Monroe Street Greenway

This page primarily has information about the Monroe Street Greenway Concept Plan developed in 2015. For the most up to date information about this project, visit the Engineering Department's project page, Monroe Street Neighborhood Greenway. To ask questions, read through FAQs and engage about the project online, visit Engage Milwaukie. 

Project Overview
As an important east-west route across Milwaukie, Monroe Street connects several Neighborhoods and Downtown Milwaukie, and has been identified in the city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) as a Neighborhood Greenway.

Neighborhood Greenways are low-volume, low-speed routes that provide safe, quiet routes for motorists, pedestrians, and bicycles. Neighborhood Greenways often include improvements that reduce vehicle speeds (for example, with curb extensions or mini traffic circles), which makes them safer and more inviting for neighbors, walkers, and bikers, while also reducing cut-through traffic from outside the neighborhood.

Concept Plan - June 2015 
The city secured a State grant to create a Concept Plan that defines Neighborhood Greenway improvements along Monroe Street from 21st Avenue to Linwood Avenue (Milwaukie's eastern boundary). The project team has engaged residents -- especially those who live on or near Monroe Street -- and other interested parties to assess current challenges and needs, evaluate best practices that aim to address those needs, and develop design options for the community to consider. Monroe Street has distinct characteristics in different segments of the study area, and the Concept Plan will be tailored to address the different conditions.

The Needs and Opportunities Memo identifies existing conditions on Monroe Street, including recommended improvements to make the street an effective neighborhood greenway. A collection of Public Comments on an earlier draft of the memo, including input from the Project Advisory Committee (PAC), is also available.

Project Advisory Committee - 2015

A Project Advisory Committee (PAC) was formed at the project's outset to help guide the plan. The PAC included representatives from the City's Neighborhood Associations, local bike advocates, the City's Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), and technical advisors who met throughout the project to review and discuss drafts of the Concept Plan. Click here for more information about the PAC, including the City Council's charge to the PAC and the PAC roster.

Public Workshops - 2015 

Four public workshops were held to present information to the larger community and get input and perspective from residents and others who use Monroe Street. This included a workshop specifically focused on the Washington Street bikeway element of the concept, held on July 27, 2015. Please visit the Public Workshops page for more information.

Click here for a list of Additional Resources and materials.

Concept Plan Adoption on Dec. 1, 2015:

City Council opened a public hearing on November 3, 2015, and took comments on the draft Concept Plan from almost two dozen community members. The hearing was continued on December 1, 2015, where additional testimony was taken before Council discussed the Concept Plan further and ultimately approved a resolution that adopted it. The resolution provided direction for next steps toward implementing the framework vision, including the pursuit of funding opportunities to further design and build the highest priority elements in the plan. Council also directed staff to hold a public work session in the first half of 2016 to focus on developing a comprehensive list of additional information and data that will be needed to model and better understand the potential impacts of the proposed traffic diverters. 

The adopted version (prepared in June 2015) of the Concept Plan builds upon the preliminary Neighborhood Greenway designs that were previously drafted by the consultant team. The earlier drafts are available for viewing on the Draft Concept Design page.

Modifications to Greenway Route 
A traffic analysis was completed by DKS in March 2018 with a primary focus on lowering daily volume of vehicles on Monroe Street. The analysis intended to review the concept plans to verify which elements to provide for Monroe Street to function most effectively as a neighborhood greenway and active transportation connection. The findings of the traffic analysis generally supported the recommendations from the city and county concept plans, but with added findings for additional traffic signals.The traffic analysis report for the Monroe Street Neighborhood Greenway is available for download in the file links below.

In June 2018, city council adopted resolution 36-2018 to modify the Monroe Greenway to include the Washington Street Alignment.

If you are interested in the project or would like to engage online, visit Engage Milwaukie.