Sherwood councilors begin scoping update to 20-year Transportation System Plan, prioritize school safety and connectivity

The Sherwood City Council spent its Jan. 18 work session reviewing scoping questions for an update to the city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP), with consultants and councilors emphasizing school-zone safety, filling sidewalk and trail gaps, and planning Sherwood West in parallel with the TSP update.

Joy Chang, a transportation consultant who returned from retirement to help lead the update, told the council “we are in the process of doing the scoping work for the transportation system plan update.” Phil, a presenter from Kittelson and Associates, said the consultant team expects roughly an 18–21 month effort and noted the group would return multiple times for council guidance.

The council and participants prioritized immediate safety work around elementary schools and other pedestrian-heavy locations as a top evaluation criterion for projects. Members repeatedly raised the need to map and close short sidewalk gaps and to use GIS to identify “low-hanging fruit” projects that would let more students walk safely to school. Staff confirmed sidewalk data and ADA inventories will be shared with the consultant.

Councilors and residents discussed three overlapping transportation systems in Sherwood: local streets, a recreational network of trails and regional connections that carry commuters through town on Highway 99 and other arterials. Several speakers criticized the design priorities on 99, saying state-controlled improvements favor throughput for freight and regional traffic over pedestrian safety in local access points. One council member observed that ODOT improvements can create long turn-queue lanes “with no solution for what that means when you turn into Sunset,” and said that coordination with ODOT will be essential.

Participants asked the TSP to include scenario planning for Sherwood West and to anticipate where future high‑volume roads and safe crossings (including underpasses/overpasses) should be located so new construction does not split neighborhoods. Staff said the Sherwood West comprehensive-plan process will run parallel to the TSP and the two efforts will “form each other” as they proceed.

The consultant and council also discussed non-infrastructure elements that should be in the TSP: revised policies about emerging vehicle classes (electric-assist bicycles and other powered two-wheelers), formal approaches for counting pedestrian and bicycle use at critical locations, and performance metrics to prioritize projects. Phil told the council, “If we only had 11 questions, that’s about 4 minutes per question,” and said the team will return with suggested goal updates and an evaluation framework for scoring projects.

Staff outlined next steps: a project website is live, applications for a citizen advisory committee will open the week after the meeting for a three‑week recruitment window, and the city plans a technical advisory committee of outside agencies (including ODOT and Washington County) to inform the TSP. City staff said their target advisory committee size is 12–15 members. The consultant reiterated the TSP’s 20-year planning horizon and said the final TSP will identify a long list of projects (a large appendix) with a shorter prioritized list for near-term (5‑year) implementation.

No formal motions or votes were taken during the scoping discussion. Councilors directed staff to share GIS sidewalk layers with the consultant, involve the school district in the safety analysis and technical advisory work, and to recruit a diverse citizen advisory committee. The council asked the consultant to return with refined goals and a project‑ranking framework that incorporates safety, number of people served and funding eligibility.

Background and context: speakers repeatedly noted Sherwood’s compact, family-focused character — one councilor said the city is about 4 square miles with nearly 21,000 residents — and warned regional commute traffic through Highway 99 increases pressure on local streets. The TSP update will be used to guide capital improvement program (CIP) priorities and to prepare projects for grant competitiveness.

Looking ahead, the consultant said the TSP will include pedestrian, bicycle, motor vehicle and freight elements, and staff said project eligibility and potential funding sources (transportation system development charges, state and federal grants, Metro allocations) will be evaluated as part of prioritization. Councilors asked that the final plan keep a long “menu” of potential projects in an appendix rather than present a long unfunded wish list in front‑page materials.