In an effort to curb traffic, Tualatin city councilors gave engineers the go-ahead for further investigation related to raising Tualatin-Sherwood Road over Boones Ferry Road and the railroad.
At their meeting on March 9, Tualatin city councilors were presented with potential ways to pursue a railroad crossing infrastructure project at the intersection of Tualatin-Sherwood Road, Boones Ferry Road and the Portland and Western Railroad.
City engineers and consultant engineers from Kittelson & Associates ran through a slideshow of possible approaches, some of which required excessive renovation and a disproportionately large amount of federal and state funding.
The city awarded $280,635 to consultants from Kittelson & Associates for the railroad crossing study on Jan. 12.
The project aims to address traffic issues at the congested intersection, with engineers attributing the tumult to bypass lanes not being constructed to efficiently feed traffic from the highway onto the interstate. This, paired with regular train routes along the Portland and Western railway, often creates a bottleneck at the intersection that engineers reasoned could be alleviated through relocating either the rail or the road.
“Traffic on Tualatin-Sherwood Road dates back to a westside bypass not being in place, 99 connector not being in place and as a result, we have the de facto Tualatin-Sherwood Road connector, that links 99 and I-5,” Kittelson & Associates engineer Marc Butorac said.
“If the over option was built, this would no longer be a bottleneck,” Tualatin city engineer Mike McCarthy said. “There’d be a fair amount of traffic coming back to Boones Ferry.”
Councilors were briefed on four “grade separation” scenarios: two in which railroad tracks would be either lifted over Tualatin-Sherwood Road or tunneled underneath it, and two in which the road would run over or under the rail.
Engineers reasoned that the scenarios in which railroad tracks ran under Tualatin-Sherwood Road or where Tualatin-Sherwood Road went under the railroad tracks would not be viable, with Butorac explaining that building beneath the floodplain was a hazardous and costly endeavor due to potential flooding.
Councilors were also presented with an “at-grade” alternative, which was estimated to cost about 10 times less in construction, envisioning a widened Tualatin-Sherwood Road and train warning signs.
Price estimates for all grade separation scenarios ranged from $100 million to $200 million (in 2035 dollars). Kittelson & Associates engineer Amy Griffiths said the presentation left the cost estimates vague to account for a lack of analysis.
“We know that this is a pretty wide range, but that’s because there’s quite a bit more analysis that needs to happen,” Griffiths said.
Project costs stemmed from considerable construction, but also from associated renovations, like relocating businesses near the project site.
Engineers acknowledged that the project information presented was quite preliminary and that a robust amount of additional research would need to be completed before a comprehensive view of renovation scenarios was available.
“This is a 10,000-foot view at this point; we haven’t done the full study,” said Butorac. “This is using the initial work and experience on similar projects.”
The project was slated to potentially start in 2030, after a lengthy preliminary process. At their March 9 meeting, city councilors expressed concerns about the project’s price tag and brainstormed potential additions to the proposal.
“We live in questionable times right now,” Councilor Cyndy Hillier said. “To me, the reality of those funding streams are not a real thing.”
Council members ultimately moved to proceed with the project and support further investigations into raising Tualatin-Sherwood Road over Boones Ferry Road and the railroad.
“2035 is probably when our core is gonna be hitting its prime and when development is happening,” Tualatin Mayor Frank Bubenik said. “If this could be incorporated into that plan, our downtown might actually be a little bigger if we do this generational change.”
Kittelson & Associates engineers said they would continue looking into a road-over option as well as an at-grade alternative. They also said that they had planned on returning three times to city council as well as conducting community surveys and hosting informational events, before the council took a vote on initiating the project in January 2027.
