In the News Archive: 2019
TheTimes | November 25, 2019
Tualatin spending to improve seven dangerous roadways
City Council recently signed off on 7 traffic/pedestrian safety projects as part of Tualatin Moving Forward, which passed in 2018.
Seven intersections and stretches of road in Tualatin are set to receive significant safety upgrades next year.
The Tualatin City Council approved the community-nominated Tualatin Neighborhood Traffic Safety projects last month. They're the first round of improvements in what city officials plan to be an ongoing, bond-funded program to add more signalized pedestrian crossings and solar-powered driver speed limit feedback signs throughout Tualatin.
The upgrades will be installed at:
- Southwest 90th Avenue and Sweek Drive.
- Southwest Borland Road between Bridgeport Elementary School and 60th Avenue.
- Southwest Martinazzi Avenue, between Avery Street and Dakota Drive.
- Southwest Mohawk Street, east of Martinazzi Avenue.
- Southwest Nasoma Lane, between Boones Ferry Road and 90th Avenue.
- Southwest Nyberg Lane at Boones Ferry Park, between 50th and 65th avenues.
- Southwest Tualatin Road, between 105th and 115th avenues.
The projects are all part of Tualatin Moving Forward, the city's $20 million bond measure passed by voters...
BeavertonValleyTimes | November 20, 2019
Community art in Tualatin
The city permanently imprinted art on a sidewalk near Atfalati Park on Sagert Street.
Southwest Sagert Street in Tualatin may look a little different when taking a stroll near Atfalati Park.
In late September, the city of Tualatin permanently imprinted four different designs on the sidewalk past the park on Sagert Street west of Southwest Wampanoag Drive. The artwork includes mammoths, doves, a sugar skull and a sun and moon design.
"Essentially, (we) just started soliciting calls for art to try and see if we could get the community interested in participating," said Tualatin Public Works Director Jeff Fuchs. "Then (we) went through a selection process with the diversity task force and the parks committee, and the four pieces of art that we picked are the ones that everybody liked the most."
Once the art was selected...
Press Release | November 17, 2019
City of Tualatin Names New Traffic Safety Projects
In late October, Tualatin City Council approved the first round of community-nominated Neighborhood Traffic Safety projects to be constructed in 2020. The seven priority projects include signalized pedestrian crossings and driver feedback signs at these locations:
- Mohawk St east of Martinazzi Ave
- 90th Ave and Sweek Dr
- Borland Rd between Bridgeport Elementary School and 60th Ave
- Nyberg Ln at Boones Ferry Park (between 50th Ave and 65th Ave)
- Martinazzi Ave between Avery St and Dakota Dr
- Tualatin Rd between 105th Ave and 115th Ave
- Nasoma Ln between Boones Ferry Rd and 90th Ave
All seven projects will be completed next year as part of Tualatin Moving Forward, the City’s bond-funded transportation program.
Most of the new pedestrian crossings will include state-of-the-art reflective signage plus rapid flashing beacons with push-button controls. Research shows these attention-grabbing signals are the safest option for protecting drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The high intensity LED beacons command drivers’ attention whenever pedestrians want to cross, in all weather conditions, with day and night time visibility.
"These new rapid flashing beacons have been very effective wherever we have installed them at pedestrian crossings and in school zones," said Jeff Fuchs, P.E., Tualatin Public Works Director. Along with driver feedback signs, the new pedestrian crossings with flashing signals are the safety improvements requested most often by Tualatin neighborhoods.
The driver feedback signs represent another emerging technology. These solar-powered LED screens (Tualatin already has several in place) use radar to display speeds and slow drivers and are also highly effective.
The recently announced neighborhood safety improvements were selected through a community-wide process that sought nominations from Tualatin residents and community groups. Around 145 project ideas were submitted by community members. The selected projects met the criteria of spreading improvements citywide, solving specific safety problems, and fitting within the program’s budget.
Another round of safety projects will be selected in October 2020. Residents who want to suggest a project in their neighborhood can go to the website TualatinMovingForward.com and visit the Suggest a Project page.
