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12/07/1987 - Packet AGENDA CITY CENTER PLAN TASK FORCE MONDAY/ DECEMBER 7, 1987, 7:00 - 9:30 P.M. CIVIC CENTER - COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE ROOM 13125 SW HALL BLVD. , TIGARD, OR 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL: ASH COHEN DEFFERDING JUAREZ MARR 3. APPROVE MINUTES 4. RECENT LAND USE ACTIONS: NEWTON 5. MARKET STUDY RFP UPDATE: ' ROBERTS 6. TRANSPORTATION NEEDS IDENTIFICATION: GROUP DISCUSSION 7. QUESTIONS FOR "CITY SURVEY": GROUP DISCUSSION 8. NPO CHAIRS MEETING: COHEN 9. SALEM `POUR: ROBERTS 10. FINANCIAL OPTIONS DISCUSSION TIMETABLE 11. OTHER BUSINESS 12. ADJOURNMENT MEE]I:NG OF CITY CE:N'I''E--R TASK FOR(;[: November 19, 1987 r Present: Michael Marr, Pain Juarez, Jolynn Ash, and Chris Defferding Absent: Stuart Cohen Staff Present: Bill Monahan, Elizabeth Newton, and Duane Roberts APPROVE MINUTES The minutes of the previous meeting were not available. SALEM TOUR Duane reported that he had been in touch with Dick Hayden, Salem Urban Renewal Director, regarding the possibility of a downtown tour. Mr. Hayden indicated that the City had established two urban renewal areas some 15 years ago. Currently, an 11--member citizen' s board is advisory to the Council and is the implement arm of the program. Numerous other cities have looked at Salem' s program. He and others are more than willing to meet with a delegation from Tigard to discuss their approach and their mistakes and accomplishments. The Committee set a tentative date of February 20th for a tour. staff was asked to check into costs. MARKET RFP The Committee reviewed the draft RFP prepared by staff. Among other revisions, the Committee requested that the work scope section be moved to the back of the RFP. " IDENTIFICATION OF TRAFFIC PROBLEMS A tentative City--wide list of transportation problems prepared by the City Engineer was handed out. It was decided that the Committee will review the downtown portion of the list between now and the next meeting,- preparation far a discussion of transportation needs and priorities at that time. The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Duane Roberts sb/2156D Pagan's Perspective By Alfred R.Pagan,P.E.,Consulting Engineer&Contributing Editor Railroad Grade Crossings Inever gave much thought to the problems of railroad on the subject of grade crossings before and that,perhaps, grade crossings because I grew up on the assumption it would be instructive to do a little research in the matter, that the thank-you-ma'ams,as they are sometimes called, Based on my brief inquiries, there appear to be two ph- are something we all have to live with if we are going to mary methods for preparing grade vehicular crossings at drive vehicles on public streets.Given the facts that:(1)it is railroads. They are (1) the old fashioned way, primarily economically impossible to separate all crossings,(2)rail- using traditional materials such as asphalt,timber,or con- roads will continue to exist,and(3)vehicular roadways will crete, and (2) methods using proprietary materials which do likewise,I have always assumed that the inconvenience are primarily rubber based elastomers which have flexibil- and discomfort of the teeth-rattling, bone-jarring impacts ity as one of their main properties. that occur when a railroad right-of-way is crossed were One of the more aggressively marketed products is Good- something we just have to live with.That is,I felt that way year's Super Cushion Rubber Railroad Crossings— High- until I saw the warning sign in the accompanying photo- way Type.I inspected two of these installations while they graph. were under construction and some of the photographs A few months ago when this sign was prominently dis- accompanying this column show the material in use. It is played at the Rochelle Avenue-Susquehanna Railroad fabricated from an A.S.T.M. designated elastomer with a grade crossing in the township of Rochelle Park,New Jer- minimum tensile strength of 2,000 p.s.i. The A.S.T.M. sey,I wondered how effective it would be in helping to cor- designation also describes other properties such as hard- rect a problem which had,obviously,rankled the municipal ness,tensile strength and minimum elongation. officials—not to mention local drivers on this heavily trav- Another proprietary product is the one labeled TT which eled roadway—for some time.My camera was not availa- I photographed in situ in western New Jersey and ble the first time I saw the