Event Date: February 27, 12-4 pm

Location: Corvallis-Benton County Library Meeting Room
645 NW Monroe Ave, Corvallis

This is a free event where participants will identify ways to build inclusive, walkable, bikeable, and livable neighborhoods. Join us to create community-university collaborations in the context of Open Streets Corvallis. Everyone is welcome! Spanish interpretation and lunch provided. Registration required.

Dr. Adonia Lugo is the Interim Chair of MA in Urban Sustainability at Antioch University. She will discuss mobility justice, her time co-founding CicLAvia, and open streets work being done elsewhere.

We invite you to join us in addressing the following key issues:

• Neighborhood Engagement – enhancing livability and resiliency by connecting neighbors and neighborhoods
• Engineering/Design – designing and implementing construction-related demonstration projects
• Health – designing and implementing physical activity and health initiatives on event day
• Inclusion/Representation – enhancing participation of all ethnicities and minorities in Open Streets Corvallis 
• Peace Literacy/Civil Discourse – understanding peace as a set of skills that need learning, practice, and discipline

Anyone interested in university-community partnerships, community-building, and active transportation should attend. This may be of special interest to neighborhoods where Open Streets events have been located in the past and/or will be hosted in the future. Tangible projects, actions, and volunteer/internship opportunities will come from this event.

Thank you to Linn Benton Health Equity Alliance, DevNW, Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, Oregon Sea Grant, and OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity, School of Language Culture and Society, and Precollege Programs for making The Open Streets Classroom possible.

After 40+ years of adding bike lanes to busier roadways throughout Oregon, there’s a push to do more for the safety and comfort of people biking (or skateboarding, scootering, etc.). Two ways of accomplishing this include widening bike lanes and/or adding something to physically separate people rolling along relatively slowly from people in faster moving cars and trucks. 

While cities have been building planter strips next to sidewalks for over a hundred years to improve the safety and comfort of walking, something similar for people biking is relatively new in Oregon. Granted, multi-use paths outside the curb-to-curb roadway have a long history, but these can be less practical as driveway and intersection density increases along roadways within cities. 

But how does a city add better bike lanes? That depends on a host of factors including design standards, roadway characteristics, and funding. In Oregon, a city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) can provide the framework for allowing these facilities. From there, cities look to organizations such as AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) and NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) for guidance on creating the design standards that best address the needs of their jurisdiction.

In Corvallis, the recently completed TSP calls wider bike lanes “buffered bike lanes” and wider bike lanes with a physical barrier “protected bike lanes”. A buffered bike lane would typically be eight feet wide, rather than the current five or six foot width. Two parallel white stripes and other markings between the bike lane and vehicle lane may delineate this buffered space. The exact street markings of a buffered bike lane and characteristics of a protected bike lane will be determined in an upcoming design review process at the Public Works Department. 

While Corvallis is not a member of NACTO, this organization provides some of the most current and accessible guidance for urban bikeway design. Organizations such as The Street Trust and People for Bikes advocate for better bike facilities and laws with projects like the Green Lane Project. The People for Bikes reference guide entitled 14 Ways to Make Bike Lanes Better provides an overview of how other cities have approached the most prominent elements of buffered and protected bike lanes, also called cycle tracks and separated bike lanes. 

At Open Streets, we will demonstrate a center left turn bike lane on Alexander. It will help people on bikes to turn left comfortably and avoid conflicts with drivers. You will see temporary chalk paint on Alexander defining the bike lane, which will be in place from August 14-25. On event day, look for a potential protected bike lane design, too.

In the years ahead, keep an eye out for better bike lanes here in Corvallis and across the state. What’s your favorite better bike lane? 

On Sunday July 28th, after months of planning and design, a community street mural was painted at the intersection of Lilly Ave. and Bethel St. in south Corvallis. The work was completed by over 40 volunteers from the community. This mural is only the second street mural painted in Corvallis and the first to go through the brand new City process for Intersection Paintings. A small team of neighbors led by local teaching artist Diana Ryan and Living South Town Community Organizer Rebecka Weinsteiger worked together with the City as well as the neighborhood at large to make this project happen. The project was inspired by the JANA Street Mural of 2017 (on 11th and Taylor St). This placemaking mural project will be featured at Open Streets, a free street festival on August 18th, 2019 that encourages active transportation and engages the community to create spaces where people want to walk, bike and play. In its third year, Open Streets will happen between two parks in high-density, low-income and working class neighborhoods: Lilly Park and Tunison Park.

Our project goals when proposing the Lilly and Bethel Street Mural were neighborhood engagement, beautification and placemaking. The street mural is titled “Lily and Bluebirds” and was designed by local teaching artist Diana Ryan who runs an art studio adjacent to her home just down the street from the mural on Bethel St.

In planning the design for the street mural, I used natural imagery in a colorful and playful way to celebrate place and diversity.  

The project goals were achieved with a fantastic turn out of volunteers of all ages that helped with the painting as well as passers-by that stopped to engage and watch the painting process. The new street mural enhances the neighborhood and beautifies the commute for many walkers, bikers, buses and drivers. After the painting was completed, neighbors celebrated by having a neighborhood potluck in Lilly Park as they waited for the paint to dry.

The painting team was super grateful to be fueled by donations from Tried & True Coffee Co., First Alternative Natural Foods Co-op and New Morning Bakery and the project would not have been possible with out the support of the City of Corvallis Neighborhood Empowerment Grants program which funded the materials!

The Open Streets event on August 18th will be another great opportunity for people to view the new street art while celebrating community.

The most rewarding aspects of the project were hearing people’s enthusiasm and support for the project and getting the community involved in the painting itself. One neighbor remarked at how lucky he is to have the street mural going on so close to his house and how his daily life will be uplifted by it, like it was painted just for him. That’s the beauty of this neighborhood street mural; it is for everyone. I enjoyed getting people of all ages involved and reinforcing the fact that this art is about community and everyone can be a part of the painting. The project was very successful and rewarding and I look forward to being reminded of my own pride in place each time I see it!  – Diana Ryan