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County outlines Stafford Road improvements, staged closures and signed detours starting as soon as May 1
Summary
Clackamas County briefed the West Linn City Council on the Stafford Road Improvements project—updates include a Childs Road roundabout, Johnson Road realignment, bike lanes and a staged series of full road closures beginning as soon as May 1, with substantial completion expected by winter 2026.
Clackamas County project staff told the West Linn City Council the Stafford Road Improvements project will include a roundabout at Childs Road, a realignment at Johnson Road, fish‑passage culvert replacement and continuous bike lanes along the corridor. County staff said construction bidding is complete and Westech Construction has the contract.
"We are about to move into the road improvement construction portion, and we're proposing a series of road closures along Stafford Road," Jonathan Handgartner, the county project lead, told the council. He said the work involves "tens of thousands of cubic yards of excavation" and that full closures will speed work while improving safety in the constrained corridor.
County traffic engineer Joseph Merrick described the signed detour planning and traffic monitoring approach. Merrick said staff coordinated with Lake Oswego and ODOT and will publish closure information to TripCheck so mapping apps can pick up the detour feeds. He added the team will collect pre‑construction traffic data and monitor impacts during each stage, and that the contractor may propose alternatives to the county’s current staging plan.
Staff presented a tentative schedule: Stage 1 is May 1–July 14; Stage 2 is July 15–Sept 30; then a winter shutdown from October through April 2026, with a second season in 2026 mirroring the closures in reverse. Staff emphasized the dates are tentative and depend on permits and coordinating utility relocations already underway, including a high‑pressure gas relocation managed by Northwest Natural.
Council members welcomed the safety upgrades and the bicycle connections but cautioned that past roundabout installations produced significant short‑term backups. Mayor Bialystoski and others asked staff to maintain robust outreach, including open houses and variable message signs, and offered to help publicize the closures.
Next steps: county staff said they expect a contractor schedule from Westech in the coming weeks and will continue coordination with city staff, emergency services and ODOT. The council was told the project webpage and TripCheck will carry closure notices and real‑time updates.
