Community members and project partners gathered recently to celebrate the completion of an overlooked riverfront destination transformed through community-driven effort. The Renaissance Pointe improvements at the eastern terminus of the Columbia River Renaissance Trail were led by a coalition of community supporters including Otak, who donated professional time and expertise to help reimagine the space. The goal: to create a safe, attractive place for people to enjoy the Columbia River.
“Renaissance Pointe is a powerful example of how thoughtful design can honor both place and people. The aim was to create a space that feels calm and meaningful—one where the community can connect with the river and with each other.”
– David Sacamano, Practice Area Leader of Planning & Landscape Architecture
Otak helped advance the project by providing concept design, civil and landscape design, permitting support and agency coordination, and technical review services, including stormwater documentation. Construction dollars for the improvements were raised through the generosity of local businesses and foundations. Beyond beautification, Renaissance Pointe carries deep meaning for the community.
Honoring Commitment to Community
The effort was driven by Jill Brown, who was inspired by the life and service of her husband Clark County Sheriff Sgt. Jeremy Brown, who died in the line of duty. Otak worked directly with Jill throughout the process to ensure the space would serve as a place of reflection and remembrance. “It will be a space that honors a life well lived,” Jill Brown said in a previous interview with The Columbian. Project partners echoed that sentiment, noting that the improvements honor “the spirit of Jeremy’s commitment to our community.” The completed terminus reflects a shared vision for inclusive, people-centered public spaces, one shaped by community voices, volunteer effort, and collaboration across public, nonprofit, and private partners.
Otak’s involvement in the Columbia River Renaissance Trail continues beyond this milestone. Current projects include active work on two additional sections along the trail and Vancouver Waterfront in partnership with the Port of Vancouver. These include the State Route 501 Trail, Segment 5B, providing civil engineering services, and the Terminal 1 Project, where Otak is preparing to begin civil and landscape architecture work. With ongoing investment in the region’s waterfront, Otak is honored to play a role in strengthening meaningful connections between people, place, and the river through thoughtful design and community partnership.
Communities thrive with greater connectivity. When this includes a multimodal approach that’s designed to accommodate users of all ages and abilities, it can be referred to as complete streets. The concept redefines the design of roadways to support a more holistic view of mobility, shifting from vehicle dominated corridors to spaces that serve everyone.
Complete streets are uniquely positioned to meet multiple goals at once. Increased public accessibility unlocks opportunities for economic growth, enhanced infrastructure, and improved public health. It not only promotes sustainability with active transportation and green infrastructure but also improvements for motorists with safety and traffic calming features.
Comprehensive in nature, a complete streets policy can also be complex in its implementation. Each community has its own needs, constraints, and priorities, meaning complete streets must be thoughtfully tailored to their context.
In this blog, we’ll explore what complete streets are, the common elements that make them effective, and the process of creating policies leading to projects that bring them to life.
Contents
Contents
Contents
Contents
View more
What Are Complete Streets?
Complete streets are an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enable safe access for people of all ages and abilities. Rather than focusing primarily on vehicular traffic, this approach considers how all users interact within the transportation network to increase efficiency throughout.
At its core, complete streets emphasize multimodal transportation. This means integrating infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and motorists while also adding improvements to infrastructure like stormwater management. The goal is to create streets that are not only functional but also inviting and efficient, improving both mobility and overall environment within a corridor.
Examples of Complete Streets Design Features
Complete streets incorporate a variety of design features that work together to improve access to businesses, essential services, and public spaces. This often leads to comprehensive improvements along a corridor impacting multiple aspects of public infrastructure.
Removal of barriers to students biking and walking to Tualatin Elementary also reduces roadway congestion in the area to improve safe routes to school.
To account for added impervious surfaces across the Tualatin Moving Forward Bond Program, a vegetated swale is designed to treat stormwater in the area with green infrastructure.
Roadways
Roadways can often be barriers to broader accessibility. While complete streets place less priority on a community’s vehicular traffic, improving roadways for their use is no less important. Taking a wider perspective, the design often seeks to reduce overreliance on cars, improving safety and traffic for everyone in the area.
Features such as wider shoulders, curb extensions, and roundabouts are commonly used to calm traffic and reduce speeds. These elements enhance safety for both drivers and pedestrians while maintaining efficient road diets. The result is a roadway that’s safer and more integrated with other modes of transportation, removing barriers for all.
Sidewalks, Bike Lanes, and Multiuse Paths
Active transportation infrastructure is a defining feature of complete streets. Sidewalks, bike lanes, and multiuse paths are designed to create safe and convenient options for people who walk, bike, or use growing forms of micromobility.
Municipal policies often guide these features, such as requiring sidewalks of a certain width along new developments. Increasingly, designers must also account for emerging transportation modes like e-bikes and e-scooters, as well as designated spaces for rideshare services that do not disrupt traffic flow. These improvements benefit local businesses by increasing accessibility and walkability. When people can reach shops and services without a car, it expands the customer base and enhances the overall experience of an area.
Accessibility is essential to this goal. Features like pedestrian bridges, median islands, and well-marked crosswalks with updated signals help ensure that streets are safe and usable for individuals of all abilities.
Public transit plays a vital role in complete streets. Integrating transit options such as bus rapid transit or light rail helps reduce congestion and provides reliable alternatives to driving.
