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County commissioner: ODOT's right-turn diverter is routing traffic onto Middleton gravel road, creating safety and maintenance problems
Summary
Washington County Commissioner Jason Snyder told Sherwood council that an ODOT-mandated right-turn diverter on Highway 99 and online mapping have redirected vehicles onto a roughly half-mile stretch of Middleton Drive (a gravel county road). County staff have done counts; paving was estimated at about $500,000 and short-term measures like a four-way stop or blockade are being explored.
Washington County Commissioner Jason Snyder told the Sherwood City Council on Dec. 2 that a right-turn-only diverter ODOT required on Highway 99 has redirected traffic onto a half-mile gravel stretch south of the Sherwood urban growth boundary near Middleton Drive, increasing speed and volume on a road not built for that level of use.
"There's about a half mile area of gravel road that is just getting really misused at this point from both a speed and a traffic count perspective," Snyder said. He told council and staff the county's land use and transportation team has done car counts and found the road deteriorates quickly after maintenance: "The last time it was serviced the gravel was redone ... it was already destroyed 3 days later," he said.
Snyder said the change in traffic patterns stems from the combination of the Highway 99 diverter and the fact that Middleton is gravel and currently the fastest Google-mapped route south. County staff estimate a full paving of the stretch would cost about $500,000, an amount Snyder characterized as difficult to justify spread across the nearby new-home developments.
Council members and board chairs at the meeting discussed short- and long-term options. Possible near-term measures included installing a four-way stop at the dangerous two-way-stop intersection on Middleton, temporary blockades to deter through-traffic from the city side, or more active enforcement. Longer-term options discussed were paving the road, closing it to through traffic, or seeking an ODOT modification to allow left turns where the diverter is currently required.
Snyder said the road is a county-maintained facility and that the county has contacted mapping providers and Sherwood staff about mitigation. He acknowledged that any ODOT-involved solution will take longer to implement: "As soon as we look at ODOT-oriented solutions, time cost is going to go way up," he said.
City staff indicated an exchange of emails is already underway (Snyder referenced an email from Steven Roberts) and that public works and county staff will coordinate on potential short-term engineering fixes while exploring longer-term remedies with ODOT. Snyder closed his remarks by asking the city to treat the issue as a priority for staff follow-up; no formal council action or vote was recorded at the meeting.
Next steps: city and county public-works staff will evaluate near-term traffic-control options and continue communications with ODOT and mapping providers; the council requested regular updates as solutions are developed.
