June 12, 2007
Work begins on Lombard, plus weekend closures in Tigard & Tualatin
Construction on the 14.7-mile Washington County Commuter Rail is underway. To date, approximately 14 miles of track and 7 out of 11 public intersections have been reconstructed.
Lombard Realignment in Beaverton
Lombard Ave, between Farmington Road and Broadway St, will be realigned, in partnership with Washington County through its Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program and the TriMet/Washington County Commuter Rail Project.
connection, a short spur track will be constructed along SW Lombard Ave from SW Farmington Rd to the transit center. Construction to add 2,000 feet of track and realign Lombard Ave for commuter rail will occur at the same time.
The first phase of the project began June 5th with the permanent closure of the block-long Old Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway. Traffic is rerouted to Broadway St, Lombard Ave and Farmington Rd. Crews are demolishing and grading between Farmington Road and Broadway St. The second phase of the project will include the demolition of existing Lombard Ave, relocating utilities and paving. Work on Lombard between Farmington Road and Broadway St is scheduled to be completed in early fall.
Hedges Wetland Bridge in Tualatin
Construction of the railroad-only bridge in Tualatin is scheduled to begin on Friday, June 8th. Pile driving and other construction activities will take place Tuesdays through Fridays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. through September.
SW North Dakota St & SW Tiedeman Rd in Tigard
Work will close the intersections from Friday, June 22nd at 7 p.m. to Monday, June 25th at 5 a.m. Crews will remove existing rail, install new rail and resurface the intersections. Traffic will be detoured around the construction zones using SW Greenburg, SW Pacific Hwy, SW Tigard and SW 115th. Motorists can expect some delays.
Tualatin North Railroad Bridge
From Friday, June 22nd at 7 p.m. to Monday, June 25th at 5 a.m. crews will perform the second half of the bridge replacement at the Tualatin North Railroad Bridge. Crews will be removing sections of the old bridge, replacing the deck and track and closing the pedestrian underpass.
About the project
Washington County Commuter Rail will use existing freight tracks to provide commuter rail service to Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville when it opens in September 2008. It is the first commuter rail line in Oregon, and among a handful of suburb-to-suburb commuter lines in the country. When complete it will connect to the Beaverton Transit Center with nearly a dozen bus lines, and MAX Blue and Red lines as well as bus service at each station.