Dedicated bus lanes can improve efficiency by allowing transit vehicles to bypass traffic, making service faster and more predictable. Equally important are the transit stops themselves. Comfortable, accessible, and well-designed waiting areas can significantly improve user experience and encourage more people to use mass transit. Providing adequate space for waiting passengers, along with amenities like seating and shelter, contributes to a more welcoming and functional system.
While it may not be the first thing that comes to mind with transportation, stormwater infrastructure can be one of the most important features. As with any roadway, complete streets must effectively manage water runoff, especially as these new developments can increase impervious surfaces, or change existing conditions.
These requirements can lead to opportunities to integrate green stormwater infrastructure solutions. A nature-based design approach may use features such as vegetated swales and rain gardens to not only manage water efficiently and with low impact, but also to enhance the environment of a corridor.
Complete streets often connect to parks, trails, and other recreational areas, expanding their reach and usefulness. By linking neighborhoods to regional trail systems, these projects can improve mobility across larger areas.
Green spaces add recreational value while also supporting environmental functions like stormwater management. Amenities such as bike racks, benches, and open spaces create new opportunities for alternative transportation and outdoor community activity.
Creating a Complete Streets Policy
Implementation of a complete streets design begins with a complete streets policy. This process, which can often take shape through comprehensive planning, establishes a framework for how streets will be planned and designed, ensuring consistency and alignment with community goals.
Because every community is different, policies must be flexible and context-sensitive, reflecting local priorities and conditions. There are several essential elements to that effort.
A successful complete streets initiative begins with assembling a diverse group of stakeholders. This often includes neighborhood organizations, government agencies, elected officials, public safety advocates, business groups, and design professionals.
Property owners are especially important to be involved, as they may be directly impacted by changes. Early collaboration helps identify concerns, build consensus, and create a shared vision for the project.
Align Regulation and Requirements
Regulations can play a significant role in shaping complete streets policies. Municipalities might require a minimum sidewalk width around redevelopment or have a Vision Zero policy directed at eliminating transportation related injury and deaths.
These requirements can not only guide design decisions but also be used to advance complete streets initiatives that enhance safety. Shifting responsibility toward system designers, such as engineers and policymakers, the focus moves to safe speeds, forgiving infrastructure, and equitable, data-driven actions, rather than relying solely on individual behavior.
Identify Deficiencies and Opportunities
From an engineering perspective, the design process begins with evaluating existing conditions. Identifying gaps, from missing sidewalks and inadequate transit stops to a lack of bike infrastructure, helps define priorities and opportunities for improvement.
Designers must also account for constraints like existing utilities, walls, and right-of-way limitations. Traffic data and modeling can inform decisions about lane configurations, including opportunities for road diets or additional capacity where needed.
Engaging the community is essential to creating successful complete streets. Public input helps identify desired features, anticipate how spaces will be used, and build support for the project.
Engagement can range from working with key stakeholders to broader public outreach efforts. Ultimately, incorporating community feedback ensures that the final design reflects the needs and values of the people it serves.
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Complete Streets and Vibrant Communities
Complete streets represent a shift toward safer, more connected, and sustainable transportation systems. They’re designed to safely accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, and motorists by integrating multimodal infrastructure, accessibility features, green spaces, and stormwater management. With thoughtful policies formed through a diverse set of stakeholders, these solutions are tailored to each meet the local needs of a community.
The approach ultimately helps foster neighborhoods where people of all abilities benefit from more vibrant, functional, and inviting environments for generations into the future.
Announcing the Transit-Oriented Development Toolkit
Transit-oriented-development creates vibrant, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods surrounding transit stations, and is fundamental to the regional policy that sustains thriving transit communities. In support of this vision, Sound Transit and the Model Code Partnership, together with the cities of Everett and Lynnwood, Snohomish County, Puget Sound Regional Council, and other partners, are proud to announce the recent completion and publishing of the Transit-Oriented Development Toolkit.
Otak planners and designers were an instrumental part of the consultant team that developed this comprehensive, state-of‑the‑practice guidance, working alongside Kimley‑Horn (project manager), Mithun, and EnviroIssues.
Best Practices Visualized
The Toolkit includes chapters on urban design and placekeeping, land use and built form, multimodal streets, as well as resilient infrastructure and green buildings. It goes on to cover implementing regulations in these areas that can be integrated into local codes. Heavily illustrated, the guide presents best practices, policy considerations, design concepts, and regulatory language to support local adoption.
In addition to content development, Otak facilitated multiple workshops with the Model Code Partnership throughout the process. The work was funded primarily by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration’s TOD Pilot Program under the direction of Miranda Redinger, AICP, with Sound Transit. Otak’s team was led by Mandi Roberts, AICP, PLA, with key contributions from a multidisciplinary team of planners, designers, and technical specialists. That team included Ben Schneider, PLA; Mark Shelby, PLA; Cristina Haworth, AICP; Emily Larson; Samantha Cornejo; Brendan Wedderspoon; Marissa Chargualaf; Christopher Green; Casey McKenna; and Matt Neish supporting the work.
The Upper Kellogg Creek project team [left] and 1st and Strand project team [right] at the 2026 ACEC OR awards.Multidisciplinary, multi-phase expertise was recognized at this year’s ACEC Oregon awards, with two Otak projects earning honors from the American Council of Engineering Companies Oregon Chapter. Work to reduce flooding by adding green stormwater infrastructure in a unique neighborhood setting was highlighted with a Small Project Award for the Upper Kellogg Creek Capital Improvements, while an Honor Award for the design and planning around 1st and Strand showcased upgrades aimed at growing the downtown waterfront of St. Helens, Oregon.
