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Transportation
December Meeting Featured Traffic Discussion
December 9, 2011
Our regular meeting on December 5 featured a discussion on traffic. Assistant City of Salem Traffic Engineer Tony Martin was on hand to present the new pedestrian and bicycle elements of the Master Transportation System Plan. He also answered questions on how to best address neighborhood traffic concerns, which include improving safety for bicycles and pedestrians along both Commercial Street and Browning Avenue, and congestion relief at the intersection of Liberty Road and Madrona Avenue.
The new pedestrian and bicycle elements of the Master Transportation System Plan includes some exciting proposals for Faye Wright. The pedestrian element of the plan, as well as the bicycle element, can be viewed in Portable Document Format (PDF).
Thanks To Voters
The passage of the 2008 Keep Salem Moving! initiative enhanced mobility in Faye Wright. In the three years since its passage, two neighborhood projects are all but complete. Widening of Kuebler Boulevard has been finished. Most improvements to Commercial Street are complete, including new pavement, additional turn lanes, sidewalk upgrades, and bike lane improvements. Signal interconnection along the corridor is all that is left to be done. This will allow traffic lights along Commercial Street to communicate with one another, greatly improving traffic flow.
back to topGetting Around Faye Wright
Walking and Biking
The City of Salem has an excellent network of sidewalks, paths, and bike lanes. The City inspected over 98% of its sidewalks in the past three years, implementing many repairs and upgrades.
The recently completed survey, Bike and Walk Salem, resulted in an update of the proposed improvements shown on the 2006 Bicycle Map. An updated map of proposals is offered in the July 11th draft of the Preferred Bicycle Plan, available to view in Portable Document Format (PDF):
Draft Memo 11 - Alternative Preferred Bicycle Plan
Map 3, found on page 19, covers South Salem including Faye Wright.
The final draft of the pedestrian side of the Plan is also available in PDF:
Final Memo 10 - Preferred Pedestrian Plan Alternative
Map 3, found on page 14, covers South Salem including Faye Wright.
The Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) meets regularly to represent the public viewpoint in discussions and to review and comment on the project deliverables. All SAC meetings are open to the public. For more information on the SAC — including past meeting summeries — and the latest updates on the Bike and Walk Salem Plan can be found on the City's Bike and Walk Salem page.
Bussing It
Salem Area Mass Transit District (SAMTD) operates Cherriots, providing weekday local bus service around Salem and Keizer, Faye Wright is served by routes 1, 6, 8, and 21.
Traveling Beyond the Neighborhood
Bus Service
Weekday commute-time service to Wilsonville is available via route 1X. In Wilsonville, you may transfer to South Metro Area Rapid Transit (SMART), which offers connecting service to TriMet (Portland's bus and light rail service). SMART and Cherriots partner to provide this service. Cherriots also offers weekday trips to Grand Ronde on route 2X.
For bus travel outside the Salem/Portland area, Greyhound offers long distance bus service from its terminal in downtown Salem, at 450 Church Street NE, between Marion and Center Streets.
Train Travel
Amtrak provides direct service to Salem on two routes — Cascades and Coast Starlight — from 36 West Coast cities including Oregon City, Albany, Eugene, Portland, Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada.
The Salem Amtrak Station is located at 500 13th Street SE, one mile east of downtown. Cherriots bus route 6 stops nearby.
Air Travel
Portland International Airport is always open and serves thirteen major airlines. Every two hours, the HUT Airport Shuttle operates between Portland International Airport and Salem's Red Lion Inn on Market Street, just west of I-5 exit 256. A one-way trip takes about 75 minutes.
Salem Municipal Airport, also known as McNary Field, has no commercial flights at this time. For information on charter flights and ground transportation, see the Salem Airport Passenger Services Page.
New Traffic Control Devices Come To Salem
Sharrows
Sharrow is a combination of the words "shared" and "arrow". It refers to the pavement marking of a bicycle with arrows over it. Sharrows do not mark separate bike lanes; they indicate that motorists and bicyclists share the same travel lane.
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In September of 2010, Salem's first sharrows were installed downtown on Chemeketa Street NE and on Commercial Street between Marion Street NE and Trade Street SE. That October, sharrows came to Rosemont Avenue NW and Musgrave Lane NW in West Salem.
Future locations for sharrows are identified in the update to the city’s Bicycle Plan, which is in its final stages. Now available for viewing is the July 11th draft of the Alternative Preferred Bicycle Plan.
Officially "Shared Lane Pavement Marking", the word "Sharrow" is commonly used to describe both the roadway stencil and the shared lane of travel it marks.
The city has a web page that explains sharrows, which includes frequently asked questions and a short instructional video. City staff is available to make presentations to interested organizations. For more information, call Julie Warncke, Public Works Transportation Planning Manager, at 503-588-6211, or e-mail her at jwarncke@cityofsalem.net.
Flashing Yellow Arrows
A new type of traffic signal has come to Salem: the flashing yellow arrow. The first of these new signals began operation at Park Avenue NE and NE Center Street. More are popping up around town as signals are upgraded.
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The flashing yellow arrow is designed as a visual cue for left-turning motorists that they need to yield to pedestrians and oncoming traffic.
"The new flashing yellow arrow is the result of a nationwide study," said Kevin Hottmann, a city of Salem traffic engineer. "It's a new standard we are going to try."
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The flashing yellow arrow is phasing out the popular five signal "doghouse" seen at many Salem intersections, where signs remind drivers to yield when there is no arrow.
Solid flashing yellow lights have been in use on left-turn signals in large cities like Seattle for decades. The hope is that a flashing yellow arrow will be more easily understood, improving safety and traffic flow.
Washington County (east of Portland) has produced a three minute video on the new flashing yellow light.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) offers more information on the ODOT flashing yellow arrow page.
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© 2012 Faye Wright Neighborhood Association, Salem, Oregon, USA
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