What to Do with Charles and Odana?
By Clinton Castro
Chair, MHCA People First Streets
Charles Lane is a small, mostly quiet street that serves as a vital neighborhood corridor for bikes and pedestrians heading toward the Southwest Commuter Path, Odana East Park, and more. However, navigating its intersection with busy Odana Road is a major barrier, especially for kids and families.
The Current Challenges
As a parent who has crossed here with my kids to access the commuter path, I know firsthand that this is a tough spot. The layout creates a few major hurdles:
Awkward Crossing: Biking from Charles requires a confusing, exposed zag to reach the commuter path on the far side of Odana.
Compromised Refuge: Dedicated left-turn lanes squeeze the median island into a tight footprint, leaving pedestrians with very little room to wait safely mid-crossing.
Excess Width: Odana is paved overly wide, creating a multi-lane expanse where cars can slip around vehicles stopped for pedestrians.
Low Visibility: The crossing sits around a bend and lacks flashing beacons, making it easy for drivers to miss pedestrians.
On a busy thoroughfare like Odana, this isn't just an inconvenience. It’s a daily stressor for parents and a hazard for anyone trying to cross, including students biking to Cherokee Middle School. We should strive for an intersection safe enough that we feel comfortable sending our kids through it.
Potential Solutions
With the upcoming Odana Hills Golf Course rebuild, we have a generational opportunity to fix this intersection. Working with the city and residents who live on Charles, we’re eyeing several improvements:
Intuitive Crossing: Move the driveway west, create a dedicated bike/ped entrance that reduces conflicts with cars, and add proper landing pads on both sides of Charles that feed into the connector path.
Generous Refuges: Relocating the driveway removes the need for left-turn cutouts here, leaving room for a much safer, larger median refuge. To be entirely clear, drivers will still be able to turn left onto Charles Lane.
Narrower Streets: Tighter channels prevent cars from sneaking past crosswalk stops and shorten the crossing distance. This also helps slow down would-be speeders on Odana.
Improved Visibility: Add a flashing beacon with an extended button that cyclists can easily trigger from the street.
With the upcoming rebuild transforming the golf course into an even bigger community destination, ensuring safe, seamless access for pedestrians, cyclists, and families has never been more important.
We Want to Hear from You
These are just preliminary ideas, and good advocacy is shaped by the community. Input will be needed this fall, and our neighborhood group is actively working with Bill Tishler, our local alder, to get these ideas and suggestions to the appropriate levels of city government.
If you've got ideas for this intersection or if you want to hear about potential meetings with the city and other updates, please reach out via email at clinton.g.m.castro@gmail.com. Let’s work together to make sure this rebuild delivers the safe, welcoming connection our neighborhood deserves!
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