I-205

General

• Get clarity on the function of I-205 - is it a bypass? Is it to serve the local traffic? 
• The state does not understand how much of a north/south arterial I-205 is.
• The present system is inefficient. Too many cars with just 1 person.
• I-205 is a barrier to east-west travel in the City because it has few overpasses and underpasses across it.
• There are only 2 corridor accesses to I-205 between SR-14 and the Padden Expressway, Mill Plain and SR-500.

Speed

• Speed limit is too high on the freeway given the rate of congestion between the bridge and SR500, and the current speed is not enforced.

Congestion/Backups

• Have witnessed accidents on I-205 as a result of traffic backups on the freeway, particularly at Mill Plain and SR 14.
• All cars are "parked in the right lane" on I-205 northbound at the evening rush hour from Glenn Jackson bridge to SR 500.
• Northbound I-205 PM peak at Vancouver Mall is hazardous when it back ups on I-205 to Mill Plain.
• There is so much congestion on I-205 northbound, south of the Orchards off ramp at peak times.

Improvement Ideas

• Widen I-205
• Go for the cheaper fix first.
• New construction needs to be done with preservation in mind.
• Operational changes are a low cost good alternative.
• The state already owns the ROW in the median - build more lanes!
• We have tried a number of these kinds of improvements already - need to build new improvements, it is a capacity problem.
• HOV lanes should be explored as an option.
• After all of the options have been exhausted, and then build new construction. It is the most expensive.
• Don't lose sight of history, fix the current problems, then make new improvements to the system.
• Listen to the public as they call for freeways and bridges.
• Have more on and off ramps built.
• Have direct freeway access without traffic lights.
• Need a third or fourth bridge over the Columbia.
• I think we should analyze what we have, make it as efficient and as safe as possible, and then look at new highways and streets to handle congestion.
• New construction is the quickest way to alleviate congestion.
• Improve capacity of 205, Orchards, 503.
• Widening some roads and alleviating some bottlenecks.
• There is a great need for access between I-205 and the large eastern portions of the City and for access across I-205.
• Build on and off ramps both north and south from I-205 to Burton Road. 
• The three lanes just north of the SR-500 interchange should continue as three lanes instead of two, well beyond the Padden Expressway.

Maintenance

• The stretch of I-205 north of 88th has very rough pavement.
• Highway Maintenance and Preservation are not a big problem on this facility because it is fairly new.
• We need to maintain what we currently have.
• Save "the dollars" by wisely repairing existing roads.
• Maintenance of streets.

On Mill Plain Blvd.

• There is an implied moratorium on Mill Plain because congestion is so bad.
• Mill Plain and Chkalov congestion.
• Need relief off of Mill Plain.
• Mill Plain is a mess - synchronize the lights.
• All issues on Mill Plain are a big concern of the hospital and emergency services.
• Congestion on Mill Plain in general.
• Congestion and traffic lights on Mill Plain.
• Mill Plain is very congested between 136th and Chkalov. People are using the side streets to get off the road - mostly folks trying to get north on 112th, cut through to 9th.
• Few access streets result in traffic volumes near capacity on Mill Plain. 

Mill Plain Blvd. Interchange

• Vehicle stacking at Mill Plain exit and SR 500 - the biggest problems.
• I-205/Mill plain interchange is a poor design. 
• Second biggest need is to resolve the problems at the Mill Plain interchange.
• Mill Plain interchange is the number one problem. When there is an accident on I-205 northbound, then the east/west arterials and the north/south arterials become congested - the whole system breaks down.
• Northbound Mill Plain off ramp.
• Mill Plain intersection is a bottleneck.
• The back ups at the Mill Plain exits (both south and north) are very hazardous! Last week at 5:45 PM the I-205 southbound exit at Mill Plain was backed up on the freeway for approx ½ mile. I-205 northbound was even worse.
• Mill Plain backlog.
• Mill Plain and 4th Plain exits-recent improvements on 4th Plain should help.
• Ramps between Mill Plain and I-205 are nearing capacity and there is no room to expand capacity because of existing built-up facilities.

