Vancouver City Council weighs tweaking ordinance to keep people out of traffic medians, islands
May 21-Following a significant number of pedestrian injuries and deaths over the past few years, the Vancouver City Council is considering a tweak to an ordinance that would help keep people off dangerous roadway medians and islands.
On June 1, the council will vote on a proposed ordinance giving law enforcement greater authority to take action against those who sit at, stand on or occupy traffic medians and other road dividers that are not designed for pedestrian use. The city adopted an ordinance regarding pedestrians in roadways in 2021, but it did not address enforcement for people on medians or islands.
The new ordinance language states that a person is guilty of pedestrian interference if they intentionally occupy roadway dividers, obstruct traffic or picket, protest and "aggressively" beg in these spaces.
During an April 13 city council meeting, Tyler Chavers, Vancouver's homeless response coordinator, said current city and state law is "silent" on what is allowed on these spaces. This limits law enforcement from intervening when people are occupying high-risk and dangerous areas. Chavers told The Columbian the proposed ordinance is intended to keep everybody safe, from pedestrians and cyclists to work crews.
City officials said the proposed ordinance aims to be an early intervention before serious injury or death happens on the roadways. Chavers said from 2021 to 2023, Vancouver had 18 serious injuries or fatal crashes involving cyclists or pedestrians. In 2024, Clark County saw a record number of pedestrian or cyclist deaths, with 17.
"The goal would be just to propose an ordinance that would close that gap in the law - give law enforcement a tool where they could actually have something more than just a mere suggestion that somebody leave that space where it's unsafe for them to be," Chavers said April 13.
The city's original ordinance was born in 2021 after a driver lost control of his vehicle during a medical emergency and fatally struck a pedestrian on a roadway island. Within a few hours of the scene being cleared, someone was already reoccupying that space, Chavers said.
Under the proposed ordinance, Chavers said enforcement would likely still begin with a warning to leave. But frequent violators who refuse to leave would more likely face citations or arrests.
The proposed ordinance also aims to address safety concerns for those walking across roadways to reach these spaces, Chavers said.
"By preventing the occupancy, we would hope it would deter the traveling across the roadway ... where a lot of those negative interactions between motorists and vehicles are happening," he said.
Chavers said a hotspot for this type of activity is off Fourth Plain Boulevard near the Auto Mall and Vancouver Plaza, where people frequent the medians, but there are limited crosswalks.
"I think it's really about saving lives, right? Unnecessary deaths, unfortunate situations," Councilor Diana Perez said during the April 13 meeting.
This story was made possible by Community Funded Journalism, a project from The Columbian and the Local Media Foundation. Top donors include the Ed and Dollie Lynch Fund, Patricia, David and Jacob Nierenberg, Connie and Lee Kearney, Steve and Jan Oliva, The Cowlitz Tribal Foundation and the Mason E. Nolan Charitable Fund. The Columbian controls all content. For more information, visit columbian.com/cfj.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 7:20 AM.