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At Gresham‘s Rockwood/East 188th Avenue MAX light-rail station, concrete shelters installed by TriMet in 1986 to shield people from the rain are also perceived to shield shady characters waiting for distracted MAX riders, says Alice Rouyer of the Gresham Redevelopment Commission.

Unsafe pedestrian crossings also have contributed to the perception that the station is dangerous. The city of Gresham is working to reverse that image, which is why construction will begin this month on a redesigned station with better security, visibility and pedestrian access.

Rouyer said Rockwood residents are constantly walking through the area near the MAX stop known as the Rockwood Triangle. Multifamily apartment buildings built near the MAX are populated with blue-collar families who don’t own cars and rely on the MAX for work commutes. But dicey pedestrian access between the neighborhood south of Stark Street and the MAX station has led to collisions between automobiles and pedestrians.

But the station has been redesigned to lessen that risk, and the city is adding a north-south connection through the area. Improvements include a new signaled intersection at 187th Avenue and Stark Street and a redesigned intersection at 188th Avenue and Burnside Street with safer pedestrian crossings.

The MAX station will be outfitted with new public art by Seattle artist Dan Corson and panels of Lithocrete, an alternative paving system made from recycled glass. The MAX station redesign was performed by Waterleaf Architecture.

Having an eye-catching station and more pedestrian-friendly streets could help attract private development to the area, according to Mike Abbate, Gresham’s urban design and planning director.

“There was no vision guiding this area when it was built,” Abbate said. “People want public, walkable spaces that are attractive. We need to pay attention to the design of streets and intersections to create a unique, highly pedestrian environment.”

“Rockwood, for a variety of reasons, has not seen much new investment in the last 20 years,” Rouyer said. “Our hope is to improve safety at our light-rail station and its surrounding streets. These infrastructure improvements will set the table for redevelopment of nearby properties.”

Skanska USA of Beaverton is set to begin work on the MAX station improvements this month and finish in early 2011. The city’s street improvements will be bid out this month, and construction is expected to start in July. The total cost of the projects is approximately $7 million, Rouyer said.

Some hope that these improvements will finally jump-start development at a former Fred Meyer site across from the MAX station. The city purchased the site in 2005, and has since created a public art plaza, Plaza del Sol, at the site of the area’s future town center. But no private development has occurred there yet.

“The idea with this project is to leverage investment in transit into nearby development opportunities,” said Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman. “By making the transit area safer and more visible, it will lend a sense of place to the whole area.”