Multnomah County proceeds with intersection realignment

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Jun 4, 2004 by Jessica Swanson

A major intersection realignment with a ten-year history involving Multnomah County, the city of Gresham and grocery chain Albertson's is finally under construction this spring.

The aim of the $5 million project is to reduce safety hazards and untangle a confusing intersection. In addition, it will create a new five-acre parcel of developable land for the grocery store, which has since partially backed away from the project, according to the county.

Multnomah County principal planner Ed Abrahamson, who has been with the project since the beginning, said trying to get Albertson's to step up to their agreements to help fund the project and relocate some nearby businesses has slowed down the process. Neither Multnomah County, nor the partner city of Gresham, is sure what Albertson's will do with the parcel when it's finished, but years of accidents and heavy congestion on Orient Drive and 257th Avenue have forced the municipalities to get construction underway.

After Albertson's got involved, the project was much more comprehensive but the end result would be a much better alignment of all these roads - and the total realignment would give them a developable parcel to put a store on, said Abrahamson.

The construction

The project, led by general contractor Dirt & Aggregate Interchange of Fairview, will create a number of new roads, while connecting and improving others and doing away with Orient Drive altogether. Utilities and traffic signals will also be added in places. Construction is expected to last at least until November, with intermittent intersection and road closures. Contractors will:

* Realign 257th Avenue (also known as Kane Road) south from Powell Valley Road and join it with Orient Drive.

* Widen 257th Avenue between Powell and Orient Drive from two to five lanes in this section.

* Realign Palmquist Road and 14th Street to create 90-degree intersections with Orient Drive.

* Widen Palmquist Road from two lanes to seven lanes between U.S Highway 26 and Orient Drive.

* Construct a new section of 11th Street connecting 257th Avenue with U.S. Highway 26.

* Install traffic signals at the intersections of 257th Avenue and 11th Street as well as Orient Drive and Palmquist Road.

* Replace the signal at Palmquist Road and U.S. Highway 26.

* Install a new 12-inch water line beneath 257th Avenue, between 11th Street and Powell Valley Road.

This is one of the heaviest impact road construction projects that the county has done for a number of years, said Mike Pullen, spokesman for Multnomah County.

The history

The project, which finally began construction in late April, had been slowed for a number of reasons.

Abrahamson said that the county started looking at realigning 257th Avenue and Orient Drive 11 years ago because it was an extremely unsafe intersection that was causing significant traffic delays, and because the county owned several of the streets at the site.

City of Gresham civil engineer Mike Green has been managing the project from the city side since 1998. As the project was really taking shape in the late 1990's, accidents at the site were escalating, he said. In fact, the intersection of 257th Avenue and Orient Drive was identified by the city and put on the top of the list for most crash-prone intersections in Gresham, with 2.8 crashed per million vehicles. Another intersection in the realignment, 14th Avenue and Orient Drive, was seventh on the crash list, which compiled data for the three-year period of 1996 to 1999.

We had identified this capital improvement project to deal with the safety issues out there, said Green.

In addition, a state project aligning U.S. Highway 26 with Interstate 84 was in the works, and coordinating the two was a priority. After the state project was dropped due to lack of funds, the county turned its attention to the arterial streets.

As the county was moving toward construction, Albertson's offered to develop the property and help fund an entire reconfiguration of the intersection. They city, the county and the developer signed a project agreement to purchase and develop the parcel which would be created by the intersection and to help relocate area businesses. The county was pleased with the final reconfiguration.

As the project costs escalated, Albertson's, according to Multnomah County, began to waffle on whether it would develop the parcel, slowing planning. Gresham originally brought Albertson's into the deal, but now the chain is dealing directly with Multnomah County.

Moving forward

Green, the Gresham civil engineer, said the parcel is ripe for development.

I'm sure that will be a desirable property for Albertson's, he said. They may change their tune after they get closer and closer (to finishing construction).

An Albertson's spokesman said the grocery chain is still planning to build a store and follow through on agreements with the county, although there is no definitive timeline.

Of the $5 million set aside for the total project, Gresham has contributed $1.4 million, and no funds have come from Albertson's, said Abrahamson. The county's working on finding ways to proceed without the store's contribution and to nail down Albertson's involvement.