As an organization committed to advancing the industry, ACEC holds the annual awards to recognize engineering firms for projects that demonstrate an exceptional degree of innovation, complexity, achievement, and value. A closer look at these two projects, adding to a list of award-winning work, and their impact on surrounding communities can be found below.
Upper Kellogg Stormwater Management & Capital Improvements – Small Project Award
With a unique application of green stormwater infrastructure in a residential neighborhood setting, work on Upper Kellogg Creek addressed chronic flooding for the surrounding community while also enhancing its natural habitat. Initial capital improvement planning led to a design that connects a restored stream with an updated roadway stormwater system to eliminate the frequency of flooding issues during storm events.
1st and Strand: St. Helens Waterfront – Honor Award
Transforming an old mill site into a walkable, multimodal public space that sets up the downtown St. Helens waterfront for future growth was the basis of a planning effort and subsequent transportation design for the area. A new multiuse path and roundabout along with the added ability to close off a portion of the street for festivals reduces congestion in the area, supporting public use and continued economic growth.
As urban environments and their infrastructure expand, so do the amount of impervious surface they create. Where rainwater would otherwise naturally find its way into the soil, those surfaces make it so that it is now prevented and diverted by hardened and water-resistant surfaces such as roadways, parking lots, and rooftops. Stormwater planning addresses this issue.
Traditionally, “gray infrastructure” like sewer systems is designed with a single purpose: move water from one place to another as quickly as possible. Over time this approach has led to increasing issues with flooding, erosion, and pollution to local waterways. In response, green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) has risen in popularity to better manage stormwater by utilizing the natural functions of soil and plants.
In this blog we’ll discuss how, by blending nature-based solutions into infrastructure, communities find multiple benefits. Green stormwater infrastructure not only improves the immediate management of runoff but also the long-term resilience of their design.
Read on, or skip ahead:
Contents
Contents
Contents
Contents
View more
What is Green Stormwater Infrastructure?
Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) refers to systems that utilize the inherent qualities of nature-based solutions to improve the management and treatment runoff. Unlike gray infrastructure that consists of only man-made materials such as concrete or steel and is engineered solely to move water, GSI incorporates features that better slow, retain, and filter stormwater through natural processes.
Often involving planting vegetation, reconnecting natural water systems, or using permeable materials, green stormwater infrastructure is designed to replicate the natural hydrological processes by enabling infiltration below ground and evapotranspiration above. This approach treats rainwater as the resource it is rather than as waste while improving flooding, water quality, and a variety of other community benefits that come with a greener environment.
Benefits of Green Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions
The advantages of green stormwater infrastructure extend across environmental, social, and economic factors. Aside from obvious benefits to community flooding and natural habitat, this approach is also often more cost effective.
Adding green features, sometimes through the comprehensive planning process, to urban environments also can have wide-ranging positive effects on both quality of life as well as property values for a community where present. In fact, research has shown that properties near green stormwater features can increase in value by around 11%, reflecting the demand for communities that integrate green spaces into daily life.
Below is a quick overview of some of the primary benefits of green stormwater infrastructure for a community.
Flood Control and Water Quality
One of the most pressing challenges in stormwater management is flooding. Gray infrastructure often only shifts the problem from one place to another, channeling water away until systems overflow. By contrast, green infrastructure captures rainfall close to where it falls or diverts it to an area designed to naturally hold and absorb. The natural process of infiltration helps remove pollutants while slowly releasing runoff into groundwater. This reduces the burden on sewers, minimizes the risk of downstream flooding, and prevents the high percentage of pollution caused by untreated runoff entering rivers and lakes.
Air Quality and Heat Mitigation
Urban areas with large amounts of pavement experience the “urban heat island effect,” where temperatures rise due to absorbed and reflected heat. Higher temperatures also worsen air quality by increasing smog levels, posing risks to human health. It’s no secret that vegetation naturally converts CO2 into oxygen, which has a direct impact on improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gases. Drawing on these inherent characteristics, green infrastructure features help counter the urban heat island effect by reducing the amount of reflected heat by shading surfaces, filtering pollutants, and cooling the air through evapotranspiration.
Improved Natural Habitat
Even small green features can have a large impact on natural habitat. Projects that restore streams, reconnect wetlands, or replace outdated culverts not only manage stormwater more effectively but also improve fish passage (along with that of other aquatic organisms) and natural habitat for a variety of species. At the same time small additions of vegetation and tree cover provide homes for birds, insects, and small mammals. Together, these systems contribute to biodiversity and improve the resilience of communities.
Resource and Energy Savings
Green infrastructure also saves resources and lowers energy costs. For instance, green roofs insulate buildings, reducing heating and cooling expenses by up to 12%, while also lasting twice as long (20 versus 40 years on average) as conventional roofs. Permeable pavements help water reach soil and infiltrate. Altogether, these systems reduce embodied carbon footprints, extend infrastructure lifespans, and minimize long-term maintenance burdens.
Green Infrastructure Examples
Green infrastructure takes many forms that are tailored to the site and community needs. Below are some common examples of nature-based solutions in action:
Rain gardens are shallow depressions planted with vegetation designed to capture runoff from nearby impervious surfaces. They filter pollutants, recharge groundwater, and provide habitat for wildlife such as birds and pollinators.
