How bad will rail line make Tualatin traffic?
Traffic mitigation would include updating traffic signal timings on Tualatin-Sherwood Road
By Jennifer Clampet 
TUALATIN – If you’re worried that Washington County commuter rail will make traffic worse in the city of Tualatin, you’re probably right.
According to a supplemental final transportation impact analysis submitted by TriMet for its land-use application in Tualatin, commuter rail is expected to add an average increased delay of up to 29 seconds on Tualatin-Sherwood Road and up to 25 seconds at the Nyberg Street railroad intersections during the peak evening rush hour. The railroad crossing arms will be down for an estimated 50 seconds total for each commuter train passing. Trains will run every thirty minutes in the morning and evening rush hours – from 5:30 to 10 a.m. and 3:30 to 7 p.m.
But a traffic analysis submitted by TriMet noted that the delays from the commuter trains were comparable to that of normal freight traffic on the tracks, which last anywhere from 50 seconds to five minutes. The analysis also noted that the traffic generated from the Park & Ride station will have minimal impact on the traffic signal delays and queues at the intersections of Tualatin-Sherwood Road and Boones Ferry Road during the peak evening hour of 5 to 6 p.m.
The peak evening-hour delays expected to be created at the Boones Ferry Road and eastbound Nyberg Street intersection will be cleared within two signal cycles, according to the analysis.
The latter traffic analysis, however, is not cooling the concerns of Haggen Food & Pharmacy representatives. Representatives for the Tualatin store– which is just to the west of the proposed site of the Tualatin commuter rail station – are worried that the station’s location will have a negative impact on traffic and pedestrian safety at the Nyberg Street intersection.
Haggen hired The Transpo Group to research and analyze TriMet’s first traffic impact study completed in June 2006. Transpo President Bruce Halders told Haggen representatives in a letter dated Jan. 11 that TriMet’s proposed station design was “severely constrained and had a high potential to create functional issues related to access, circulation and parking…”
Halders’ letter also touched on what he called “a very aggressive (i.e. unlikely) set of assumptions” used in initial studies. One of the main “assumptions” Haldor referred to was from a 2001 final environmental assessment that assumes that 33 percent of commuter riders would drive to the station and the other 67 percent would either walk or take a bus to the station.
With this assessment, TriMet has only planned for 111 parking spaces at the site. But, TriMet is expecting closer to 300 residents from Tualatin to use the commuter rail.
Haggen representatives are worried that the effects of the commuter rail station will be larger than TriMet expects.
TriMet has scheduled another public meeting on the Tualatin commuter rail station March 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Tualatin High School. And not surprisingly, Haggen is using its informational campaign to alert its 1,200 supporters that it too will hold a public meeting at the high school on the same night and time.
Haggen began waging its campaign against the TriMet Tualatin station site back in January. The commuter rail project, a $117.3 million, 14.7-mile commuter rail that stretches between Beaverton and Wilsonville, has been in the works for the last 10 years and just broke ground in October. TriMet officials expect the rail to open in late 2008.
TriMet’s supplemental traffic analysis, which was prepared by DKS Associates, gives three traffic mitigation measures that it will pursue.
One mitigation measure is holding the southbound train until a reasonable time in the signal cycles so that traffic impacts are minimized.
And perhaps not surprisingly, the analysis for Tualatin-Sherwood Road also found that the overall traffic flow on the street could be improved by simply updating the coordinated traffic signal timing, which would mean using longer cycle lengths. According to the study, the existing signal timing was installed more than 10 years ago and apparently hasn’t changed even as traffic on the road has steadily increased.