Portland State University

These projects are currently engaged in a phase of the Better Block PSU project pathway.

• (2024) Steel Bridge Skatepark: Portland's Old Town neighborhood is getting a new skatepark, and a team of PSU transportation students were instrumental in bringing the project from idea to reality. 
• (2023) Washington County Intersection Redesign: This project, led byWashington County Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Shelly Oylear, engaged PSU students in the redesign of an intersection in Washington County.
• (2023) Living Streets Project: Building on the 2022 "Car Free Zones in Downtown Portland" project, a PSU student team developed a new "living streets" concept for Portland's city center.
• (2022) Argay Terrace Transformation: This project seeks to transform the intersection of NE 131st and NE Prescott Dr from a dangerous corner into a welcoming neighborhood space, in a community which is 47 percent Black, Indigenous and people of color.
• (2022) Car Free Zones in Downtown Portland: In 1972, Portland City Planners and the City Council approved a car-free plan for the downtown. Parts of it were implemented in the Waterfront Trail and Halprin Open Space Sequence, and this project seeks to update and operationalize the rest of the Car-Free Downtown Plan.
• (2022) Keaton Otis Memorial: This project seeks to create a safe space for community members to gather at a memorial, with a street design that reduces or eliminates car traffic at the gathering space.
• (2022) Sabin Outdoor Community Space: This project would convert a dead-end cul de sac near a future affordable housing development into a pleasant, functional outdoor space that can be easily navigated by foot, bike or wheelchair.
• (2022) Walkable Rosewood: This project would improve the pedestrian experience along several streets in the Rosewood neighborhood with temporary or permanent walkways, intersection treatments, and art installations.
• (2021) City of Independence Neighborhood Greenways: This project will help create a low-stress biking and walking network through Independence connecting local schools, businesses, and parks.
• (2021) Community Green Space for Parkrose: This project plans to create a pathway from the Parkrose neighborhood to the Columbia Slough to increase access to green space and community knowledge of the Slough.
• (2021) Arleta Triangle Transformation: This project will transform a dangerous slipway into community space including a skate park, basketball court, and electric mobility hub, which have been identified as needs from the community.
• (2020) Re-Imagining a Safer Route to the César Chávez School: The communty partners have gathered a lot of ideas from the students, parents and surrounding community on how this Portland, OR intersection could be improved. Many people liked the idea of a traffic circle, raised crosswalks, or curb bump-outs as potential traffic calming ideas. 
  • February 2021 update after the PSU Planning Studio course
  • July 2021 update after the PSU Engineering Capstone course
• (2020) Streets Alive: Hood River: This project will create a bustling and safe neighborway for children, parents and community members to access school, parks and other local amenities by walking, biking and rolling in Hood River, Oregon.

Have additional questions that are not addressed below? Contact us at asktrec@pdx.edu

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What deliverables should I expect, and how might they be useful?

Deliverables are the content produced from the students that you can expect to take with you to help develop your project. Not all accepted proposals will go through all three phases of classes. Which phase(s) your project will undergo will be discussed upon acceptance. Please keep in mind that these are classes tied to PSU's academic year.

Phase I - Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning course (April - June): 

• The students will work with you to develop community engagement plans, activity and behavior monitoring, data collection plans, and performance measures.
• These focus on the big picture vision for community through engagement plans and behavior monitoring. These are meant to assess the current activity of the project site, to give you a base to then form your future plans. Since community engagement overlaps all phases, it is important that we start out with engagement in Phase I. 

Phase II -Active Transportation Planning and Design Studio (Sept - Dec):

• The students will work with you to develop existing conditions, design alternatives, and cost estimates.
• The deliverables in Phase II are meant to build upon Phase I, but with more of a technical lens. These deliverables will provide you with more of the nuts and bolts you’ll need to implement the project itself, including the anticipated cost. During this phase, you will move from theory into more of the practicalities of your project. 

Phase III - Engineering Capstone (Jan - June): 

• The students will work with you to develop and engineering plan that includes design alternatives, traffic control plan, and other materials that can assist with city permitting process.
• These deliverables are useful in beginning conversations with the City, and gathering the materials necessary to obtain permits for the project. This last set of deliverables shifts the focus outward and helps to ease the bureaucratic components of the project.

What should I expect from the students?

First and foremost, this is an experiential learning opportunity for Portland State University students to engage in a real world problem. The students will maintain regular communication with you throughout the term, and will partially be working on deliverables on their own. It can be helpful to establish parameters with your student group during your first meeting around what level of communication you need. For specific deliverables, see the prior questions above. Please note that if your project moves through multiple phases, you will have a new group of students in each phase.

What level of commitment should I plan for?

Some of the most successful projects that have come from our program, such as Better Naito, have evolved over many years. It is up to you if you want to participate in Phase I to implement this summer, and concentrate your efforts into just a few months, or if you have larger needs and want to spread it out over a year or two due to the complexity of the project. What you accomplish with the deliverables the students provide is up to you.

How can I use the seed money?

Up to $1,000 is available to assist participants with the planning and implementation of their projects. The seed money you receive for your project is intended to be used solely for community outreach throughout the different phases of the project and implementation of the final deliverable. These funds should be split evenly between the outreach and space activation. You may choose to use the funds to host community events related to the project, obtain promotional material, compensate volunteers, subsidize the cost of materials, etc.

How will COVID-19 impact this process?

After being fully remote, PSU has transitioned back to in-person learning during the current academic school year. Depending on how COVID-19 conditions continue to change, your involvement with the students may be in person or through Zoom. Each instructor will determine the format of their classes (remote or in-person); however, please assume that the classrooms will be virtual, although more in more classrooms are in person. There may be an opportunity for physically distant site visits to occur. Traditionally, Better Block projects have had a strong in-person element because of the emphasis on community building and placemaking. It is up to you if you want to plan your project to be implemented.

Are there other organizations in the Portland metro area who can support my advocacy work?

We recommend reaching out to Oregon Walks, the Street Trust, Bike Loud PDX and/or the City Repair Project. Each of these organizations specialize in different areas of advocacy, active transportation, and resources.