In an urban environment, rooftops are one of the most prevalent impervious surfaces. A green roof transforms that surface of a building into a living landscape. By covering rooftops with soil and vegetation, green roofs capture rainfall, reduce heat, and extend roof lifespans. They also insulate buildings, lowering energy demands.
Unlike traditional asphalt or concrete, porous pavement allows stormwater to seep through the surface into the soil below. This reduces runoff volumes, lessens strain on stormwater systems, and reduces quantities of pollutants that reach the stormwater system.
Many historical wetlands and floodplains have been cut off by development over time. Restoring these natural features allows them to serve their natural purpose during heavy rains, pooling and filtering water while slowly releasing it back into the water table.
Bioswales (or biofiltration swales) are shallow, vegetated channels that collect runoff along roadways or developments. When planted with native plants, swales not only filter stormwater but also enhance the character of streetscapes and support biodiversity.
A Complete Approach to Green Infrastructure
As communities continue to grow and climate conditions become more unpredictable, stormwater management is an increasingly critical challenge. Green stormwater infrastructure offers a proven, cost-effective way to address flooding, improve water quality, and create healthier, more resilient communities. Implementation of this approach is a multidisciplinary process that draws on the expertise of planning, landscape architecture, water resources engineering, and environmental sciences to maximize its value.
By harnessing natural processes, these systems move beyond the limitations of gray infrastructure, blending engineering with ecology to deliver wide-ranging benefits. From improved air quality and habitat creation to reduced energy costs and enhanced property values, GSI demonstrates how infrastructure can serve people, nature, and the economy at once.
A gathering of community members and leaders celebrated the opening of a fully inclusive public space with the grand opening of Elizabeth Austin Playground. In addition to giving kids a first opportunity to experience the playground, the free event featured a ribbon cutting with the City of Vancouver Mayor, followed by a variety of games and giveaways before concluding with an outdoor movie screening.
“When communities, foundations, and local governments unite with a shared vision, we can create more than playgrounds, we can build spaces where every child, regardless of age or ability, can experience the joy of play together.”
– David Sacamano, Business Unit Leader of Planning & Landscape Architecture
The occasion also allowed those in attendance to recognize the contributions of the playground’s namesake, Elizabeth Austin, who was a revered leader, mother, and advocate for inclusive spaces in the community. With the opening of the playground, the city’s diverse set of public play areas now boasts three inclusive playgrounds.
About Elizabeth Austin Playground
Following master planning for improvement for the broader Fruit Valley Park, Elizabeth Austin Playground drew on extensive public outreach to establish a final design with fully accessible features. These plans were made possible by a $1 Million donation by the Kuni Foundation. Altogether, the playground features follow a design theme of “Play Like a Bird.” Accessibility accommodations in the design go beyond what’s typically found at public playgrounds. Among the features are fully accessible rubber surfacing, inclusive play equipment, a water play area, and bird sculptures. In support of children with specific developmental and neurodiverse needs, it is also the city’s first fully-fenced playground to maximize user safety. New bike racks, benches, and picnic tables further enhance the park for the entire community while placing an emphasis on the area’s natural setting.
The ribbon cutting ceremony at Elizabeth Austin Playground.
Elizabeth Austin Playground during its grand opening.
Graphic showing the playground concept and features that make up the design theme for Elizabeth Austin Playground.
Positioning a community for long-term success is a planning effort that requires vision into the past, present, and future. Development around community goals often takes shape in the comprehensive planning process, but today this ever-evolving discipline faces increasingly complex challenges.
From the air to water and soil, the impacts of climate change are putting environmental factors at the forefront of long-range planning with the overarching need to create community resilience. As science and extreme weather events continue to paint a clearer picture of the specific hazards facing communities across different geographies, accounting for these variables becomes an increasingly essential element of the comprehensive planning process. In fact, for many planners today it’s not only essential, but mandatory. A growing number of states now have legislation in place – as well as significant sources of funding – that requires the inclusion of measures to address climate change in long-range plans.
In this piece, we’ll discuss how the comprehensive planning process is evolving to emphasize interconnected systems of resilience. From climate co-benefits centered on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to improving socio-economic standing of residents, these emerging efforts are becoming a vital component to the future well-being of our communities.
Read on, or skip ahead:
Contents
Contents
Contents
Contents
View more
What is Comprehensive Planning?
Comprehensive planning is the process of creating documentation that guides decision-making around a variety of topics (i.e. land use, transportation, parks, housing, environment, employment etc.) for the direction of communities years into the future.
Communities often sharpen the focus of their overall vision through subarea plans aimed at covering specific parts of a city. These mini-comprehensive plans focus on the unique goals of a particular district, neighborhood, corridor, or other more targeted area of the broader community.
The Comprehensive Planning Co-Benefits Landscape
While impacts vary from one region to another, the fact of the matter is, no community is unaffected by climate. From flooding in coastal areas to extreme weather events on the mainland, growing trends with the environment have confirmed the importance of limiting human contribution to those changes while also making communities more resilient against their effects. It’s through this lens of resilience planning that co-benefits between different interconnected systems are found to maximize social, economic, and environmental factors collectively.
Resilience Planning Terminology
Types of Community Assets
Reference: Washington Department of Commerce
At the heart of resilience planning is the recognition of community assets – both tangible and intangible – and how they relate to potential hazards. The co-benefits of this process often are found in goals such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or restoring watersheds, all to benefit the common needs of humans and habitats alike.
