As Intel expands its Hillsboro campus, adding hundreds of high-tech jobs and investing billions of dollars in cutting edge research, city and regional agencies are working together to invest in existing roads to make it easier for people to get to work and home.
Metro recently expedited approval of federal and state air quality reviews to help a package of road improvements stay on pace to be finished in time for the expected opening of Intel's D1X facility next year.
The projects will make it easier for residents to get to jobs in the Hillsboro area while maintaining the region's clean air, said Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette, chair of a transportation committee that controls federal investments in the three-county area.
"This project shows that we can grow the economy while preserving the transportation investments that are so important to the quality of life we all enjoy," Collette said.
Hillsboro Public Works has picked a firm to design a second right turn lane from northbound Cornelius Pass Road onto eastbound U.S. 26. But a few months ago, it was far from certain whether the city would be able to select a firm that quickly.
The $1 million project wasn't listed in the region's 2035 Regional Transportation Plan, adopted two years ago. Hillsboro wasn't sure it could expect to get $1 million for the turn lane, linking a county road to a state highway, so officials didn't include it on the project list in the regional plan. But when Intel and the Oregon Department of Transportation found money for the project last year, it was time to add it in.
Just add it to be the plan and be done, right? Not so fast.
Four years in the making, the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan tells federal and state authorities what the Portland area expects to build in the next 25 years, given reasonable financial constraints.'
It takes months to add a project to the regional plan. Adding a project requires a review of how it fits with regional goals; agreement by federal and state agencies air quality will remain within standards; a 30-day public comment period and votes by the Metro Council and the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation.
The biggest thing that could blow the project schedule? A sophisticated air quality study that could take weeks of computer and staff brainpower and cost more than $10,000. It could take months for Metro's modeling staff to finish other projects and start reviewing this one.
For two weeks in November, Metro planners were in daily contact with state and federal reviewers. A quick analysis by Metro found that adding a second Cornelius Pass turn lane wouldn't harm air quality because a ramp meter moderates the flow of traffic onto the Sunset Highway.
Federal and state reviewers weren't so sure. At one point, it looked like they would require an in-depth air quality study.
In the end, reviewers from the Federal Highway Administration agreed that an in-depth study wasn't necessary. To make most efficient use of staff time, Metro packaged the Cornelius Pass project with some minor changes to other projects and put them all out together for public comment Dec. 7.
In two weeks, Metro wrapped it all up: the comment period ended Jan. 5; a recommendation from the region's transportation technical committee came the next day; transportation policymakers agreed to it Jan. 12; the Metro Council gave the final OK Jan. 19.
The project won unanimous approval of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation Jan. 12.
"That is a great project in Hillsboro, for one of our major employers," said County Commissioner Roy Rogers, a longtime JPACT member. "We're looking very fondly on this project. We appreciate the regional transportation plan being amended."
Learn more about the amendments to the Regional Transportation Plan
Learn more about the Regional Transportation Plan
Learn more about the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation