Wilsonville Spokesman Online

City awarded $800,000 for Tooze Road improvements

• By: Patrick Johnson  
• Published: 2/23/2010 1:19:22 PM

Wilsonville is one of a few cities in the Portland metro region to receive money for transportation projects from a recent spending bill which passed Congress late last year.

As part of that bill, Wilsonville will receive $800,000 in federal transportation funds for construction and improvement of Tooze Road. That will help complete the larger Boeckman Road extension project across the Coffee Lake wetlands by widening the current two-lane Tooze Road to three lanes between 110th Avenue to Grahams Ferry Road.

It also will improve the intersection with the Grahams Ferry Road freight route, and add bicycle and pedestrian connections to a regional trail system, which is a Metro regional government goal. The total cost is $5.5 million.

Mark Ottenad, public and government affairs director said recently the project will help meet the needs of Villebois residents. He also said it will improve connectivity between Sherwood, Newberg and Wilsonville for both commuters and freight traffic, as it is also in the vicinity of the city’s Coffee Creek Industrial Park.

In addition to improving public safety for cyclists and pedestrians, the project facilitates the efficient movement of freight for the growing West Wilsonville/Coffee Creek industrial area by creating a safer route located away from Villebois, to be composed of 2,400 residential units with a population of 7,500 or more at build-out.

The intersection of Tooze/Boeckman and Grahams Ferry roads is also located in the vicinity of a proposed new West Linn-Wilsonville School District elementary school that will serve Villebois; the improved roadway increases pedestrian and public safety.

“The City of Wilsonville is most appreciative of the members of our Congressional delegation for their prioritizing of this important project that improves public safety for pedestrians and drivers and facilitates the movement of freight,” Mayor Tim Knapp said in the press release.

Looking ahead
Community Development Director Michael Bowers said that the project doesn’t have full funding and that the federal money awarded most likely will go to right-of-way purchase and engineering.

“That project is also going to be funded by Villebois developers and until their project gets closer to the road, it probably won’t go forward,” Bowers said. “It is a several year project at this point. There is no purpose to build that road until all of the team members are in place.”

The Tooze Road project was one out four Portland metro-area transportation projects to receive non-programmatic appropriations funding, out of a total of 29 Metro-area projects competing for federal funds. The four projects in the Oregon portion of the greater metro area to receive funding are Sellwood Bridge project with $1.3 million, Columbia River Crossing received $1 million, Willamette Locks was awarded $900,000 and the Tooze Road project.

The Wilsonville Tooze Road project was one of three transportation projects in Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District represented by Canby Democrat Kurt Schrader, to receive funding, which also included the Willamette Locks and the Mill Creek Industrial Park project in Salem.

“This (project) means jobs and more economic development opportunities for the Wilsonville area,” said Schrader. “Traffic congestion has been a major concern in the Wilsonville community for years. It slows and frustrates the commuting of residents and hurts local businesses. This funding will create immediate construction jobs in the region and lead to an easier flow of goods and services and a better business environment with more jobs in the future.”

Courtney Warner-Crowell, deputy communications director for Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office, said that he believes strongly in helping to provide transportation funds to improve infrastructure to facilitate the creation of jobs.

“He is pleased the city of Wilsonville will be able to improve an important thoroughfare and create jobs when the area needs them most,” Warner-Crowell said. “Also the Senator believes that working with local officials to meet the community needs is a critical component of his job.”

The federal money award to Wilsonville is part of a $446.8 billion bill that provides $75.7 billion in funding for the federal Department of Transportation.

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