Enhanced treatment of highly-polluted highway stormwater runoff is accomplished across 19 acres with the unique design of this water treatment facility. In developing the city of Redmond’s Basin Surface Water Master Plan, the facility addresses water quality for what flows into its stormwater trunk extension using a custom pump and distribution system.
A Unique Water Treatment Facility Utilizing Bioretention for Highly-Polluted Stormwater Runoff
Located alongside the busy highway, SR 520, a unique pump system diverts stormwater runoff through a custom soil mix and vegetated facility designed for biofiltration before eventually reaching the outfall at Lake Sammamish. The resulting bioretention maintains treatment function over time as a custom steel distribution system spreads flow evenly to optimize the footprint across the facility and prevent scouring. Data collected to inform the Basin Surface Water Master Plan was used to identify the optimal location for capturing polluted runoff while continued monitoring refines the runoff model and better defines pollutants. An integrated approach including landscape architecture focused on urban design led to a facility that resembles a leaf. Otak also supported the city in obtaining an ecology grant for the stormwater retrofit by building a report that demonstrates how the facility would function and how the water quality benefits would benefit the community.
To increase safety in the area around Tualatin Elementary School, improvements were designed to reduce barriers for students walking and biking to school. In developing the final design, Otak incorporated feedback from an extensive public involvement process that identified infrastructure needs in the area.
Adding Safe School Routes with Multimodal Transportation
With a focus on safety, this portion of the Tualatin Moving Forward bond program adds multimodal options for students and other members of the community. The final design includes various project elements from road widening and a new sidewalk to a rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB) pedestrian crossing, ADA ramp improvements, and traffic calming devices. Traffic congestion during pick-up and drop-off times was improved by adding a dedicated left turn lane by modifying an existing traffic signal and re-striping of existing lanes. The road adjacent to Tualatin Elementary was re-striped to narrower lanes, helping to slow traffic speeds and allowing the project to add a bike lane as well as on-street parking. A new stormwater planter treats runoff created by new impervious surfaces.
With the primary focus of enhancing the roadway while making it more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, improvements along Boones Ferry Corridor were also designed to account for identified ADA deficiencies. As part of the Tualatin Moving Forward bond program, Otak served as the lead design engineer for improvements to this 2-mile corridor in Western Oregon.
A Practical ADA-Focused Design for Pedestrian and Bicycle-Friendly Corridor Improvements
While avoiding a full construction of Boones Ferry Road, the project provides practical, cost effective solutions to address bike and pedestrian deficiencies found scattered throughout the corridor. Initial analysis found gaps in bike lanes, deteriorated asphalt paths, and non-compliant curb ramps along the corridor that stretches south from Tualatin Sherwood Road to Norwood Road. Along with road widening to provide continuous bike lanes and sidewalk improvements, the multi-phase project also makes improvements to greenway paths, pavement, stormwater conveyance, traffic signals, signing, striping, and landscape. The final design of the project also retrofits curb ramp to bring existing facilities up to current ADA standards. In total, ramps are replaced at 33 corners, including four signalized intersections with pedestrian push button improvements. To further enhance pedestrian safety, the design adds two pedestrian activated rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFBs) as well as pedestrian lighting along a greenway path adjacent to Boones Ferry Road. The design of the project overcame challenges including steep slopes for ramps, right-of-way constraints, and numerous utility conflicts.
Influencing physical and economic development across all its geographic areas, the Mill Creek Comprehensive Plan provides a proactive strategy to carefully guide growth and change in a community addressing future challenges and opportunities. In leading the comprehensive planning process, Otak facilitated a citywide visioning poll to inform future planning decisions focused on enhancing quality of life, economic vitality, and a safe and clean environment for Mill Creek’s growing community.
