I support the Bunts Rd Rehabilitation project and am looking forward to the acceptance of these essential funds to move forward with this important infrastructure improvements. Thank you for all of the work put into making Lakewood’s streets safer and more accessible to all.
Please put the multimodal path of the Bunts Rd project on hold. There are too many problems with it that have not been addressed. Pedestrian safety, residents' vehicles safely transiting from the driveway to the street and back, planning for path maintenance, and more.
Safety for pedestrians is greatly sacrificed by the addition of bicycles and especially e-bike and e-scooters, which are a problem already. These e-vehicles are aggressively being marketed to children. Children and others riding have no training in safety and no understanding of the need to warn someone when passing from behind. Residents are worried, and rightly so of hitting fast moving cycles and especially e-bikes that appear quickly when one thinks the path is vacant. As far as maintenance goes, one only has to walk the path at Lakewood Park to see how quickly the path surface has been degraded with cracks, crumbling pavement and opening seams. The new part of the path that was redone when the new parking area was added, wasn't done properly to begin. The seams came up immediately, cracks appeared and nothing was able to get corrected. It's been more than a year now. The contractor has not fixed their shoddy work. Why should the Bunts path be better. Who will repair it when needed? What is the budget for maintenance?
Safety and maintenance are just two of the problems. Residents do not want their beautiful trees chopped down to make way for this path. Our property values will decrease 15% according to local realtors. That is our reality which is contrary to studies where a path is 50 meters from a home backing up to a park or river. Not at all the same as here, having a 10 foot wide asphalt path 40 feet from our front doors.
It is time to take the residents' concerns seriously. Let's have a conversation, let's see if we can make a better plan that accommodates all interests without harm to one group.
The Bunts Road project, as designed, fails to address major safety issues on one of Lakewood’s busiest and most crash-prone streets. Combining cyclists, pedestrians, and driveways on a single side path is not safe. Residents have raised these concerns for over a year, yet neither City Council nor the administration has taken steps to correct them.
While the City cites the $2.9 million ODOT grant as a reason to rush forward, funding should never override safety. Grants can be modified or redirected, but unsafe infrastructure lasts for decades. Lakewood must pause this project, complete a full safety review, and work with residents on a safer design before proceeding.
While I recognize the importance of securing $2.94 million in federal TAP funding, I urge caution before proceeding with the Bunts Road Rehabilitation Project as currently proposed.
Grant funding does not relieve the City of its duty to ensure that public projects are safe, environmentally sound, and aligned with community needs. This plan involves removing mature trees and paving over decaying root systems-creating long-term risks to pedestrian safety, infructure integrity, and ongoing maintenance. These risks, and any resulting costs, will ultimately fall on residents through local taxpayer dollars.
Additionally, it remains unclear whether this design complies with ODOT safety standards. There has been no shared safety audit, no meaningful public engagement, and no cost-benefit analysis provided to justify this design.
Meeting ODOT deadlines should not come at the expense of public safety, environmental stewardship, or trust in local government.
I respectfully request that Council pause implementation until these critical issues are addressed transparently and thoroughly.
I support the Bunts Rd Rehabilitation project and am looking forward to the acceptance of these essential funds to move forward with this important infrastructure improvements. Thank you for all of the work put into making Lakewood’s streets safer and more accessible to all.
Please put the multimodal path of the Bunts Rd project on hold. There are too many problems with it that have not been addressed. Pedestrian safety, residents' vehicles safely transiting from the driveway to the street and back, planning for path maintenance, and more.
Safety for pedestrians is greatly sacrificed by the addition of bicycles and especially e-bike and e-scooters, which are a problem already. These e-vehicles are aggressively being marketed to children. Children and others riding have no training in safety and no understanding of the need to warn someone when passing from behind. Residents are worried, and rightly so of hitting fast moving cycles and especially e-bikes that appear quickly when one thinks the path is vacant. As far as maintenance goes, one only has to walk the path at Lakewood Park to see how quickly the path surface has been degraded with cracks, crumbling pavement and opening seams. The new part of the path that was redone when the new parking area was added, wasn't done properly to begin. The seams came up immediately, cracks appeared and nothing was able to get corrected. It's been more than a year now. The contractor has not fixed their shoddy work. Why should the Bunts path be better. Who will repair it when needed? What is the budget for maintenance?
Safety and maintenance are just two of the problems. Residents do not want their beautiful trees chopped down to make way for this path. Our property values will decrease 15% according to local realtors. That is our reality which is contrary to studies where a path is 50 meters from a home backing up to a park or river. Not at all the same as here, having a 10 foot wide asphalt path 40 feet from our front doors.
It is time to take the residents' concerns seriously. Let's have a conversation, let's see if we can make a better plan that accommodates all interests without harm to one group.
The Bunts Road project, as designed, fails to address major safety issues on one of Lakewood’s busiest and most crash-prone streets. Combining cyclists, pedestrians, and driveways on a single side path is not safe. Residents have raised these concerns for over a year, yet neither City Council nor the administration has taken steps to correct them.
While the City cites the $2.9 million ODOT grant as a reason to rush forward, funding should never override safety. Grants can be modified or redirected, but unsafe infrastructure lasts for decades. Lakewood must pause this project, complete a full safety review, and work with residents on a safer design before proceeding.
Dear President Kepple and Members of Council,
While I recognize the importance of securing $2.94 million in federal TAP funding, I urge caution before proceeding with the Bunts Road Rehabilitation Project as currently proposed.
Grant funding does not relieve the City of its duty to ensure that public projects are safe, environmentally sound, and aligned with community needs. This plan involves removing mature trees and paving over decaying root systems-creating long-term risks to pedestrian safety, infructure integrity, and ongoing maintenance. These risks, and any resulting costs, will ultimately fall on residents through local taxpayer dollars.
Additionally, it remains unclear whether this design complies with ODOT safety standards. There has been no shared safety audit, no meaningful public engagement, and no cost-benefit analysis provided to justify this design.
Meeting ODOT deadlines should not come at the expense of public safety, environmental stewardship, or trust in local government.
I respectfully request that Council pause implementation until these critical issues are addressed transparently and thoroughly.