Environmental Systems of Resilience
At this point, any approach toward sustainability and resilience in development relies on an understanding of the connection between systems in the built environment and natural environment. Efforts to mitigate impact or restore natural systems are planned to include co-benefits to communities, including through green stormwater infrastructure.
Implementation projects that result from the comprehensive planning process can go a long way toward ensuring better preserved natural systems lead to more resilient communities.
Mitigating Impacts to Water, Air, and Soil
Many of the most vital elements found in nature are equally vital to our communities. From direct impacts like mitigating floods and wildfires to passive ones such as water and air quality, the co-benefits of resilience connect our communities to their broader ecosystems to reduce risk and enhance public health.
In many areas of the United States, one of the most pressing hazards is wildfire. Considering physical loss to impacts on insurability and other economic effects, their toll on a community can be swift, widespread, and long lasting. What’s more is these events can cause a domino effect of natural disasters.
The scorched land and destroyed vegetation left behind by a wildfire will often lead to erosion of soil and increased runoff from stormwater. Excess water and sediment can have extreme impacts on water quality, transportation infrastructure (culverts, bridges etc.), and other community assets for years after a fire has been put out.
While strides have been made in fighting wildfires, the best approach remains in resilience planning designed to limit their impact before they start in the first place. Methods like identifying watersheds that are at risk and encouraging their preservation and restoration puts communities in a better position to avoid the variety of ways wildfire leads to loss.
Flooding and Sedimentation
Similar to the relationship between wildfires and watersheds, the role of healthy vegetation can play a large role in a community’s water quality and flooding. As a stormwater measure, native planting can have the added utility of accounting for added impervious surfaces, providing natural bioretention.
By limiting erosion through healthy root systems, native plantings are an essential element of any shoreline. In other types of environments, preserving soil also reduces the potential for debris flow or rock/mud slides that can cause a high amount of damage to property and loss of life.
Healthy habitats that include native plantings are also commonly used in planning efforts for parks and community spaces. Native plants are healthy food sources for local wildlife and because they’re adapted to the surrounding climate, they often require less water and maintenance, conserving an area’s resources efficiently. They also add to the culture, education, and development of public spaces by encouraging a community to learn about and embrace the natural heritage of their region
Housing, Transportation, and Energy Systems of Resilience
Just as environmental factors impact community infrastructure, the reverse is also true. It’s no secret that transportation contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and that development can negatively impact ecosystems. It’s also important to recognize that disparities in impacted communities exist and planning around environmental justice is an opportunity to increase social justice.
When looking at issues individually, it can be difficult to find satisfying solutions, but when problems are viewed wholistically through the lens of resilience, the ability to influence positive outcomes becomes clearer.
Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions Reduction
A primary factor in resilience planning is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The focus on reducing vehicle miles driven and setting reduction targets is central to much of the regulation in Oregon and Washington state.
Planning that emphasizes transit-oriented development and active transportation not only works to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also can lead to more vibrant, healthier communities. A comprehensive plan can also include a look at industrial processes or emissions that come from city operations in order to lower an area’s carbon footprint.
Housing Density and Affordability
Across the country, many urban areas face challenges associated with affordable housing. With obvious economic implications, the ability to increase not only the supply but the density of housing is an effort to improve community resilience as well as upward mobility.
Within the comprehensive planning process, updates that allow for higher density housing or more flexible housing types can be made to the city code. Middle housing, or the in-between housing of detached single family and large multifamily complexes, is one avenue for flexible housing that maintains the character of a neighborhood. Ultimately, the goal for planners is to give people affordable housing options for the different stages of life that exist in any given community for the benefit of all.
Continuity in Operations and Utilities
In many areas of the country, communities are now familiar with “flex events” or “rolling blackouts” aimed at reducing energy consumption when there is high demand being met by strained energy infrastructure. As shifts in climate produce more frequent extreme temperatures–both hot and cold–planning efforts should consider how to make this process more efficient for communities while also considering improvements to energy grids that are more adaptable to these changing conditions.
Creating Stronger Communities through the Comprehensive Planning Process
In the context of comprehensive planning, resilience planning adds an additional layer of foresight focused on the interconnected systems of community, climate, and the natural environment. To truly prepare communities for a wide range of possible outcomes, resilience planning requires planners and stakeholders to not only consider current conditions and future growth, but also to anticipate and plan for a range of possible scenarios exacerbated by climate change and environmental degradation.
To encourage – and in some cases, mandate – this proactive approach, states such as Washington, Colorado, and Oregon have incorporated new planning requirements for local governments to address climate through comprehensive plans. At the same time, it has also opened the door to related grant funding and technical assistance for community leaders to implement impactful initiatives by injecting resilience into each step of the comprehensive planning process.
Understanding Risks and Opportunities Through Meaningful Community Engagement
Community engagement and collaboration is an essential component of any planning process and takes on added importance when preparing for climate change and impacts to vulnerable communities. The process should bring in all voices of a community, particularly underserved ones and those that are most vulnerable to shocks and stressors. By involving a variety of groups, including tribal consultation, a more complete view of relevant factors is brought to the table while building consensus around goals.
An existing conditions analysis, including collecting data, understanding a wide range of community experiences, and identifying resources and assets available to mitigate impacts is a vital part of engaging the community toward a meaningful direction. A variety of engagement opportunities, from a booth at a popular event to interactive virtual open houses can provide a forum for gathering this information and beginning the public engagement process.