SR 500 

• 162nd and SR 500 is a problem.
• There is no way to get off of Fourth Plain when exiting north at SR500.
• Biggest need is to fix the off ramp at SR 500. 
• Vehicle stacking at Mill Plain exit and SR 500 - the biggest problems.
• SR 500 northbound PM peak
• Get the lights off of SR500! Keep the traffic moving.
• Hopefully, Padden Expressway will relieve congestion around SR500.
• Padden will be a good improvement.
• Backup experienced during rush hours at SR-500.

Interchanges/Links

General

• There is not much of a problem on the freeway - the problem is the access to off ramps.
• The existing interchanges are a mess.
• Spend the money for freeways on interchanges. We don't need any more lanes.
• Agree with the federal government's concern about adding interchanges to the interstates if there are other solutions.
• Interchanges streamlined for commuters and increased in capacity.
• Traffic backs up at key intersections.

SR 14

• Who is taking a look at how SR14 links in? This is a bigger system than just the I-205 corridor.
• SR-14 provides limited access to East Vancouver because the first access street to the west of I-205 is over a mile distance and the first access to the east is about 2¼ miles distance.

Split Diamond Interchange at 18th and Burton

• Get the split diamond at 18th and Burton built sooner than 10 years.
• Put in the split diamond interchange.
• The split diamond interchange is a good idea - do it!
• Concern about doing a 'partial diamond', it does not solve the problem it just moves it.
• Commit the money to fund the split diamond interchange.
• Build the frontage road for the interchange soon.
• Is the split diamond happening or not? Be up front with the community.
• If NE 18th Street is widened east of I-205 and extended west to 87th Avenue, the Interchange at Burton Road could be expanded into the proposed split diamond with 18th.

Miscellaneous locations

• 134th is starting to have problems.
• The new ramp on Fourth Plain is a good improvement.
• Padden should be a freeway with on/off ramps in place of traffic lights.
• NE 18th St interchange needed.
• Orchards/4th Plain.
• I-205 reduces from 3 lanes to 2 lanes in each direction just north of the SR-500 interchange, resulting in merging of traffic northbound in the same length where the merging ramp from SR-500 comes in.

On Local Streets

General

• A new interchange won't work if there aren't the local connections to support it.
• Very important to work with residents to help make local street connections safe and efficient.
• Transit, Local Street Connections, and Bike/Pedestrian are linked.
• New construction is needed on the local streets.
• The freeway is not the problem - the problem is the lack of a local street grid.
• The local streets were not designed to take off traffic from the freeways or to carry current traffic loads. Some of the roads date back to 1945. The 'new' streets are being designed to 1987 standards and they are a patchwork quilt approach to a system that needs a complete overhaul. 
• Need to complete the programmed local street improvements - Burton Rd Extension, 87th Extension.
• Lack of implementation of a grid system.
• The streets are not connected, no sense of a regional system developed.
• Ineffective north/south arterials.
• The way the eastern part of the county and city has developed is haphazard with no grid.
• Need to extend 18th to 87th.
• Connect 92nd.
• 112th St intersection is very congested at the PM peak.
• The speed bumps placed on 39th have driven people off of 39th onto even smaller neighborhood streets.
• Unsure of how local traffic is related to problems on the freeway.
• Stacking problems on 28th at 138th intersection-a signal problem?
• 164th - take care of two-lane bottleneck in front of brewery.
• Backups at Chkalov.
• McGillivray is built like an arterial, yet the speeds are posted at 25mph - people use it as an arterial.
• Covington, where it hits Fourth Plain is a mess, but it will be fixed soon (?)
• 138th is a rural, local street. Minimal north/south arterials put the burden in the neighborhood.
• Reduce congestion on local streets
• Limited access to local streets from I-205 and vice versa so it is necessary to spend 20 minutes trying to access industry on the east side of I-205.
• Remediation of failing local street intersections.
• As far as local streets go there's been too much residential construction allowed, not enough streets, etc to handle all of the people.
• Access to East side Vancouver is primarily through local streets. Ave speed is approx 30 mph. It is crazy that it takes 30 minutes to access locations downtown Vancouver from Orchards.
• Local feeder streets and arterials clog up and cause delays and accidents at freeway interchanges. Once on I-205, it's fairly easy traveling.
• Continued growth of residential will increase the burden on existing transportation routes.
• Heavy traffic flow with no apparent synchronized signals on local streets.
• I wonder if we have too many high volume arterials.
• Movement of traffic through Orchards.
• East-west arterials must be completed.
• Traffic lights not timed and cannot detect when cars are waiting-at least it seems that way.
• Burton Road (28th Street) needs to be widened to 5 lanes because traffic on it will exceed capacity in a few years.
• 18th Street needs to be upgraded, extended to 87th Avenue, and widened to 5 lanes to accommodate the steadily growing traffic.

