Heights Streetscape Design Open House April 22-23

As you may know, Hood River’s Urban Renewal Agency is in the middle of a planning process to reimagine the Heights with the goal of calming streets for families, bikers, and walkers.

One week from now, Hood River will host an open house for the public to learn about the project alternatives and provide feedback on the designs. This will be the best opportunity for you to provide input on design alternatives. You will have two options to attend the open house located at the Hood River Armory 1590 12th Street: 

• Friday, April 22nd, from 5 to 9 PM
• Saturday, April 23rd, from 10 to 2 PM

If you can’t attend in person, the Urban Renewal Agency also plans on doing an online survey – stay tuned for info on that.

What’s at stake?
The Urban Renewal Agency and its consultants have come up with three design alternatives. Each allocates bicycle facilities, sidewalks, crossings, streetscapes, and parking differently across 12th and 13th streets, between May and Belmont.  
At the Open House, there will be different stations, each displaying one of the design alternatives. Local knowledge is key. If you are a regular user of these streets, you can provide invaluable input as you find out about the promise of each alternative.
We encourage you to attend!

Our Take on the Designs:
Thrive has partnered with a Coalition for a Better Heights to think outside the box, combining elements from multiple alternatives to create a design that will make the streets safer and friendlier for all. We invite you to do the same. 
Here are some elements of designs we like and would like to see synthesized into one alternative: 

• 12th Street becoming the “people street” with a two-way protected mobility bicycle lane for people rolling on bikes or mobility devices.
• Improved sidewalks, crosswalks, and transit stops on 12th while retaining one northbound travel lane for vehicles, as well as ample diagonal parking.
• 13th Street becomes the “flow street”, with two-way vehicle travel and accessible bus shelters. It provides a more logical transportation pattern for people driving or riding the bus, without awkward intersections and difficult 90-degree turns that impede the flow of traffic.
• A simplification of Design 3’s three-lane 13th Street into a regular, two-way with no turn lane, as has been demonstrated to be more calming in places like Port Townsend, WA. 
• Better use of the cross streets to envision diagonal parking and terrace use by businesses.

The Open House is a family-friendly event and there will be translators on-site as well as food from Heights businesses provided by the City. 

We understand that diving into Urban Renewal Agency memos and analyses can be time-consuming. Please feel free to reach out with any questions about the designs to Nico at (541) 380-0126 or email him at nico@thrivehoodriver.org

Have you had a chance to review the design alternatives? You can read the complete report Preliminary Evaluation Criteria and Design Alternatives here
or review each alternative below:
Design Alternative 1
Design Alternative 2
Design Alternative 3
You can compare the options above to the Current Adopted Transportation Systems Plan which is what will get built if a new streetscape is not chosen. While we have our favorite design alternatives, we think all of them are better than the current TSP.