City Council Approves Agreement with ODOT for I-5/Wilsonville Road Interchange
At the Oct. 16, 2017, Wilsonville City Council meeting, the Council approved an agreement with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT) for a construction project to modify the I-5/Wilsonville Road interchange Exit 283 southbound freeway on-ramp. The approximately $700,000 project adds a third stacking lane to the metered I-5 on-ramp in order to increase capacity to hold vehicles waiting to enter the freeway during evening rush-hour.
The project is part of three congestion-improvement projects totaling an estimated $900,000 in the I-5/Wilsonville Road/Boones Ferry Road intersection area designed to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion. The other two projects include lengthening the southbound Boones Ferry Road double left-turn lanes onto eastbound Wilsonville Road, which is complete; and reconstructing the southern, signalized entrance/exit to Old Town Square/Fred Meyer shopping center to include a second travel lane on northbound Boones Ferry Road between the exit/entrance and Wilsonville Road. Discussion also covered signing “No Turn on Red” during evening rush-hour for right-turn movements from northbound Boones Ferry Road onto eastbound Wilsonville Road in order to improve traffic flow through the intersection.
During Communications portion of the meeting, Dr. Nagi Naganathan, new President of the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT), introduced himself to the City Council and presented an update on Oregon Tech’s educational and workforce-preparation programs. He reported that 98 percent of OIT graduates are employed or continuing their education within six months of graduation and achieve some of the highest average starting-salaries in the state. Dr. Naganathan also noted that he seeks to improve students’ overall skill sets so that real-world business and financial matters are incorporated into the polytechnic, engineering and healthcare college curriculum.
Also during Communications Wilsonville Public Library Director Pat Duke presented on library operations and planning. He reported that the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) project was complete, which involved inserting RFID tags into each item of the 130,000-piece collection that results in quicker check-out of materials by library patrons and faster check-in processing by staff.
During Citizen Input, based on a resident’s request, the Council asked staff to review allowable uses of industrial-zoned properties to see if a gymnastic business could qualify for occupancy.
Mayor Tim Knapp with Council concurrence appointed Denise Downs to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to fill an unexpired term that ends Dec. 31, 2019.
Under City Manager’s Business, City Manager Bryan Cosgrove gave the third quarter update on staff progress on achieving 2017-18 City Council goals and administrative directives.
During work session prior to the meeting, the Council discussed public-safety and environmental issues related to a proposed letter to be sent to Kinder Morgan regarding the company’s natural-gas and petroleum-products underground pipelines in the Wilsonville vicinity. The Council heard reports from City staff on proposed SMART bus-stop improvements, including new shelters and digital next-bus-schedule displays, and on the proposed I-5/Wilsonville Road/Boone Ferry Road intersection area congestion-mitigation road projects. The Council nominated City Councilor Charlotte Lehan for appointment by Governor Kate Brown to serve on the new Willamette Falls Locks Commission authorized by Senate Bill 256 passed in the 2017 legislative session.
Community members can watch a replay of all or a portion of the City Council meeting on Comcast/Xfinity Ch. 30, Frontier Ch. 32 or on the City’s video-on-demand service at www.ci.wilsonville.or.us/WilsonvilleTV
