed following through with it.
"Anything like this health plan – it's a wonderful document, but it doesn't mean an awful lot if it doesn't get implemented," Wu said.
The Metro Council gave praise to the work that had been done on the plan and spoke about employing the policies in the future. Councilor Carlotta Collette said the undertaking will require regional cooperation.
"What is exciting to me about the active transportation plan is that, for it to be supportive, it has to knit together all these communities," Collette said.
For Councilor Bob Stacey the adoption will help bridge the gap between endorsing walking and bicycling and putting plans into action.
"Nobody was opposed to cycling and walking, but darn few were in support of planning processes to support that," Stacey said.
Councilor Craig Dirksen said he has long been an advocate for a system that supports many methods of transportation. To him, the active transportation plan could be used to strengthen the regional transportation plan - bringing the active transportation ideas in with regional transportation will be a way to spot deficiencies.
"These modes need to be considered in proportion to each other to create an efficient whole," Dirksen said. "They link together, they are compatible and they make a better whole."
For McTighe, the day was both an end and a beginning. The plan was approved, but that now means putting it the policies into action.
Some next steps include updating recommendations in the Climate Smart Communities Scenarios, Southwest Corridor Plan, Powell-Division Transit and Development Project, and other corridor projects and consider active transportation policy recommendations.
Another step is to provide technical assistance in the development of state and local partner plans, such as the ODOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, the Clackamas County Active Transportation Plan and the TriMet transit access study.
McTighe sees Metro's role as one of support to local partners and governments, facilitating discussion from many groups with differing needs for active transportation.
"I think the most important next step is… for Metro to really remain engaged with all our partners in the region," McTighe said. "Within any community, there are multiple voices about what's most important but I think the plan really reflects the highest priorities for bicycling and walking in the region."