Downtown Gresham Walkability Study

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dc.contributor.authorHoran, Erin
dc.contributor.authorYang, Yizhao
dc.contributor.authorEidt, Taylor
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-27T17:45:41Z
dc.date.available2017-07-27T17:45:41Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.description61 pages ; illustrationsen_US
dc.description.abstractThe City of Gresham seeks to improve the walkability of its downtown to create a vibrant, pedestrian-oriented city center. Through the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program, an Advanced GIS class of undergraduate and graduate students from the Community and Regional Planning program and the Planning, Public Policy, and Management department conducted a walkability study analyzing the built and urban design environment for pedestrians and bicyclists. This report synthesizes the research and analysis conducted by five student teams. It contains a description of the class methods, analysis of each study group, overall findings and recommendations. Students used Census data and shapefiles provided by the Regional Land Information System to analyze Downtown Gresham’s land use, transportation infrastructure, and population density in ArcGIS. Students used a network analyst tool to further analyze the level of street connectivity around 17 locations of interest. After this analysis, five student teams conducted on-site walkability assessments of sub-regions in Downtown Gresham. The walkability assessments measured factors for the built environment and urban design and included gathering surveys of pedestrians and bicyclists along the route. To analyze this entire region, five study areas were identified: • Gresham Town Fair • Downtown Gresham • East Powell Boulevard • Main City Park • NE Burnside Road Each team provided analysis and recommendations for each region based on the spatial analysis and walkability assessments. Key recommendations that emerged from the findings include: • Enhance urban design elements with street trees, landscaping, public street art, and outdoor dining to create an interesting and enjoyable pedestrian experience • Increase accessibility and safety with additional wayfinding signage, pedestrian crosswalks, well-marked and continuous bike lanes, and traffic calming techniques to high traffic streets • Improve MAX transit station experiences with additional lighting, landscaping, and wayfinding signage • Encourage mixed land uses/density including additional park or public space in vacant lots This report addresses the findings of the walkability assessments by study area and provides recommendations for specific street improvements to add to pedestrian and bicyclist accessibility. Suggestions for possible next steps for the City of Gresham are provided, however, further analysis would be needed to identify feasibility and priority for the city.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/22537
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregonen_US
dc.rightsCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USen_US
dc.subjectPedestrian areasen_US
dc.subjectLand use planningen_US
dc.titleDowntown Gresham Walkability Studyen_US
dc.typeOtheren_US

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Sustainable City Year Reports 2014-15 (Metro, Gresham, TriMet, Tigard)