After a temporary hiatus due to close-proximity construction, the automated traffic safety cameras at SW Tualatin-Sherwood Road and SW Avery Street have returned. On July 9, the city started issuing citations to individuals observed driving 11 miles per hour over the speed limit and/or crossing the intersection after the light turns red.
Road widening construction on Tualatin-Sherwood Road put the intersection safety monitoring program on pause in 2022. Construction wrapped up in October 2025, and the Tualatin Police are now reactivating the cameras.
Tualatin installed the city’s first set of speed monitoring cameras in 2010 at SW Tualatin-Sherwood Road and SW Avery Street, and at SW Lower Boones Ferry Road and SW Bridgeport Road/72nd Avenue.
These intersections are the only two in Tualatin with traffic safety cameras, and the intersection at Tualatin-Sherwood Road was identified as having “the highest number of red-light violations” of any Tualatin intersection in a 2009 survey.
Tualatin Police Department Public Information Officer Jennifer Massey told Tualatin Life that monitoring speed and light activity was beneficial to officers’ coordination, ensuring that police could monitor other locations and trust that the intersection was regulated.
“The benefit of turning on the speed monitoring feature is the same as the red-light feature, in that officers cannot be in one location all the time, and this provides an added safety measure,” Massey said.
According to a 2025 Legislative Report on Tualatin’s Photo Red Light Camera Enforcement, the number of drivers running red lights had dropped between 2018 and 2022, but the report acknowledges that fewer drivers were traversing the intersection after the pandemic began.
The report states that red light violations at SW Tualatin-Sherwood Road and SW Avery Street decreased from nearly 5,000 in 2018 to just over 2,000 in 2022.
“Since 2018, there was a decrease in citations issued for red light violations, in conjunction with the decrease in number of vehicles traveling through this intersection,” reads the report.
“Studies have shown that automated traffic enforcement can help reduce red-light running, excessive speeding, and the risk of serious crashes at signalized intersections,” reads a Tualatin Police press release.
Tualatin Police took to Facebook on June 11 to report the reactivation of the intersection safety camera and received generally favorable comments from users, with some suggesting additional cameras be installed in areas with high traffic, such as around schools.
“Instead of depending on the cops in front of the schools, why don’t we put speed cameras in front of every school zone?” wrote Leslie Jackman.
“Wish they would put on Tualatin Sherwood Road at Boones Ferry and at the Fred Meyer light,” wrote Facebook user Tim Towers.
Massey told Tualatin Life that the Tualatin Police Department did not currently plan to install additional safety cameras, but that sentiment could change.
“At this time, there are no additional plans for more intersections, however, that may change in the future,” Massey said.
