Improvements to a key arterial in Tigard are in the works. A team is redesigning Southwest 72nd Avenue from Oregon Route 99W to Oregon Route 217, in the Tigard Triangle.

The current project will take the design to 30 percent completion for the north section of 72nd Avenue (from 99W to Dartmouth Street) and to 10 percent completion for the south section (from Dartmouth Street to 217). Kittelson & Associates was hired by the city through a qualifications-based solicitation to assist with the early design efforts.

The 72nd Avenue Corridor Study was completed in 2020, Tigard principal transportation planner Tiffany Gehrke said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. From that study, the city redeveloped the basic concept of the project based on community members’ feedback. They asked for safe walking and biking options, protected bicycle lanes, and on-street parking.

During the planning phase a new roadway design concept was identified for 72nd Avenue to transform the busy road into a multimodal street. Proposed design elements include a sidewalk, a protected bicycle lane, a landscaping buffer, one travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane, and on-street parking on both sides of the street. Proposed intersection improvements include a protected intersection, pedestrian crossings, future transit stops, curb extensions, green bike lane extensions, high visibility crosswalks, and lighting.

Future transit service by TriMet is proposed along 72nd Avenue/Dartmouth Street. Future transit stops would be designed per TriMet standards.

New pedestrian crossing locations would include the future Red Rock Creek Trail, future Atlanta Street, between Baylor Street and Clinton Street, and Elmhurst Street.

The project team anticipates completing 30 percent design plans of the north section, which will cost around $25 million. The team in February applied for a federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant to cover the cost of that work. The team expects to hear back by the end of June on the possible grant award.

In the project’s next phase, design will be completed, and a contractor will be selected, according to Courtney Furman, principal engineer for the city of Tigard. Currently, construction is not funded in Tigard’s Capital Improvement Plan. The schedule for the next phase will depend on whether the city secures grant funding.

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