A Strong Vision and Proactive Plan for Growth, Informed by Community Engagement
The comprehensive plan is centered around a vision to make the City of Mill Creek a highly desirable place to live and work. It highlights distinctive neighborhoods, including a dynamic Town Center and South Town Center subarea, as well as scenic surroundings accentuated by parks, greenbelts, and natural areas. The Plan’s goals and policies will chart a course for change across eight different plan elements. Among a variety of initiatives within those elements are encouraging mixed-use neighborhoods near commercial areas in land development, adding a wide variety of residences for all income levels as part of housing, accelerating the recovery of salmon as part of environmental considerations, and enhancing multimodal accessibility to public spaces within parks and recreation. The Plan continues to support better access to Community Transit’s Swift Bus Rapid Transit lines and an extensive trail system (including the North Creek Trail) as part of its transportation element. Altogether, these goals and policies reflect the most important values of the community for shaping Mill Creek’s future.
A master planning process with the City of Snohomish led to the creation of a community park at Averill Field. After engaging the community and leading the master planning process, Otak moved the project directly into 30 percent schematic design and slowly broke the project into phases to meet available funding.
Engaging the Public for a Community Park Master Plan
Situated next to Centennial Trail as well as the local Boys and Girls Club, the design of Averill Field was guided by feedback from the community. It’s named after Snohomish native and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Earl Averill. Three virtual town hall meetings with presentation graphics were conducted to gather community input on amenities, materials, theme, and overall layout of the park master plan. A fly-through video of the preferred alternative was created to get final comments and buy in from the city and community members. Phase 1 included design of circulation paths, underlying drainage field, timber signage, lighting, plantings, and dedication plaques all in association with a new play structure. Small improvements to the accessible parking were included as well as a raised speed table in the parking lot to create a safe, direct pedestrian connection to the Centennial Trail. The first phase also featured two additives for potential inclusion in the form of two pickle ball courts and a basketball half-court.
When it comes to transportation engineering, Otak believes in the power of multimodal transportation as an essential design lens. In our view, roads are not only for cars – pedestrian overpasses, bike lanes, and the surrounding landscape all serve to make transportation infrastructure more robust, inclusive, and perhaps most importantly, sustainable for all to use no matter how you’re getting from point A to point B.
Attending events in this space enables us to use this philosophy as a differentiator, where we can not only share our values and approach, but we can also build relationships with the communities we work in. The result is transportation projects using a more involved and community-driven design method that serves the needs of the neighborhood.
It’s this emphasis on community-driven design that makes conferences like the NACTO 2023 Conference in Denver, Designing Cities, so important to us.
We’re happy to report our own Kevin Dooley and Ann Nguyen served as key speakers at the NACTO 2023 conference, working to showcase projects in the region that are helping transform how cities can, or ought to be designed.
What Is NACTO?
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Designing Cities conference is in its 11th year, bringing together over 1,000 officials, planners, and practitioners to advance the state of urban transportation. By bringing city officials, planners, and transportation professionals together, real conversations can be had about how to improve everyone’s access to quality transportation infrastructure – especially while improving a city’s bike network.
This conference is an especially good way to get an idea of what issues or challenges officials from cities around the country are facing in their multi-modal design processes, as well as identify new trends in the industry like sidetracks or protected intersections.
Denver 2023: A Site to Showcase Progressive Transportation Networks
NACTO Route: Boulder’s Core Arterial Network
Right in the backyard of our Colorado locations, this is the first time NACTO has been held in Denver. The city was chosen strategically as a place to showcase some of the most progressive and quick bike network expansions in the country since becoming a major point of emphasis for local government, a trend also catching on in surrounding cities like Boulder or Fort Collins.
What’s key about this for us is that a unique focus is given to the socio-economic factors impacting transportation access, or lack thereof, in a given community. Working sessions were done with historical context in mind, meaning factors like the evolution of transportation and how it impacts different demographics of people are at the forefront of conversation.
Otak leaders also gave presentations directly surrounding this topic, so we’re about to take a deep dive on what they talked about and the ideas they shared.
