As  the city updates the 5-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) in the spring of 2027, we call on Corvallis City Council and Public Works to use CIP projects to address the following City goals:

• Make it easy for people of all ages and abilities to get where they need to go comfortably and safely, by all modes of travel. (TSP 2019, Goal 3, Objective G)
• Reduce vehicle miles traveled and single occupancy vehicle trips and ownership. (Climate Action Plan, 2016)
• Increase the number of walking, bicycling, and transit trips. (TSP 2019, Goal 4, Objective G)
• Provide safe and connected bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. (Strategic Operational Plan, 2024)
• Increase the Corvallis Transit System’s level of service. (Climate Action Plan, 2016)

We want our community to experience the housing, health, affordability, and environmental benefits from reduced car trips and car dependency and by inducing more trips around town by walking, biking, rolling, and public transit.

Infrastructure design makes a difference in how people choose to get around. Our streets should be constructed so that people of all ages and abilities feel safe and are safe when walking and biking around town, but many elements of our current transportation system do not meet this standard.

To meet our City’s goals, Council needs to approve more substantial investments in safety and increase the scope of CIP projects to include the following:

• Improvements to public transportation
  • More covered shelters, benches, and bike parking at bus stops.
• Protection for Cyclists
  • Physically protected bike lanes on arterials and collectors. Bike lanes should never be in the door zone, and paint alone is not protection.
  • Protected intersections or roundabouts instead of traditional signalized intersections.
• Safe crossings at intersections
  • Use traffic calming to reduce speeds using raised crosswalks, traffic circles, chicanes, curb bulbouts, pedestrian exclusive phases, and raised medians.
• Prioritization for the Neighborhood Bikeway Network
  • Rapidly build out the remaining sections of the network and update “completed” sections to include safe crossings at arterials and collectors.
  • Prioritize bikeway network streets for resurfacing and reconstruction projects.
  • Reduce motor vehicle traffic and intersection conflicts by diverting cut-through drivers off of all bikeways.
  • Increased “darksky-compliant” lighting along multi-use paths.

Specific improvements we want included in the scope of the following 2026-2030 CIP Projects include the following:

• Alexander Avenue
   Calm traffic so that children have an actual Safe Route to School.
• Southeast Corvallis Neighborhood Bikeway
  Traffic calming (raised pedestrian/bikeway crossing) and the addition of street trees within chicane curb extensions.
• HWY 99 at Rivergreen Avenue and Goodnight Avenue
  Construct a roundabout instead of a traffic signal.
• Garfield Avenue
  Protect cyclists, reduce speeds through traffic calming, and improve the Garfield Ave/17th St and Garfield/Kings Blvd intersections reducing cut-through traffic.
• 29th Street
  Add protected bike lanes. Implement a solution other than a traditional traffic signal at 29th St and Grant Ave (e.g., a traffic circle.)
• Witham Hill Drive
  Add protected bike lanes and a protected intersection at Witham Hill/Walnut Blvd.
• Circle Boulevard
   Add protected bike lanes.
• Tunison Path 
  Expedite funding for the construction of this project.

Projects we want added to the CIP include:

• Monroe Corridor Study 2.0
  Supplement the initial  Monroe Corridor Study  with  plans to extend the corridor to the waterfront (1st St to 15th St.), improving the connection between downtown and OSU and the 11th St. neighborhood bikeway.  
• Walnut Boulevard
  Complete a full Walnut Corridor Study and Plan that prioritizes Safe Routes to School with roundabouts, lane reallocations, protected bike lanes, and safer pedestrian crossings.
• Transit Study
  Update our City transit goals with  SMART goals for increasing ridership.
• Harrison Boulevard and Van Buren Boulevard
  Create safer crossings for pedestrians (and cyclists along neighborhood bikeways). 
• Transit Projects
  Add benches, covers, and bike parking at or near bus stops.

SAFE Corvallis and the City of Corvallis share the goals of building a safe, climate-resilient city that allows people of all ages and abilities the freedom to travel throughout the city. By investing in changes in our transportation system, we will see the benefits including cleaner air, quieter neighborhoods, independence for children, equitability in transportation, a healthier community, and more. The only way this will happen is if the City induces more trips by walking, biking, rolling and public transit which is why we are asking for this investment.

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SAFE Corvallis  is a volunteer-run organization inspiring and engaging our community to advocate for a safe, healthy, beautiful, people-first, climate-friendly transportation system in Corvallis and Benton County. You can sign up for newsletters and action alerts here.