Pedestrian & Road Safety Update

May 3

There is a lot of short-term and long-term work being done in the city to address pedestrian safety.

You may have noticed rubber tubes stretching across Sunset, Elwert, and Edy roads. These are traffic counters. The data from these counters inform short and long-term efforts to improve safety on these roads.

Here is a summary of just some of the efforts underway.

Edy Road Bettween Elwert and 99W

We are working with Washington County to lower speed limits on Edy from 45mph to 35mph. The traffic data we collect is critical to getting cooperation from Washington County and ODOT for those changes. It would be an understatement to say that ODOT and the county make it challenging to change their roads, even when they are in Sherwood and pass by our schools. However, we are working hard to accelerate this effort.

School zones and Safety on Elwert around High School

We are also working with the county to re-evaluate the school zone placements around the high school. We pressed the county on some of these safety issues when they built the new road and traffic circle without much luck. However, we are optimistic with new traffic data; we will be more successful in working with the county on these safety concerns moving forward.

Crosswalk at Sunset and Trimble

The intersection at Sunset and Trimble is also a concern. We have had multiple incidents of speeding, cars ignoring the crosswalks, and drivers ignoring crossing guards when kids are crossing. Increased commuter cut-through traffic on Sunset and drivers going to and from the high school are driving these safety challenges. The good news is this is a city road, so we will be able to move faster to resolve issues. In the short term, you can expect to see temporary speed trailers in and around Sunset and Trimble and additional patrols by the Sherwood Police Department to address speeding and drivers ignoring the crosswalk. Longer-Term, more permanent solutions are being evaluated by our traffic safety committee and the engineering team at the city.

The Big Picture

Our engineering department and citizen traffic safety committee are looking at solutions to safety issues at these crosswalks and others, including but not limited to safety concerns on Sunset as traffic increases on that road.

Please feel free to reach out to our Traffic Safety Committee (TSC) if you have additional safety concerns. We created this committee, so the community has a voice on these issues. I have posted the links for the committee, complaint forms, agendas, and meeting minutes.

Please check out the latest agenda for the committee; it includes a chart of all the different safety concerns that the committee is addressing at this point.

Please feel free to reach out if you have questions or ideas.

Just for fun and for those of you that enjoy reading about bureaucracy, I included the 12-step process we have to go through with Washington County and ODOT to make the simple change to lower the speed limit.

Everything in Bold is either an individual, panel, or team that works for ODOT or the County.

Roadway Authority makes a written request of ODOT District/Regional Manager for a Speed Zone Change. Both City and County will be making this request together.
The request, if complete and accepted, is forwarded to Regional Traffic Engineer who conducts a speed zone investigation. Results are a written report of conditions with recommendations.
Regional Traffic Engineer’s recommendation is sent to Traffic Engineering & Operations Section for review, comment, and recommendation.
TEO’s staff reviews the investigation provides edits, then when satisfied with the results forwards to State Traffic Engineer for review and approval.
State Traffic Engineer reviews all reports, and recommendations and then decides on approval or denial.
City/County are notified of the State Traffic Engineer’s determination with a request for the response of concurrence.
If City/County concurs with determination, a Speed Zone Order is issued if the request is approved. A Speed Zone Order will not be issued if City/County concurs with the denial of determination.
If City/County does not concur with the determination, State Traffic Engineer staff will work to try and resolve the issue so that concurrence can be given.
If City/County cannot come to concurrence with determination and resolution of the issue, even with ODOT staff involvement, then the issue is sent to the Speed Zone Review Panel (SZRP) which reviews the investigation materials and hears any objections.
The SZRP makes a final determination.