As planners work with elected officials and planning commissions to begin applying direction to specific projects and policy, findings from community engagement continue to help confirm and refine goals. Communication of community priorities gathered through public engagement is vital to creating this roadmap for future success.
An outdoor community engagement event in Vancouver, WA.
Plans for Austin Park Playground displayed for the community.
A planning session with community stakeholders in Vancouver, WA.
Meeting with community leadership in developing plans in Vancouver, WA.
Assessing Current Conditions, Hazards, and Community Assets
Mapping existing conditions (zoning, environmental conditions, population, traffic, property market, job market etc.) and community assets can reveal connections between individual factors, as well as larger systems in the area.
Examining these assets includes not only physical infrastructure but also social capital, cultural resources, and natural ecosystems. This includes identifying hazards (also known as shocks and stressors), such as hurricanes or wildfires, as well as chronic stressors like sea-level rise or economic inequality.
Shocks: Generally short-duration, rapid-onset or acute events that cause a disruption to normal life. (i.e. hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, flood etc.)
Stressors: Chronic, slow-onset or longer-term conditions that weaken a community over time and can impact community functions and well-being. (i.e. affordable housing, loss of habitat, air quality etc.)
“Futures” as a Plural in Outlining Desired Conditions
The comprehensive planning process often answers, “where do you want to be in 20 years, and how do you get there?” To develop strategies to adapt and thrive in the face of uncertainty involves envisioning future scenarios and understanding potential outcomes in more vivid detail than might be illustrated by a simple trendline or series of “high, medium, and low” projections.
Because future conditions are largely based on assumptions with certain metrics, there are a couple different ways to approach scenario development. Often, planning process participants are asked to choose between a variety of predetermined options for projects. An alternative to this approach involves preparing for several different pathways for development in order to respond to how future conditions evolve in reality, rather than a single expected outcome. This adaptable approach is especially important for resilience planning when considering factors such as how water levels might rise or where certain economic indicators will trend.
Whether it’s through innovative land use planning, investment in green infrastructure, or promoting sustainable transportation options, creating a roadmap for a more resilient future requires consideration of a range of interconnected community systems. Through the planning process, these systems and are aligned with a breadth of possible outcomes to design flexible, adaptive policies that are resilient to changing conditions.
Environmental Systems: Preserving ecosystems and natural resources to benefit community health.
Community and Social Systems: Supporting strong group structures and equitable government and social services.
Infrastructure Systems: Planning the built environment alongside natural systems to improve community functions.
Economic Systems: Improving access to opportunity and financial security.
Housing Systems: Developing access to shelter and strong surrounding community.
Developing Policy and Mapping Outcomes
Eventually, turning a planning vision into reality requires action. Implementing a comprehensive plan and co-benefits involves a mix of policy changes, infrastructure investments, and continued community engagement efforts.
At this stage, plans need to be double checked against state mandates, such as Washington’s Growth Management Act, while also translating overarching regulation to local jurisdictions. Those outcomes can then be adopted in the form of law by city councils or county commissions and funding options that will turn those plans into a reality can be explored.
Example State Legislation
Growth Management Act (Washington)
The resilience sub-element must include goals and polices to improve climate preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. This is mandatory for all counties and cities fully planning under the GMA and encouraged for others. As part of this, the greenhouse gas emissions sub-element requires goals and policies to reduce emissions and vehicle miles traveled.
Climate-Friendly and Equitable Communities (Oregon)
Intended to incentivize the adoption of transformational practices, programs, and policies that support sustainable development patterns and affordable housing into the future. This program will help communities align policies and regulations to focus on resilience around primarily housing and transportation.
Fortunately, there is growing support and funding available for resilience projects, with grants and other resources becoming increasingly accessible to communities committed to building a more resilient future. By aligning with state mandates and leveraging available resources, communities can turn their resilience plans into actionable projects that make a tangible difference in people’s lives.
Putting it All Together: A Multidisciplinary Planning Approach
In an era of unprecedented challenges, resilience planning offers a path forward for communities seeking to build a more sustainable, equitable, and adaptive future. Collaborative by nature, this effort benefits from the expertise of a number of practices focused on building improved communities.
By integrating resilience principles into the comprehensive planning process, communities can better prepare for and respond to the complex threats of the 21st century, ensuring a safer, more prosperous future for generations to come.
In a presentation at the 2025 Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Conference, Mandi Roberts, Director of Planning and Landscape Architecture of Otak and an instructor at the University of Idaho presented the “Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial”—a project designed and built by students at the University of Idaho College of Art and Architecture for the campus in Moscow. The submission was co-authored with Dr. Raffaella Sini, Ph.D and Roberto Capecci from the Landscape Architecture Department in the College.
Propelled by the tragic deaths of four UI students in fall of 2022, and with the intent of creating an immersive space on campus that honors all students lost over time, the Vandal Healing Garden and Memorial was completed in spring 2024 thanks to donor support.
In developing design solutions during the spring and fall of 2023, students and faculty conducted listening sessions with family members and friends of victims and facilitated a broader campus-wide/community-wide design charrette to maximize participatory practices with the idea that it would best serve the healing process. Through collaborative studio work, the students evaluated case studies, conducted research and completed site analyses, conceptual design alternatives, and interactive artwork among a variety of other project considerations. The collaboration included vertical landscape architecture studios and the Idaho Design Build Studio, led by Scott Lawrence, Associate Professor of Architecture at the College.
