“Car-mageddon” is Upon Us as Corn. Pass Road Closes for 11 Weeks
By Miles Merwin
The main north-south transportation artery for our neighborhood, Cornelius Pass Road (CPR), will close for construction for eleven weeks, starting early this month. The closure will cause major traffic disruptions when commuters clog side roads to cross over the hill. The congestion and noise will impact residents around our neighborhood, especially those living along detour routes. Perhaps this would be a good time to take your summer vacation, if you can.
CPR will be closed for eleven weeks, from about mid-July to early October, while the contractor, Wildish Standard Paving https://www.wildish.com/, constructs safety improvements in the 5 mile stretch between Germantown Rd and Hwy 30. Multnomah Co. (MC) decided that a full closure was better than a partial, one-lane closure which would have extended the work schedule and increased traffic delays. CPR normally handles 13,000 passenger vehicle trips and 1500 trucks per day, all of which will be detoured to side roads or, for large trucks, to major highways.
ODOT and MC have budgeted $5.65M for safety improvements. Their aim is to address hazards on some portions of the road that have seen the most accidents, identified through a long planning process and public input. Work this year will bring the road into closer compliance with state standards. The goal is to reduce the number and severity of crashes, and resulting traffic delays, but the county admits this will not fix all of safety issues on CPR. Jurisdiction of CPR north of Hwy. 26 to Hwy. 30 will transfer to ODOT sometime 2020, and what effect that will have on further improvements is unclear.
Work will concentrate on four sites:
1) 8th Avenue: The tight curve will be realigned and trees removed to improve sight lines. A tributary of McCarthy Cr. crosses the road there and a new culvert will be installed. Because McCarthy Cr. is fish bearing, construction can only occur from mid-July to the end of September. Therefore there will be a hard closure at 8th Ave. throughout the eleven weeks.
2) S-curves north of Skyline Blvd: Here the sharp curves will be realigned to make truck passage easier, and the shoulders will be widened. If you live close by, don’t be alarmed if you hear dynamite blasting.
3) Curves south of Plainview Rd.: New signage will be added, vegetation removed to improve sight lines, shoulders widened, and guardrails installed.
4) Kaiser Rd.: Trees will be removed to improve site distances and the shoulder widened.
Some safety features will also be installed elsewhere along the five-mile corridor. This includes upgraded, consistent signage along the entire route; new vehicle pullouts for police, mail delivery, etc.; approx. 2000 ft of new guardrails; and building up pavement wedges where the shoulders are very narrow above steep drop-offs. Washington Co. had planned to install a new traffic signal at CPR and Germantown, but that project is delayed until next year.
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Detours
Once construction starts, there will be hard closures at the 8th Ave & Germantown intersections. Commute traffic will be diverted along Old Cornelius Pass to Skyline and down Newberry Rd. to Hwy. 30. Residents on CPR and side roads within the work zone will have to access their homes either from north or south of 8th Ave., or south of Skyline.
The county has advised trucking companies that no large trucks over 40 ft. long, e.g. dump trucks with trailers, semi-trailers or gas tankers, will be allowed to use side roads during construction. They must detour via Hwy 30 to 405 to 26, or vice versa. Truck restriction signs will be posted at Logie, Rocky Point, and Newberry. However, delivery trucks (e.g. packages, propane) and emergency vehicles will still be able to travel side roads and access CPR residences from either side of the 8th Ave closure.
Public Meeting Notes
The first of three public meetings was held June 5 at Skyline Elementary. Mike Pullen with the MC Transportation Dept. briefed those attending on the project and responded to public comments. Regarding the schedule, he said that the contract with Wildish is atypical in that it includes financial “carrots” if work is completed before the target date and “sticks” if it is not. Mike said there’s a possibility that work at the Kaiser Rd. Intersection might be completed and then reopened earlier. The contractor will finish some final tasks after CPR reopens, but Mike said this will not cause any traffic delays.
