The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) announced on March 19 that its Transportation Safety Office will host several virtual community listening sessions about transportation safety over the next few weeks, with sessions scheduled for each region of the state.
The initiative aims to gather input from residents to help make roads safer for everyone. Community feedback is described as an important and required part of ODOT’s three-year safety plan, which guides how federal safety funding is used in Oregon.
Each session will be led by partners from Portland State University, who will provide a brief overview of the three-year plan before dividing attendees into virtual breakout rooms for group discussions on local safety topics. Facilitators will guide these discussions, focusing on issues specific to each region. The topics covered at each session will remain consistent, but the conversations are expected to address unique regional concerns.
Residents are encouraged to attend the online meeting corresponding to their region. Sessions are scheduled as follows: Eastern Oregon (Region 5) on March 26; Southwest Oregon (Region 3) on March 31; Central Oregon (Region 4) on April 1; and both Portland Metro area (Region 1) and Willamette Valley and North Coast (Region 2) on April 2. All meetings run from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and registration is encouraged but not required.
ODOT said that comments collected during these group discussions will inform strategies in the agency’s three-year plan, including efforts aimed at influencing travelers to make safer decisions. Special attention will be given to solutions for communities and groups who are overrepresented in Oregon crash data.
The three-year safety plan, known as the Oregon Triennial Highway Safety Plan, is a federal requirement for all state departments of transportation. It uses crash data to outline how states intend to use federal funds over a three-year period to improve road safety.
