Road News March 2021
March 6, 2021 Roads & Transportation, Washington County Government
Upper Saltzman
Filbert Sidewalk
Thompson/Kenny road project
Cornelius Pass now Highway 127
Complete Streets Open House
The Saltzman Road Project Advisory Committee (PAC) was called back for a fifth meeting in February. We learned that someone had asked the design team to provide a new alternative, which was called the Eastern Interim Alignment. The new proposal avoids the impact to one house, but otherwise basically ignores the PAC vote to recommend the western alignment.
The proposed "interim" roadway will narrow to two lanes for most of its length
The Board of County Commissioners is likely to take up the issue in March. Many of us on the committee feel like our time was wasted and the county will do what staff wanted to do in the first place, with a few modifications to their original proposal.
Calling the proposal "interim" makes it sound like something else will be built later. However, with an estimated cost of $8.2 million, it's unlikely that money will be found to start over.
Presentations from the February 18 meeting are on the project web page here. A recording of the meeting is on Vimeo here. Please contact Ben Lively with Washington County with any future questions or concerns at 971-762-5588 and ben_lively@co.washington.or.us.
The county has determined that the new sidewalk will be built along the south side of Filbert Street, between Saltzman Road and Murray Boulevard. It will include ADA-compliant curb ramps.
This $1.3 million project is funded by both House Bill 2017 (Keep Oregon Moving) and Gain Share. It is near the end of the design phase. Before construction begins, the county needs to acquire land for the project. Right-of-way acquisition discussions have begun and are expected to be final by July 2021. After that, the project will go out to bid, with construction expected to begin in September and completion around December 2021
An online Open House was held last fall. The FAQ on this page addresses the questions and comments that were received.
Last month we provided an update on the project to realign Thompson Road at Saltzman to eliminate the two 90-degree turns. We now have a schedule update. The engineering designs will be done mid-September. The project will go out for construction bidding later this fall, and construction is expected to begin in November with completion estimated for Summer 2022.
NW Cornelius Pass Road between US 30 and US 26 is a state highway as of Monday, March 1 after a jurisdictional transfer from Multnomah County and Washington County. The Oregon State Legislature directed ODOT to take over this section of NW Cornelius Pass Road from Multnomah and Washington Counties as part of House Bill 2017 (Keep Oregon Moving). ODOT worked closely with each County to finalize Jurisdictional Transfer Agreements in 2020, and the Oregon Transportation Commission voted to approve the transfer in early 2021.
In addition to its current name, Cornelius Pass Road gets two new names as part of the jurisdictional transfer: Cornelius Pass Highway and OR 127. You can expect to see new OR 127 signs popping up on Cornelius Pass Road later this year.
There will be very few noticeable changes for people who live or travel on Cornelius Pass Road every day. As a state highway, the road will be subject to ODOT standards for design and maintenance and any improvements to the road will be planned and funded at the statewide level.
There are no construction projects on OR 127 in the 2021-2024 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, but we have some upcoming improvements planned. This summer, ODOT will repave the section of Cornelius Pass Road from NW Skyline Boulevard to US. 30 We are also currently collaborating with Washington County on the design of a project that will make Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) improvements along the entire Cornelius Pass Road corridor from US 30 to OR 8 (TV Highway). These safety improvements will include curve warning signage and signal upgrades. We will share more information about this project later in design. In the meantime, please subscribe to this email list for updates if you are not already subscribed.
The Complete Streets Design Update involves updating Washington County's Road Design and Construction Standards, other plan documents, and the County's decision-making processes to include design options for accommodating all users of the transportation system.
The notice to participate in the Open House arrived too late for the last issue, and now the survey section is closed. However, all information is still available, but the survey on Table 7 is no longer active. If you would still like to submit comment, please email us at lutplan@co.washington.or.us.
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