Traditionally, memorials tend to punctuate the landscape and range from statuary to spatially complex sculptural works, installations, or memorial ephemera. The Healing Garden and Memorial for University of Idaho puts forward the idea of creating memorials as immersive, healing spaces, and exploring the design process as a participatory healing process.
“Creating design solutions for this project included study of the evolving cultural and social practices of mourning, memory, and public feeling, and served as a testimony to how grief is mediated in contemporary commemorative cultures.”
– Dr. Raffaella Sini, Ph.D, Department Head for the Landscape Architecture Program, College of Art and Architecture, University of Idaho
“The design process itself became a healing process—collective healing facilitated through inclusive, community-driven methods. We were able to learn about what healing and memorializing means, find ways to honor and remember those we have lost, and collaborate to create a beautiful and graceful place for reflection and healing on campus.”
– Mandi Roberts, Director of Planning & Landscape Architecture at Otak, Inc. and Landscape Architecture Instructor at the University of Idaho
What is the CELA Annual Conference?
With representation from more than 100 institutions, CELA consists of individuals who have an interest in the preparation of landscape architects for global practice. Their stated purpose is “to further education in landscape architecture specifically related to teaching.”
This year’s conference, titled ‘Processes + Impacts’, focused specifically on critically examining the positive and negative impacts of landscape architecture work on people and environments.
A cornerstone of any growing community is its connectivity. Roadway engineering provides more than just conduits for cars; it forms the framework for mobility in a community that leverages a variety of modes of transportation.
A well-designed transportation network featuring different types of roadways can have widespread impact on economic development and individual wellness. This includes improvements that ensure all areas—especially underserved populations—have access to jobs, essential services, and amenities as well as healthier lifestyles through reductions in emissions and the promotion of active transportation. In this blog we discuss how roadway designs exist at the intersection of planning and transportation engineering to support the growth of healthier, more sustainable communities.
Read on, or skip ahead:
Contents
Contents
Contents
Contents
View more
What is Roadway Engineering and Its Importance?
Roadway engineering is the planning, design, and construction of transportation infrastructure that enhances existing roadways or establishes new connections within a community. The practice integrates technical expertise, urban planning, and environmental considerations to develop safe, efficient, and accessible transportation systems that serve both current and future needs.
The design process starts with an assessment of existing conditions, including topographic mapping, survey and GIS, to understand site constraints. From there, engineers develop roadway layouts that meet design and safety standards. The final design incorporates permitting requirements, cost considerations, and agency coordination to ensure a smooth transition from planning through construction. The end result is a completed roadway that enhances connection across a community.
Stormwater Infrastructure and Low Impact Development
An extremely common aspect of roadway engineering involves the inclusion of stormwater infrastructure considerations. While accounting for increased impervious surfaces and polluted runoff, stormwater features reduce flooding and improve water quality for a community.
With new development comes the potential for negative environmental impact, but proper analysis of natural resources can mitigate adverse effects. Existing culverts are notoriously inefficient and are also among the most common barriers to fish passage. Today, culverts are being replaced to protect aquatic habitat, reduce flooding, and preserve water rights for property owners.
An important piece of roadway engineering is consideration of how it facilitates more than just cars. Multimodal design gives communities options for how they get from point A to point B, all while reducing carbon emissions and promoting physical health through active transportation. Emphasizing pedestrian mobility features like pedestrian bridges, protected bike lanes, cross walks, and traffic stripping reduces traffic conflicts for all.
Safety is the top priority of any roadway project. With updated traffic signals and signage, drivers are more aware, creating a safer environment for themselves and pedestrians. As the design of a roadway considers number of lanes and width, control of speed can also be effectively managed.
A healthy transportation network is a diverse transportation network. As roadway projects increase in size, so do opportunities to incorporate multimodal features. This can include accommodating mass transit with new stations, specialized lanes, or connection to adjacent trail systems. All ultimately contribute to traffic calming, creating a more connected community.
From small neighborhood streets to large arterials, each roadway type must be designed with the specific needs of the community in mind. A critical aspect of any design is engaging with the public to ensure buy-in and minimize disruption. The larger the initiative, the more essential public outreach becomes, and each project presents its own unique impacts to the connectivity of the communities it serves.
Types of Roadways and Their Impact on Communities
Different types of roadways serve unique, though connected, purposes in a transportation network. Their design often begins with comprehensive planning efforts which help identify the transportation needs of a community. Potential projects can then be developed with the focus of serving both community and client goals.
Neighborhood Streets
Neighborhood streets are designed with a primary focus on safety and accessibility, often placing an emphasis on pedestrians, cyclists, and access to public transit. The more limited scope of neighborhood street projects makes cost-effective construction strategies vital to fit within local budgets.
With this localized focus on enhancing connectivity and accessibility, neighborhood streets also typically include ADA-compliant sidewalks and crosswalks while speed bumps or curb extensions are among traffic calming measures. This roadway type requires extra attention to minimizing impact on adjacent properties while maximizing the benefits to those who call the neighborhood home, including the public assets that often exist in the area.
Tualatin, OR Adds Safe Routes to School
Among some of the most important improvements that can be made to neighborhood streets are those that create a safer environment for children that play and travel in the area. For many parents at Tualatin Elementary, it was clear that updates to the neighborhood streets could make a real difference for the kids walking and biking to and from school.
As part of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs, which provides grants for these types of improvements, work on 95th and Avery made a variety of upgrades to enhance pedestrian safety, particularly for the kids of Tualatin Elementary.