Public comments focused on several key issues: increased traffic on side roads, speeding, road damage, and emergency response. Commuters from Scappoose and St. Helens heading to Hillsboro will try using Rocky Point and Logie Trail, both narrow and winding, to reach Skyline and then Old Corn. Pass. Mike Pullen acknowledged the poor condition of Logie Trail, but said it could not be strictly closed to non-residents. Germantown, Kaiser and Brooks roads will likely see more traffic, and that is the only route for truck deliveries to Plainview Grocery.
“What about temporary reduced speed limits on the detour routes?” one person asked. Mike said that state law allows speed reduction only on roads under construction and not on side roads where traffic is detoured. He did say that the county has submitted a request to ODOT to initiate a study of Skyline Blvd. northwest of milepost 13 that could result in posted speed limits less than the current 55 mph. A comment was made that the net result of the safety improvements could be increased speed on CPR and thus more crashes, not fewer.
The designated detour routes and the side roads will incur more wear from higher than normal traffic. Mike said that unfortunately the county does not have funds to repair any damage this year, but will consider doing so in future. He also said that no new paving will be done on CPR outside the four work zones.
Since the scheduled construction coincides with fire season, there is concern about access by fire fighters and other emergency personnel. Although TVFR Station 72 on Skyline east of CPR is all volunteer, Mike said that TVFR is aware of the situation and may be able to assign more volunteers there.
MC Sheriff’s Deputy David McGarry, our West Side Community Resource Officer, also responded to questions during the meeting. While he is the only deputy assigned to west county, he said that he will reach out to the Portland Police and Washington Co. Sheriff departments to try to get more officers available to respond to the likelihood of increased traffic incidents during the CPR closure. He said that more truck inspectors will be present in the first few weeks of construction to enforce truck detours. He will warn and potentially cite the owners of any large trucks found to traveling side roads where they are not permitted.
What You Can Do
Although we have no control over the traffic impacts of the CPR closure, there are a few things residents can do:
The main north-south transportation artery for our neighborhood, Cornelius Pass Road (CPR), will close for construction for eleven weeks, starting early this month. The closure will cause major traffic disruptions when commuters clog side roads to cross over the hill. The congestion and noise will impact residents around our neighborhood, especially those living along detour routes. Perhaps this would be a good time to take your summer vacation, if you can.
CPR will be closed for eleven weeks, from about mid-July to early October, while the contractor, Wildish Standard Paving https://www.wildish.com/, constructs safety improvements in the 5 mile stretch between Germantown Rd and Hwy 30. Multnomah Co. (MC) decided that a full closure was better than a partial, one-lane closure which would have extended the work schedule and increased traffic delays. CPR normally handles 13,000 passenger vehicle trips and 1500 trucks per day, all of which will be detoured to side roads or, for large trucks, to major highways.
ODOT and MC have budgeted $5.65M for safety improvements. Their aim is to address hazards on some portions of the road that have seen the most accidents, identified through a long planning process and public input. Work this year will bring the road into closer compliance with state standards. The goal is to reduce the number and severity of crashes, and resulting traffic delays, but the county admits this will not fix all of safety issues on CPR. Jurisdiction of CPR north of Hwy. 26 to Hwy. 30 will transfer to ODOT sometime 2020, and what effect that will have on further improvements is unclear.
Work will concentrate on four sites:
1) 8th Avenue: The tight curve will be realigned and trees removed to improve sight lines. A tributary of McCarthy Cr. crosses the road there and a new culvert will be installed. Because McCarthy Cr. is fish bearing, construction can only occur from mid-July to the end of September. Therefore there will be a hard closure at 8th Ave. throughout the eleven weeks.
2) S-curves north of Skyline Blvd: Here the sharp curves will be realigned to make truck passage easier, and the shoulders will be widened. If you live close by, don’t be alarmed if you hear dynamite blasting.
3) Curves south of Plainview Rd.: New signage will be added, vegetation removed to improve sight lines, shoulders widened, and guardrails installed.
4) Kaiser Rd.: Trees will be removed to improve site distances and the shoulder widened.
Some safety features will also be installed elsewhere along the five-mile corridor. This includes upgraded, consistent signage along the entire route; new vehicle pullouts for police, mail delivery, etc.; approx. 2000 ft of new guardrails; and building up pavement wedges where the shoulders are very narrow above steep drop-offs. Washington Co. had planned to install a new traffic signal at CPR and Germantown, but that project is delayed until next year.