Community/County interests

• Marion Neighborhood is very upset with the city regarding the battle over the Wal-Mart TIFs.
• Balance city and county interests.
• Green Meadows Neighborhood Association needs a sound wall along I-205.
• Oakbrook neighborhood is a "quiet majority". Very little faith that something will happen.
• The City of Vancouver and Clark County have delayed the decision to develop a street network for many years, because of political and economical pressures. Now I don't think there is anyone with the political power or the financial backing that could take to fix our road system.

Mass Transit/Multi-Modal

• Lack of mass transit as a viable alternative.
• C-TRAN is set up to serve Portland commuters, not local traffic circulation.
• Use the center median on I-205 for a buses only, two-way transit lane.
• Transit would need to be free to be a viable option.
• Need public education! Telecommuting! Light Rail!
• We need bus lanes on the freeways, improved bus routes, more emphasis on transit - although I know it is not popular with area residents.
• Buses need to be laid out on a grid, direct routes, convenient.
• East County is transit deficient.
• Don't improve transit just for the sake of improving. Put a set of measures in place.
• Need more park and ride lots.
• Transit and freeways are linked
• Need to do a better job of selling transit in this community.
• Spending money on Bike/Pedestrian separate from the others is only a partial solution. It can only work in conjunction with the others.
• Transit, Local Street Connections, and Bike/Pedestrian are linked.
• In order to move toward an urban standard for developing our roads, we need sidewalks, lights, safe pedestrian passageway to transit. City can't just annex the area and then call it "urban".
• Poor public transit.
• Public transit is a money pit in Clark County.
• Mass transit does not work.
• Too much effort in transit does not produce results.
• Please look into public transit connection times. Our employees have difficulty getting to work.
• Drop the idea of lightrail.
• Would like to see a connection to the Portland train system.
• With 29% of Clark County population working in Oregon, light rail and another bridge would help ease congestion (what % uses I-205 bridge compared to I-5 bridge?)
• Eventually, the light rail, now under construction to the Portland Airport, should be extended north across the Glenn Jackson Bridge and up the center if I-205 to the Washington State University Campus.

Freight Movement

• Freight Mobility and Freeways are linked.
• One of the outcomes of the Trade Corridor is that truckers won't use I-205, it is too far out of the way and slower.
• Need to look at freight mobility on I-205 and I-5 as a whole system with trade off questions.
• Freight mobility is very important. If lanes are freed up from cars then freight mobility is improved.
• Freight mobility is not a problem on this corridor.
• Unsure how much through freight traffic uses this corridor.
• SEH-America moves more trucks out daily than anyone in east county. Freight mobility is not a problem for us.
• Don't forget about including Oregon interests. There are many distribution warehouses along Marine Drive that rely on I-205 north.
• What is the "mix" between the two bridges for freight and commuter traffic?
• A third bridge is required to accommodate increased truck traffic.

