[Council Communication]  [Attachments]

Council Communication

Title:	Approval for the Oregon Department of Transportation's Intent to Designate a portion of Main Street and Lithia Way as a Special Transportation Area
Dept:	Public Works Department
Date:	December 16, 2003
Submitted By:	Paula Brown John McLaughlin
Approved By: ...........................	Gino Grimaldi, City Administrator

Synopsis:	The Oregon Transportation Commission is working with communities across the state to manage the state highway system in a manner that reflects both community needs and the Oregon Highway Plan.  the Commission is seeking to designate certain highway segments as Special Transportation Areas (STAs).  The City of Ashland has a chance to capitalize on this opportunity by designating the couplet from Lithia Way at E. Main and Main Street from Siskiyou north to Maple Street as a STA.  The STA designation can allow the City to manage the street system as a "main street" rather than a highway system, and may be eligible for different funding mechanisms for improvements.
Recommendation:	It is recommended that Coucnil approve the Oregon Transportation Commissions designation of the couplet from Lithia Way at E. Main and Main Street from Siskiyou north to Maple Street as a Special Transportation Area.
Fiscal Impact:	No direct impact, although there may be future ODOT funds for STAs that would not otherwise be available to the City.
Background:	The primary advantage of this designation is that it allows the City to have more control of the highway system in design, traffic speeds, traffic calming, pedestrian improvements and similar urban standards that would be a better fit for the community than traiditonal highway standards.  Attached are several documents regarding STAs.  If this approved by the Council, staff will submit a letter to ODOT for their consideration of the STA designation.
Attachments:	Letter from Terry Harbour, ODOT - October 14, 2003 Frequently Asked Questions about Oregon Highway Plan Segment Designations Advantages to Local Governments of Highway Segment Designations These attachments are available in PDF format. To view the document on your computer, please click on the link below. The Adobe reader program will open in a new browser window.  Please use the browser's "Zoom" feature to adjust the size of the text for comfortable reading.

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ODOT_Attachments.pdf (431.2KB)

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