Transportation and Development

 Why

To construct a package of multimodal projects to meet transportation needs in the Clackamas Regional Center through the year 2040. Traffic congestion in this area presented major challenges affecting safety, multimodal access, and economic development. The completed project:

• Provides a safe and efficient transportation system
• Addresses needs of residents, businesses, and the public
• Balances different modes of transportation: motor vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian, transit, and freight

Schedule

Major components of the project are complete. The public can expect to see minor work occurring in early 2022, but only minor traffic disruptions are anticipated.

Improvements include

• Harmony Road between 80th Avenue and Fuller Road, including the pedestrian crossing at Clackamas Community College.
• Sunnyside Road between SE 82nd Avenue and SE Stevens Road, including improvements to the I-205 Overcrossing and Interchange.
• SE 80th Avenue between Harmony Road and Southgate Street.
• SE 93rd Avenue and SE 97th Avenue Intersections with Sunnybrook Boulevard.
• SE 82nd Avenue, including upgrades at Sunnyside Road and Sunnybrook Road

Improved travel options

Local residents benefit from new and improved opportunities to walk, bike, and take transit with better connections to the Town Center Max station and I-205 bike path. New lighting and landscaping enhance safety and aesthetics, especially along SE Sunnyside Road between the Clackamas Town Center and Clackamas Promenade.

Employees and employers at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center, Sunnyside 205, One Town Center, Clackamas Town Center, Clackamas promenade, and business along SE 82nd Avenue in the project area have improved access to work whether driving, walking, biking or taking transit.

Transportation improvements that link transit, walking and biking in the area serve youth and students at Clackamas Community College Harmony Campus, Clackamas Middle College and La Salle Catholic College Preparatory, and visitors to the North Clackamas Aquatic Park.

Shoppers benefit from removal of the slop lane into the Clackamas Town Center to alleviate congestion in the parking lot. Restriped travel lanes, modified traffic signal timing, and new signage will help shoppers get to and from their destinations smoothly and safely.

Improved traffic operations at several intersections help commuters and freight traffic traveling to and through the Clackamas Regional Center, including SE Sunnyside Road at 82nd Avenue, SE Sunnyside Road at SE Stevens Road, and I-205 on-and off ramps.

Improvements by location

Fuller Road:

• A new crosswalk at the intersection of Fuller Road and Southgate Street

Harmony Road:

• A new crosswalk and center refuge island at Clackamas Community College – Harmony Campus
• Widened the sidewalk and new  landscape strip on the north side of Harmony Rd between Clackamas Community College – Harmony Campus and 80th Avenue

80th Avenue:

• Widened and repaved 80th Avenue from Harmony Road to Southgate Street

84th Avenue:

• New stormwater quality and detention swale on the west side of 84th Avenue

Sunnyside Road:

• New and reconstructed sidewalks and bike lanes on Sunnyside Road from 82nd Avenue to Stevens Road
• Reduced travel lanes from four to three on eastbound Sunnyside Road between 84th Avenue and the 9000 block to accommodate sidewalks, bike lanes, and median landscaping
• Removed overgrown vegetation and added landscaping on north side of Sunnyside Road between the 8600 and 9000 blocks
• Lengthened the westbound left-turn lane at 82nd Avenue to add capacity for vehicles turning left onto southbound 82nd Avenue
• Improved traffic signals at the 8600 block, 9000 block, SE 93rd Avenue, I-205 overcrossing, and Stevens Road
• Removed the slip lane from the southbound I-205 off-ramp into the Clackamas Town Center and added a sidewalk and bike lane; added pedestrian signal

Sunnybrook Boulevard:

• Modified lane striping and traffic signal phasing at the intersection of Sunnybrook Blvd and 93rd Avenue
• Restriped eastbound lanes between the I-205 northbound off-ramp and 97th Avenue to provide a right turn lane, bike lane and two through travel lanes

SE Stevens Road:

• Extended bike lanes on the north side of Stevens Road to Sunnyside Road
• Restriped westbound Sunnyside Road for a dedicated right-turn lane onto northbound Stevens Road
• Restriped the Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center driveway exit to provide two left-turn lanes onto westbound Sunnyside Road

I-205 Bridge and Interchange:

• Widened the bridge to add a 10-foot wide combined sidewalk and cycle track on each side
• Installed new bridge railing and LED lights
• Added a second right turn lane from the northbound I-205 off-ramp to eastbound Sunnyside Road
• Added a third entrance lane onto the northbound I-205 on-ramp from Sunnyside Road

Funding

Funding was provided from the Clackamas Town Center Urban Renewal District. The total cost of the project is $23.795 million.

This 15-member committee of community members works with staff to:

• Develop criteria to analyze potential capital congestion relief projects to be funded with countywide vehicle registration fee revenue.
• Apply that criteria to the high priority congestion relief projects in the County’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) to identify and prioritize the projects.
• Recommend the order in which capital projects should be constructed.
• Review the project list annually and report progress to the Board of Commissioners.