TheTimes | November 12, 2019
Students create Sagert Street sidewalk artwork
The Sagert Street artwork includes the sun and moon, mammoths, a sugar skull and doves.
Those walking past Atfalati Park on Sagert Street, west of Wampanoag Drive, will now walk by some impressive community artwork permanently imprinted in the sidewalk.
The artwork is part of the traffic safety project tied to the city's bond-funded program, Tualatin Moving Forward, which included a new pedestrian-activated crossing at Sagert Street and Atfalati Park, as well as new sidewalks on the south side of Sagert Street.
"We wanted to find a way to involve the community in the project," Jeff Fuchs, Tualatin's public works director, said in a news release.
The artwork was selected through a contest involving dozens of community members over several months after entry forms were distributed to local public schools and at...
SherwoodGazette | September 1, 2019
Our Opinion: Get ready, because there's construction ahead
Work on Tualatin-Sherwood Road is sure to be a nuisance. But the payoff will last longer.
There's an old saying: Short-term pain for long-term gain.
Well, Washington County commuters, at long last, the county is closing in on a three-stage project to expand traffic capacity and improve safety on Southwest Tualatin-Sherwood and Roy Rogers roads.
Bringing what was a rural road connecting two backwater towns into the 21st century, in which it is very much a major commuter and freight route — a highway in all but name — has been a high priority for Washington County and the cities of Tualatin and Sherwood for years. But challenges and delays have put the work on hold until now.Read our story from Aug. 9, 2019, previewing an open house for Tualatin-Sherwood and Roy Rogers road improvements...
...There's plenty of smaller projects, too, including upcoming roadwork in neighboring Tualatin that's funded through the transportation bond city voters approved last year. That includes improvements to Tualatin-Sherwood Road out toward Interstate 5...
TheTimes | August 13, 2019
Tualatin traffic bond projects move forward
Council members get tour of planned bond projects including adding a third lane to Tualatin-Sherwood Road.
Members of the Tualatin City Council got a glimpse of how the city's $20 million traffic improvement bond projects are progressing during a tour of upcoming/completed projects Monday evening.
Packing into a small tour bus at the Juanita Pohl Senior Center, councilors took a 1 ½ hour tour of various projects tied to the successful passage of the 2018 bond, which are part of what's known as the Tualatin Moving Forward program.
The first stop was the Nyberg Rivers shopping complex parking lot to view a project that will add an eastbound lane along...
TheTimes | June 17, 2019
Got a traffic safety project costing under $100,000? Tualatin is all ears
Residents can submit projects online (the city has set aside a little more than $2 million) until June 30.
Have an idea for a street you would like see improved or a traffic safety issue you'd like addressed?
The City of Tualatin is looking for your suggestions as part of its citywide Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program.
The program is all part of Tualatin Moving Forward, the city's ambitious traffic and safety program designed to address traffic safety and roadway concerns. Funding the projects is the result of approval...
WEA News & Notes | May 24, 2019
Westside mayors talk priorities at Breakfast Forum
It was the most mayors WEA has ever had on a forum stage - 11 Westside mayors showed the audience a lot of camaraderie yesterday.
Each mayor on the panel talked about his or her city's priorities.
A common theme among the panel was the need to have an inclusive city where everyone feels welcome.
Forest Grove Mayor Pete Truax expressed concern over the 2020 Census and the possibility of it including a question regarding citizenship.
He stressed the importance of everyone being counted in the upcoming Census.
Mayor Jason Snider said Tigard has four vital signs, and the first one is Tigard is a city for everyone - Tigard recently appointed a youth representative to its City Council.
The other three vital signs include robust citizen involvement, transparency and accountability, and public safety.
In Tualatin, Mayor Frank Bubenik talked about his city's passage of a $20 million bond measure, Tualatin Moving Forward, which is now being used to provide traffic congestion relief, neighborhood safety, and infrastructure projects to help students get to school safely.
He also mentioned the Tualatin 2040 visioning, which takes into account housing and economic development data.