Raleigh Crest / Alpenrose site updates

Drive down Shattuck Road, and you’ll see the landscape changing at the old Alpenrose Dairy site, almost by the hour. Gone are all of the dairy buildings, and the open fields are dotted with mounds of dirt and heavy equipment. Over the last month, excavators and graders have been leveling out roadways, and diggers have been carving trenches for sewer and utility lines for the new Raleigh Crest development.

At the monthly “Good Neighbor” meeting on June 3, development managers from AKS Engineering reported on the construction schedule updates for this summer:

Utilities and curbs

Stormwater and utility conduits will be installed on SW Shattuck Road the week of June 8. Traffic control will run along Shattuck and will be needed at times near SW Pendleton Court during that week.

The stormwater connection across SW Dover Street will be installed between June 18 and 26.

Construction of onsite curbs will also begin in June.

The City of Portland will be connecting the water main at SW Illinois, which will require a road closure.This should be a one-day project—the exact date is not yet known.

Home construction is expected to begin in early fall.

Red ElectricTrail and Shattuck pathway

The foundation is in place for the new Red Electric Trail. The Holt Homes landscaping team will design the transition from Shattuck to the trail. 

The multi-use pathway along Shattuck will no longer have the two-foot landscape buffer between the walkway and bikeway due to future maintenance needs. The current plan is to create a wider buffer of street trees and water catchment planted with the City of Portland’s choice of native plants between Shattuck traffic lanes and the path.

Shattuck Road speed cushions

Meanwhile, Hayhurst Neighborhood Association is still advocating with the City of Portland to install speed cushions along SW Shattuck Road. Board members are communicating with Portland Fire Chief Lauren Johnson, who expressed reservations about adding the bumps, due to Shattuck’s status as a Major Emergency Response Route. Chief Johnson stated, “Installing speed cushions on a Major Emergency Response Route that only has one lane each way, no improved shoulders, and no room for cars to pull off onto a shoulder can really slow Fire responses.This area of Portland already experiences longer response times and I am concerned about additional delays.” The city’s transportation bureau will continue to look for ways to make the street and intersections safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, and they are making plans for crosswalk striping and sidewalks at the intersection of Shattuck and SW Illinois. Read the Fire Chief’s letter to Hayhurst N.A. here.

But, as Hayhurst Neighborhood Association Board member Alissa Cattone noted in a response to the Chief, “These updates don’t appear to go far enough, particularly to keep children safe. We are very concerned about the currently perilous conditions on SW Shattuck Road, and at the SW 60th/Illinois/Shattuck intersection in the Hayhurst neighborhood that aren’t adequately being addressed.” Cattone and other neighbors point to the existing Shattuck Road speed cushions to the north of Hayhurst in the Bridlemile neighborhood between Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway and SW Patton Road, which were constructed with gaps to ease emergency vehicle travel.

Here is the current intersection crosswalk plan at SW Shattuck and Illinois/ 60th:

Note: Hayhurst eighborhood Assoctiation holds a reserve fund to conduct a traffic study of the area surrounding Raleigh Crest development. The study will be done once Phase 1 of the development is occupied and a real-time assessment of actual increased traffic is possible. Neighbors are invited to participate in discussions about SW transportation issues at the monthly Hayhurst N.A. meetings.

Submit your thoughts about the SW Shattuck Road traffic developments to Marita Ingalsbe, Hayhurst N.A. Chair, at hayhurstna@gmail.com.