.
Detours
Once construction starts, there will be hard closures at the 8th Ave & Germantown intersections. Commute traffic will be diverted along Old Cornelius Pass to Skyline and down Newberry Rd. to Hwy. 30. Residents on CPR and side roads within the work zone will have to access their homes either from north or south of 8th Ave., or south of Skyline.
The county has advised trucking companies that no large trucks over 40 ft. long, e.g. dump trucks with trailers, semi-trailers or gas tankers, will be allowed to use side roads during construction. They must detour via Hwy 30 to 405 to 26, or vice versa. Truck restriction signs will be posted at Logie, Rocky Point, and Newberry. However, delivery trucks (e.g. packages, propane) and emergency vehicles will still be able to travel side roads and access CPR residences from either side of the 8th Ave closure.
Public Meeting Notes
The first of three public meetings was held June 5 at Skyline Elementary. Mike Pullen with the MC Transportation Dept. briefed those attending on the project and responded to public comments. Regarding the schedule, he said that the contract with Wildish is atypical in that it includes financial “carrots” if work is completed before the target date and “sticks” if it is not. Mike said there’s a possibility that work at the Kaiser Rd. Intersection might be completed and then reopened earlier. The contractor will finish some final tasks after CPR reopens, but Mike said this will not cause any traffic delays.
Public comments focused on several key issues: increased traffic on side roads, speeding, road damage, and emergency response. Commuters from Scappoose and St. Helens heading to Hillsboro will try using Rocky Point and Logie Trail, both narrow and winding, to reach Skyline and then Old Corn. Pass. Mike Pullen acknowledged the poor condition of Logie Trail, but said it could not be strictly closed to non-residents. Germantown, Kaiser and Brooks roads will likely see more traffic, and that is the only route for truck deliveries to Plainview Grocery.
“What about temporary reduced speed limits on the detour routes?” one person asked. Mike said that state law allows speed reduction only on roads under construction and not on side roads where traffic is detoured. He did say that the county has submitted a request to ODOT to initiate a study of Skyline Blvd. northwest of milepost 13 that could result in posted speed limits less than the current 55 mph. A comment was made that the net result of the safety improvements could be increased speed on CPR and thus more crashes, not fewer.
The designated detour routes and the side roads will incur more wear from higher than normal traffic. Mike said that unfortunately the county does not have funds to repair any damage this year, but will consider doing so in future. He also said that no new paving will be done on CPR outside the four work zones.
Since the scheduled construction coincides with fire season, there is concern about access by fire fighters and other emergency personnel. Although TVFR Station 72 on Skyline east of CPR is all volunteer, Mike said that TVFR is aware of the situation and may be able to assign more volunteers there.
MC Sheriff’s Deputy David McGarry, our West Side Community Resource Officer, also responded to questions during the meeting. While he is the only deputy assigned to west county, he said that he will reach out to the Portland Police and Washington Co. Sheriff departments to try to get more officers available to respond to the likelihood of increased traffic incidents during the CPR closure. He said that more truck inspectors will be present in the first few weeks of construction to enforce truck detours. He will warn and potentially cite the owners of any large trucks found to traveling side roads where they are not permitted.
What You Can Do
Although we have no control over the traffic impacts of the CPR closure, there are a few things residents can do:
- Report large trucks using side roads. Get the license plate number and company name, and then contact Deputy McGarry ([email protected] or leave a message at 503.793.8923) or call the MCSO non-emergency number 503.823.3333
- Write to TVFR (https://www.tvfr.com/FormCenter/Contact-Us-2/Contact-Us-33 or 11945 SW 70th Avenue, Tigard, OR 97223, Phone: 503.649.8577) asking them to increase volunteer staffing at Station 72 during CPR construction
- Cut dry grass along your road frontage to reduce fire hazard
- Trim trees and shrubs at the end of your driveway to increase sight lines
- Offer to host a “Burma Shave” sign (see Grange news this issue for more info)
- Subscribe to project updates via email at www.multco.us/cornpass
(RR 07/19)