Multiple intersections were improved with high visibility striping in crosswalks, rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFB), and other features to create safer pedestrian crossings and reduce conflicts with vehicles. Deficient sidewalks and gaps were replaced to further enhance the pedestrian experience.
Mid-Size Collectors and Corridors
Mid-size collectors and corridors serve as vital connections between neighborhoods and larger roadways. This roadway type supports moderate traffic volumes and often incorporates improvements that enhance transportation operations and facilitate flow between developing areas.
Corridors generally aim to improve access to commercial areas, parks, and transit hubs in response to increasing traffic demand. As part of planning efforts, these improvements are sometimes made in anticipation of future development. The larger scope often involves coordination with utility companies and various agencies, as they can have a substantial impact on not only the community but the surrounding environment.
Silverdale, WA Sees Reduced Congestion and an Enhanced Waterfront
The community of Silverdale had long looked to improve on poor waterfront access. Where the Clear Creek Estuary crosses under Bucklin Hill Road and meets Dyes Inlet, high traffic was common which was especially problematic considering its semi-rural setting. Altogether, the area represented a missed opportunity to create an appealing place for recreation, community connections, and growth for local businesses.
Improvements to Bucklin Hill Road and Bridge changed that. Two additional travel lanes eliminated congestion while new bike lanes and facilities were added where there had been none. Widened sidewalks and new trail connections added to new active transportation opportunities for the community. Extensive public outreach, including the “Scout Your Route” campaign to keep the public informed of closures, minimized disruption while reducing construction duration. These improvements had a direct, broad impact on all community members, including residents at senior living facilities in the area that now benefit from greater accessibility to their local businesses.
Large Arterials and Highways
Large arterials and highways are critical for regional mobility, commerce, and overarching economic development. Linking rural and urban areas, these roadways provide communities of all sizes access to important resources like employment and healthcare in metropolitan centers, while supporting the social and cultural networks between different areas. The scale of large highway upgrades can lead to wider improvements to transit-oriented development that diversify modes of transportation and maximize project value.
These roadways often present unique engineering challenges and draw from multiple funding sources, requiring close coordination with agencies to ensure regulatory compliance. As long-term, high-visibility projects, managing timelines and minimizing construction impacts is essential to minimizing disruptions that, at this scale, can be especially costly. This includes effectively communicating project updates with the surrounding community through informational websites, local representatives, and other channels to provide clarity and achieve buy-in.
Salem, OR Supports Rapid Growth and Underserved Areas
In a historically underserved area of Salem, Oregon, where 36% of parcels are underutilized, the McGilchrist Complete Street Project is designed to enhance business development, job creation, and multimodal transportation options for members of the community. It’s part of a 20-year vision for economic growth as well as transportation safety and environmental sustainability.
Considering the large and lasting impact of this work on the community, it was imperative to include them. Extensive stakeholder engagement went above and beyond, working directly with property owners, businesses, and local agencies to ensure the project addressed real community needs. These efforts led to the incorporation of refinements such as the protected cycle track and intersection realignments.
Based on feedback from public outreach, 74% of the corridor features protected bike lanes and new sidewalks. The design aims to significantly improve pedestrian accessibility while minimizing pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, resulting in fewer severe crashes and lives lost. The inclusion of $15 million of stormwater infrastructure upgrades also means this work plays a critical role in not only reducing future flooding for the community but improving habitat for fish.
Making the Complete Connection
Roadways are essential to creating vibrant, connected, and equitable communities. Because of their widespread impact, roadway projects of any size involve a diverse set of considerations to ensure that impact is comprehensive and long lasting. Through thoughtful planning, collaboration, and public engagement, Otak’s multidisciplinary teams take a cohesive approach to designing more connected communities that address current and future needs.
A corridor study led to the complete streets design along a key arterial with high crash trends, adding greater safety and connectivity to the communities around Boulder, Colorado. The improvements to 30th Street focused on enhancing bicycle infrastructure as well as access to mass transit and low-impact design stormwater facilities. After completing the Colorado Corridors Study, Otak also led the design to improve this corridor that represents a critical route for both University of Colorado boulder and broader community.
A Corridor Study and Design for Safe, Complete Connectivity
A combination of raised and separated bike lanes, along with widened sidewalks provided the basis for multimodal improvements along 30th Street as part of the city’s ‘Vision Zero’ goals to eliminate pedestrian collisions. The design replaced previous on-street bike lanes that were five feet wide or less and addressed intersections that were found to be among the top collision locations in the city by the corridor study. These new bicycle facilities created seamless connection to the Boulder Creek Multi-Use Path, enhanced transit stops, as well as the 30th and Colorado Underpass. Also included as part of the complete streets design approach were improved driveway and ditch crossings, utility upgrades, low-impact stormwater facilities, and low-maintenance landscaping with a modified irrigation pipe system. A significant urban street tree canopy and resilient landscape areas further enhanced safety by creating a buffer between the bikeway and traffic lane while also serving as water quality elements for stormwater. The design effort resulted in the delivery of final construction documents in accordance with the City of Boulder and CDOT standards, along with obligations related to CDOT Federal and State-funded Local Agency project requirements. Significant public outreach and coordination with the University of Colorado was part of the original corridor study that ultimately provided guidance across these multimodal enhancements.
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experience, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Graphic showing the playground concept and features that make up the design theme for Elizabeth Austin Playground.
