September 25, 2007

More parking, better traffic circulation at Tualatin Commuter Rail Station

Parties resolve outstanding issues

TriMet, Haggen Food & Pharmacy and ZIAN Limited Partnership have agreed on a parking and circulation plan for the Washington County Commuter Rail Tualatin Station that boosts parking and streamlines circulation. The plan has been presented to the city of Tualatin and is the subject of the Sept. 26th Architectural Review Board hearing.

TriMet, Haggen and ZIAN have been working together for several months to address issues regarding parking, traffic and safety. The new design includes:

• 44 new parking spaces added adjacent to the commuter rail station, bringing the total to 155 parking spaces. These spaces, located on the north end, can be used by both commuter rail riders and visitors to the Hedges Green Retail Center. The 155 parking spaces exceeds ridership demand projected through 2020.
• The entrance to the park & ride at SW Nyberg Road was moved 50' west, to ease congestion and improve safety.
• Traffic flow between the north and south parking lot was redesigned to optimize circulation and increase safety.

"By continuing to work on these issues, we ended up with a better design and a better project that works for both riders and visitors to the retail center," said TriMet deputy project manager Steve Witter."Both Haggen and ZIAN were critical partners in this effort and their commitment shows in the results."

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.