sign and upon returning to the which seemed similar to the Goodyear product.However,I site a few days later I discovered the sign was gone and a am not familiar with the company which manufactured it, construction team was busily at work effecting the major or its specific properties. repair necessary to smooth out the quadruple bump,one at Apparently, all such products come fully equipped to each rail, which had been the source of discomfort to the handle almost any type of crossing,providing corrugated locals for a long time. steel inserts, galvanized drive spikes, washer assemblies It's really questionable just how effective the sign itself and either rubber,or metal,header boards. was in getting somebody to correct the problem,but in this An interesting sidelight to my brief look into this subject case at least a little adverse publicity seemed to have helped is that the railroad and highway people seem to be at odds get the job done.(The sign is currently stored in the town- regarding construction,and other,problems at the railroad- ship's garage.Municipal officials were kind enough to set it highway interface.Highway men complain about the diffi- up in a convenient location so that it could be photo- culties, delays and costs involved with getting improve- graphed.)This incident reminded that I have never written ments made at bumpy crossings.Railroaders don't like the fact that the highways, which usually came after the rail- roads,often dictate what work should be done and how it is to be performed. An interesting problem I learned about l�a� from the railroad man I interviewed— and which I never " k a `a v thought about before—is that because of repeated paving 10 ii operations on approach roads which are necessitated by �whighway maintenance programs, some vertical railroad alignments, which at one time were absolutely straight in e profile, now have a "thank you-ma'am" of their own. In other words,in order to meet the constantly rising highway s E grade caused by overlays and resurfacing operations, a noticeable vertical rise and fall now exists along the rails. �uBased on recent history,future problems at the railroad- highway interface should increase rather than slacken. This is partly due to the fact that more and more welded rails are appearing on some high speed(and other)railroad This sin was effective in lines. In fact, at least one of the accompanying photo- g getting a bumpy grade crossing graphs shows just such an operation being performed just a repaired.(see text) few feet away from a highway crossing. While new tech- nology may improve all our lines of communication,it also Correction:The January 1987 Perspective column entitled increases their complexities.This raises the cost of keeping Stormwater Management—Part II should have read Part steel and rubber-wheeled vehicles moving without exces- sive chafing of one by the other at the points they interface. 50 Better Roads FEBRUARY 1987 The railroad launches a coun- teroffensive,announcing an immi- nent repair. This photo was taken at the instant that the melted, almost white hot steel was entering the mold which formed the weld. A completed'joint"is in the fore- ground. Continuous steel mills 1300'long are thus formed. This photo shows work- s }" ers removing the slag ,, from a weld which is still hot. Note com- » �. plated weld in back of "£ the sledgehammer- welder at the left. One type of rubber railroad crossing pad d ", near Hackettstown, {" New Jersey. —I-- V*4644 One type of rubber { railroad crossing pad near Hackettstown, '' Mt New Jersey. m Goodyear rubber railroad ALI crossing pads being installed in Jersey City,New Jersey. } Example of multiple +•.Iw ' '"� """"�� pavement overlays which,over a period of many years, has raised both the road grade and the requir- ed railroad grade elevation. Railroads complain about the cost of raising the rails,as a result. This grade crossing was constructed under Interstate Route 80 – at Route 17 in New Jersey. It replaced a rubberized system which did not stand up well under heavy traffic.Note Interstate 80 pier to right of the railroad. These are examples of "Old Fashioned"but still effective rail- road grade crossings This is the crossing located in - Rochelle Park which was repaired partly as a result of the municipal P.R.campaign to have it improv- ed.(see"warning"photo) # y 16 miles to Jersey City."A little maintenance is needed on the milepost marker. ¢° ' ... N .Rf' '>•°xrl, h.. fib, .A �+i.v? `% RISy r r4 a -.,..