Washington County Commuter Rail

TIGARD is getting a Washington County commuter rail which seems great for those who’d like to leave the SUV at home but for those who already live and work on the streets that it could possibly show up, it can mean a permanent commute out of Tigard.

One of the proposed stops on this line is 74^th/Bonita but because there is a train crossing near there already they are thinking banning left turns on Bonita, by way of a median to avoid traffic back-ups on the train tracks. The problem is that there are many long-standing, small businesses on these streets that would be negatively impacted by limiting the access to their buildings. Some of these businesses have large trucks that have to do regular deliveries, often during rush hour. The other street option is Durham and if you haven’t see Durham during rush hour, check it out and you’ll see why that is not an attractive option.

Some of the businesses are saying that they have paid thousands in traffic impact fees that could easily be put toward a light at the 74^th/Bonita intersection. The tempers certainly were not dampened by the fact that no one from ODOT showed up to the meeting to discuss possibilities.

Tigard City Engineer Gus Duenas suggested that the 74th property owners could form a local improvement district to pay for the signal. Some feel this would be unfair simply because the local business owners weren’t even asked if they would like to have a commuter train there. It’s is hard to feel that your voice is being heard when these issues aren’t even brought up till the very last minute, the line is scheduled to start running in a little more than a year.

Worse case scenario local businesses get driven out of Tigard, then where would these commuter trains be going?

http://www.tigardtimes.com/news/story.php?story_id=118722958772203800

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