One of the projects in Forest Grove expected this year, courtesy Washington County LUT
The Oregon Department of Transportation published an online open house featuring the state agency’s construction plans for Oregon in 2022. A number of projects will be in the Highway 26 corridor and near Banks, but for Gales Creek, most major construction projects fall just outside of the Gales Creek Journal’s territory.
Here are the ones most likely to snarl the average Gales Creek commuter’s route.
The online open house can be viewed until February 1, 2022.
Watts
A bridge replacement project on Stringtown Road less than a mile south of Gales Creek Road over Prickett Creek was slated for construction this summer. No longer, the county says.
Already postponed from an original project date of summer 2019, the hopes to build it this summer won’t pan out. On November 16, 2021, the county added a note to the project website. “We have paused project design until other project designs are completed.”
Construction is now slated for July through October of 2023.
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Forest Grove
Anyone headed to Forest Grove from Gales Creek will want to pay attention to the Gales Creek Road and Thatcher Road intersection project.
Scheduled to start May 2022 and complete in the summer of 2023, it’s a hefty redesign of the intersection.
The county will realign the intersection to improve sight distance, prepare the site for a planned traffic signal—not part of this project—to be installed at a later date.
Another project in Forest Grove is the $10.2 million Martin Road at Highway 47 project. Citing an increase in freight and commercial traffic, Washington County Land Use and Transportation plans to build a roundabout, widen shoulders on Martin Road extending south to the new roundabout. Two culverts carrying Council Creek under Martin Road will also be replaced.
Work there is expected to begin this spring, with some utility work expected this month. It’s scheduled to finish this fall.
The cost of the project is split between the county’s Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program and the city of Forest Grove.
Banks Area
Read our story at the Banks Post for four projects coming to the Banks area this year.
Other road work and closures from the state and county can be found on Tripcheck.com and wc-roads.com, respectively.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