Growth/Economic Impacts

• City annexation is resulting in a lot of growth along the freeway.
• The most pressing issue is the investment strategy for transportation in this area. Economic development is not factored in as a statewide objective and it needs to be. 
• Provide incentives to large employers about demand management.
• Growth and development are a good thing, but too much of a good thing is bad too.
• The main problem is growth and congestion, they go hand in hand.
• Clark County is going to continue to grow. If we ignore or deny that, we will be in a world of chaos.
• Growth stress-the need to widen streets or re-route to accommodate congestion.
• Eliminate or revise the B&O tax to promote businesses to locate in Clark County, which would reduce the number of commuters from Clark County to Portland.
• Need to plan ahead to accommodate traffic, new Costco and Home Depot bring added traffic in addition to population growth and more cars and trucks on the road.
• Traffic congestion is a major factor in the growth or lack of growth in any area.
• We need some new roadways to help Vancouver continue to grow.
• Growing populations mean more traffic. Need to plan ahead.
• More businesses being built.

Planning

Goals and Objectives

• The goal needs to be readily communicated about what this study is about.
• Agreement needs to be reached on what the goal is.
• Be clear about what we are working with, what are the parameters.
• The staff needs to know where they are going.
• Need to begin planning with more concern for needs of general population and less for business development, i.e. do we really need another strip mall? Example: New development on NE 28th - traffic will be a nightmare in the interest of development.

Spending

• Look for maximum return on investment.
• The problems are only going to get more expensive as time goes on.
• Use the Washington State surplus revenue to get something built sooner.

Coordination

• How can you study I-205 and I-5 separately? 
• Need to look at freight mobility on I-205 and I-5 as a whole system with trade off questions.
• Need to take a regional view, how does I-205 work with I-5.
• Coordinate information with the other programmed improvements - phases 1,2,3 of Burton Rd, Padden Parkway, 28th, etc.
• The state's interchanges are not a part of GMA as it relates to concurrency, the locals have no control.
• Because concurrency is not being enforced, we need to get money committed for new construction now.
• Need coordination studies between interchanges.
• We need to look at flow control in the region - the big picture. How we can control traffic flow on I-205, I-5, SR14, SR500 as a system?
• Look at the big picture, I-205 is a pretty small corridor. Need to take into account trade off questions between all of the corridors; I-5, I-205, SR14, SR500.
• The critical point is a coordinated study that looks at the whole picture.
• Need some indication that the City is on board with the outcomes of this study.
• The state needs to coordinate better with local street connections.

General

• Capacity has been reached on the freeway sooner than anticipated - this needs to be addressed ASAP.
• Need to educate the community about the problems.
• Need updated traffic counts.
• The transportation strategy for this area should be more responsive/proactive and less reactive and out dated.
• We need to make better use of what we have on the ground now.
• Don't put down more impervious surfaces.
• Fix the outstanding problems that the current system has created.
• The problems started by adopting a comp plan that they did not know how to fund five years ago.
• Stop "lowering the bar" on acceptable standards.
• Tell us where there are gaps, holes, in the system that need to be filled.
• Please try to look at all of the issues objectively and fairly, considering all of the various classes of tax payers, and how we all use these roads differently.
• Send the city planners to examine how other cities accommodated their traffic demands.
• It does not seem that congestion is handled "optimally" in this area.

Safety - General

• Safety is a result, an outcome, it should not be prioritized.
• It is a given that all improvements will include safety.
• It is unfair to prioritize Highway Maintenance, Highway Preservation, and Safety - it is not an option to address these objectives any less.
• Don't believe there are significant safety issues.
• Safety is inherent in all of the categories.
• There is a safety issue when traffic is stopped on the freeway at off ramps.
• It is most important to keep freeways safe.
• Continue to stress safety improvements and medium and larger truck safety.
• Current system is at capacity. Traffic is now and will continue to increase. Frustration, delays, poor road conditions lead to angry, unsafe driving.
• Safety is a part of new construction, maintenance, and operations.
  

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