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Double fatality accident spurs roundabout in Forest Grove

By: Jeff McDonald//April 10, 2014//

Double fatality accident spurs roundabout in Forest Grove

Jeff McDonald//April 10, 2014//

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Oregon Department of Transportation will build a roundabout at a site near Forest Grove where two Pacific University students were killed in a vehicle crash Monday, an agency spokesman said.

The roundabout would be built at the intersection of Oregon Highway 47 and Northwest Verboort/Purdin Road, where 18-year-old Kiden Dilla and 19-year-old Ayan Osman were killed when their vehicle collided with a truck as they were trying to turn onto the highway.

The project will be placed on a fast track with a contract likely to come out by 2015, said Lou Torres, ODOT’s Region 2 spokesman.

“We feel that after what happened Monday morning, we don’t want that to happen again,” Torres said. “It was a tragic accident. We feel that intersection needs to have a roundabout. Hopefully, we will find a solution in the next year or so.”

ODOT had been studying the intersection and making incremental improvements since 2007, when a crash resulted in the death of a Banks High School student, Torres said.

Some of the changes have included better lighting, signs and right-turn lanes that reduced the number of rear-end crashes at the intersection. ODOT decided against placing signals at the intersection after the agency’s engineers determined they could potentially cause more crashes to occur because of the high-speed nature of the road, Torres said.

The intersection, which consists of a state highway and two county roads, has been in the top 5 percent of crash sites in the state, Torres said.

“There aren’t any real objects out there like a house or a barn so you can kind of see traffic,” he said. “We feel that the roundabout is going to be a good traffic calming measure that will slow traffic from Verboort and Purdin roads.”

No final decision has been reached on the design of the roundabout. ODOT will work with Washington County, Forest Grove and the public to share ideas, Torres said.

The cost of a one-lane roundabout would range from $3 million to $5 million. The cost would increase 30 percent to 50 percent with the addition of a second lane. Funding details are still being determined, but could come from a mix of federal, state and local sources, Torres said.



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