Prioritizing Safety and Mobility on Major Streets: A Look at Boulder’s Core Arterial Network
These working sessions at NACTO Denver, dubbed “WalkShops,” centered on literal walk-throughs of project sites throughout the city. At each location discussions were had on techniques that were used and what benefits they had to the community.
First, we’ll get into what Kevin Dooley, a Transportation Project Manager, presented on. As part of Boulder’s Core Arterial Network (CAN), more than 30 transportation planners and officials from all over the country rode through our 30th and CO Underpass project – where Kevin was on-hand to provide insight to NACTO attendees.
Improving One of the Most Dangerous Intersections in Boulder
An essential transportation route for both the general community and University of Colorado Boulder students was in dire need of an upgrade – not just aesthetically but functionally. The intersection of 30th and Colorado represented one of the most dangerous in the city. Coordination with our teaming partners based on public feedback and outreach was critical to the design process, all in an effort to make the intersection safer for all who use it, no matter the mode of transportation.
One of the unique solutions for delivering the project was raising the intersection by about five feet to provide a pedestrian underpass. This allows for shorter underpass approach lengths while meeting ADA compliance. The project also includes more 0.5 lanes miles of raised bike lanes, or “cycle track”, and incorporates the City of Boulder first fully “protected intersection” for street cyclists.
Apart from impact on right of way for users among other benefits, the design was meant to showcase that one is not always limited by space in evaluating a site. If you’re able to think outside the box, creativity ultimately pays off when designing a functional pedestrian underpass.
A second design feature also delivered two separate underpasses – the decision was one that took a data and community driven approach to complete. Early findings when researching the site showed the southwest and northeast, plus southern and eastern leg movements were more congested than the other elements of the existing intersection. Modeling also showed that one diagonal underpass would allow for only around 390 users per day, far below the utilization the project needed.
The two-underpass approach captured 61% of all bike and pedestrian crossings at the intersection, with 38% of those users traveling both legs of the intersection. During planning, over 1,000 bikes or pedestrians per day were expected to use at least one of the two underpasses, and 38% of those will use both. Using data and utilization as a guiding light made this project an especially great one to showcase at NACTO this year.
Improving Denver’s Urban Core: A Community-Led Effort Around Transportation, Art, and Culture
Ann Nguyen, an Otak landscape architect and planner, took the lead in her Walkshop around the developing core of Denver’s urban center. Besides being an expert on our team, she’s also involved in the La Alma Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association and serves as an advisory board member for the Art District on Santa Fe, meaning her passion for Denver and its design are always top of mind.
Her Walkshop involved a compilation of projects in the La Alma and Lincoln Park neighborhoods in West Denver. Improvements to neighborhood safety and main street connections in the core of the city also focused on preserving cultural elements of the urban fabric.
Transportation Design and Planning Behind a Cultural and Art District
The projects Ann walked through focus on ‘cultural’ and ‘art’ district designations and their importance to making cities places where people love living.
As a major stakeholder on the Santa Fe Streetscape project, Ann showcased a transportation-focused way of improving safety along a main street that was recently shrunk from four lanes of traffic to three lanes to create a more pedestrian-centered environment. The project represents progress on a long-standing vision for the neighborhood, including the Art District and Business Improvement District situated along this corridor.
Next, she walked viewers through the 5280 Trail project, which is a loop in the urban core of Denver that connects its neighborhoods to each other. Ann led the third phase of that project through community-led design and activating areas along the proposed trail. Ann worked closely with the Art District on Santa Fe, Neighborhood Association, Denver Housing Authority, local artists, nonprofits and youth to install two murals between Denver’s first Art District and its second cultural district.
Finally, Ann walked through her work on the Santa Fe Design Overlay, a rezoning project she’s been working on independently for years. With the goal of developing a true main street, those rezoning plans were passed. This cleared the way for a design overlay on Santa Fe Drive that supports future development that’s integrated with the existing community, ensuring that it complements the existing built environment and character of place.