Committee Members

• Rich Fiala
• Sue Hein
• Warren Holzem
• Cedomir Jesic
• Stephen Joncus 
• Danielle Lohmann
• Nathan McCarty
• Bill Merchant  
• James Prichard
• April Quinn-McGinnis    
• Marg Stewart 

Get involved

• Be a safe driver
• Let us know about safety problems you see on our roads online, by sending an email to roadconcerns@clackamas.us or calling 503-557-6391
• Send us your ideas about how to reduce crashes or specific locations (e.g., an intersection) where you think we could do something to improve safety for motorists, bicyclists and/or pedestrians at drivetozero@clackamas.us
• Attend DTZ TSAP Update advisory committee meetings
• Attend Traffic Safety Commission meetings

Our goal is to get to zero fatal and serious injury crashes by 2035.

For more information, email us at drivetozero@clackamas.us.

Documents

• Drive to Zero Safety Action Plan

Drive to Zero Safety Action Plan (TSAP) Overview

From 2009 to 2015, 183 people were killed in traffic crashes in Clackamas County. Another 795 people suffered serious, potentially life-altering injuries. In addition to the tragedy of this loss of life and quality of life, the economic impact of these and other less severe crashes was greater than $100 million per year during this period. A survey of residents found that most believe that the only acceptable number of fatal and serious injury crashes in Clackamas County is zero. Given this belief, the county has set a goal to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes by 2035. This plan is the roadmap to achieve this goal.

Clackamas County has a goal to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes on its roads by 2035. Part 1 of Clackamas County’s Drive to Zero Safety Action Plan describes the broad areas on which the county, its partner organizations, and its residents must focus to achieve this goal. These emphasis areas represent an evidence-based approach to reducing fatal and serious injury crashes. They are based on a review of crash data in Clackamas County and best practices from local, national, and international sources. Notably the emphasis areas align with those of Toward Zero Deaths: A National Strategy on Highway Safety , of which the county is a proud partner, and the Oregon Transportation Safety Action Plan, 2021.

Thousands of people are involved in traffic crashes in Clackamas County each year, and dozens of families are faced with the tragedy of severe crashes that cause potentially life-threatening injuries or even death. We are committed, as a county, to tackle the challenge of eliminating severe crashes by collaborating among our agencies and partnering with community stakeholders and nonprofit associations. This collective multipronged approach will advance our shared goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries on Clackamas County roads by 2035.

This Transportation Safety Action Plan (TSAP) is a starting point and a dynamic framework for moving forward. Preventable serious injuries and deaths from traffic crashes pose a public health concern to all who live, work, play, and travel through Clackamas County. This TSAP builds on data driven strategies to increase health outcomes by improving the built environment and engaging county residents to help build a community that supports a healthy culture of safety. Everyone in Clackamas County has a vital role in preventing crashes. We ask you to embrace the affirmation that TRAFFIC SAFETY STARTS WITH ME!

Throughout this plan you’ll find opportunities to take action and help us in our Drive to Zero.

Projects funded through the Community Road Fund increase safety, relieve congestion and maintain local roads.

Quick Facts

What is the countywide vehicle registration fee?

The vehicle registration fee is a consistent source of local, countywide revenue that allows us to complete projects most important to our residents and businesses. Revenue from the fee funds the Community Road Fund program.

• Fees collected can only be used for road projects in Clackamas County.
• Clackamas’ vehicle registration fee is $30/year for most passenger vehicles ($2.50/month) and $15/year for motorcycles.
• In April 2022, the Board of Commissioners approved reducing the county fee for utility and travel trailers to $5/year. The lower fee is expected to go into effect by January 2023.
• Funds from the vehicle registration fee are dedicated to the county (50%), cities in the county (40%, distributed according to population) and strategic county-city partnership projects (10%, see Strategic Investment Fund in project list).

Clackamas County was the only county in the Portland metropolitan area without a local source of funds to maintain its roads and build improvements. With the most miles of roads, Clackamas County continues to receive the lowest amount of funding to maintain and improve roads, bridges, bike lanes, sidewalks, traffic signals and more. 

Videos

On Jan. 28, 2020 the OGLO Policy Committee took the following actions:

• Accepted the final report of the feasibility study
• Recommended the following next steps:
  • Take no further action on the proposed bridge alignments given the political realities with the recent withdrawal of the City of Lake Oswego from the process and that the current landing points are not supported by the communities at this time, and
  • Study pedestrian/bicycle crossings of the Willamette River on public or private land north and south of the City of Lake Oswego, consistent with adopted Clackamas County Transportation System Plan Project #2022 that identifies the project area for the bridge as being Sellwood to Oregon City.

Final Report (accepted by Policy Committee Jan. 28, 2020)

Executive Summary & Report
Appendices A-D
Appendices E-G

Policy Committee Meeting #4 - Jan. 28, 2020
Press release - Jan. 28, 2020