To maintain and enhance quality of life in the City of Shoreline, updates to its comprehensive planning set a vision that helps define two decades of direction for the community. In close coordination with City staff and the broader community, Otak developed the plan to create a cohesive and interconnected approach emphasizing middle housing opportunities and expanding housing choices, achieving climate resiliency and environmental sustainability, and supporting equity in future development.
Emphasizing Middle Housing, Climate, and Equity in Future Development
Central to the Shoreline Comprehensive Plan is a vision for the community as a welcoming, safe, and inclusive home to people from diverse cultures and economic backgrounds. A community survey combined with a variety of public engagement events provided the basis for this vision. The plan was developed to highlight the three key themes of climate, housing, and equity. These key themes are interwoven throughout the plan and goals and policies across the ten plan elements. Specific policies are included in the plan around sea level rise planning, expanding public art in placemaking, adding multi-modal level of service (LOS) standards, expanding affordable housing, and supporting access to living-wage jobs. Ultimately, the plan aims to foster stronger community connection while making the city even better for future generations.
An aging and underutilized park in Vancouver, Washington, was redesigned to meet current safety and accessibility guidelines. In updating the design and amenities of Dubois Park, Otak developed a master plan – as well as subsequent construction support – to address a variety of goals based on input from the community.
A Park Site Plan to Meet Diverse Community Recreation Priorities
Originally installed nearly 40 years prior, Dubois Park underwent an extensive public engagement process to produce a preferred site plan that met community needs for recreation. For the 2.3-acre park that was largely underutilized, its redesign balanced a widely diverse set of priorities from the public. From sustainable materials and planting design to universally inclusive public amenities and creative play opportunities, the design placed an overarching emphasis on enhancing recreation opportunities for all ages. Park layout, topography, and program were adjusted and publicly presented to demonstrate respect for various concerns and how they were addressed. The park has received praise from both neighborhood users and park staff for preserving the woodsy quality of the park while also increasing it’s utility for the community as a whole.
Across nearly 60 acres of land in Southern Oregon, a design guideline manual for its development was established to provide clear and consistent direction regarding architectural and site design elements. In setting these requirements for three commercial developments in the Hillcrest District, the Otak team placed an emphasis on ensuring that buildings developed contribute to high-quality public spaces and vibrant town center.
Historically-Inspired Design Guidelines to Develop a Vibrant Town Center
With historic properties featuring pear orchards that define the past of the Hillcrest Orchard area, those same elements provided inspiration on aesthetic guidelines aimed at a modern interpretation for its future. The Commercial Design Manual is outlined with the intention to create a pleasant and memorable experience that attracts people to the area while encouraging them to shop, dine, visit with friends and family, and ultimately return in the future. These standards and guidelines aim to enhance the district’s unique character and elevate the overall quality of design. By incorporating elements from both regional traditions and contemporary styles, specifically the Cascadian and Modern Farm styles, the goal is to establish a cohesive design image that reflects the aspirations and vision of the Hillcrest District while creating a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly commercial district. The design requirements of this manual take into consideration local architectural precedents, historic site uses and character, and local building preferences and materiality.
An affordable housing community takes shape in Lincoln City, Oregon. In designing Wecoma Place, Otak drew inspiration from the site’s surroundings to emulate the enduring nature of the Oregon coast.
Affordable Housing Designed for a Displaced Community
Wecoma Place is comprised of three masses that resemble the large geomorphic shapes along the beach. The various patterns in the siding battens represent the wind-swept grasses found along the coastal landscape. The 44-unit building provides a place to live for residents of Lincoln County displaced by The Echo Mountain Fire in 2020. The units are designed to maximize natural light in the coastal environment and the building is oriented around a courtyard that provides space to recreate and acts as a buffer between the building and Highway 101.
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.
