Rail Overpass, More Roundabouts for SW 53rd: The Benton County Board of Commissioners will look at a request for a Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant to make improvements to SW 53rd Street. Benton County Public Works will put the plan in front of the commissioners at their August 1 meeting.
“The proposed SW 53rd Street improvements include upgrading SW 53rd to meet city standards, as well as construction of the railroad overpass and two roundabouts (or other suitable intersection treatments), one at Reservoir Avenue and the other at the main entrance to the Marys Annexation on Willow,” said Laurel Byer with Public Works.
Federal Infrastructure Dollars: The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) is soliciting applications for the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant (MPDG) funding. The MPDG contains three grant programs: the National Infrastructure Project Assistance grant (Mega), the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highways Projects grant (INFRA), and the Rural Surface Transportation grant (Rural).
“Part of the construction of the overpass will include naturalizing Dunawi Creek and realigning it under the bridge as it currently crosses under SW 53rd in a culvert. There will also be improvements to water quality as the runoff will be treated before discharging to Dunawi Creek. Also, with an overpass, the low clearance restriction will be removed and freight will no longer have to take a circuitous route through Philomath to get to West Corvallis,” said Byer.
$25 Million Project, $5 Million County Share: The proposed improvements to SW 53rd qualify under two of the three proposed grant opportunities, the INFRA or Rural grant opportunities; however, the County may consider focusing on the Rural grant opportunity as it has a 20% match requirement whereas the INFRA grant requires a 40% match, according to Byer.
“Assuming the Rural Program only, a future 20% match of approximately $5,000,000 will need to be provided for this project by Benton County. This amount of match would need to be acquired through a loan from the Oregon Transportation Infrastructure Bank (OTIB) as the county’s road fund would not have adequate resources,” said Byer. “The County utilized OTIB in the past to help finance the construction of the Reservoir Avenue Realignment Project. If the County receives the grant, the matching funds will need to be available during FY 2025-27.”
The total grant request the county will be submitting for the project is $20,000,000 for a total project cost of $25,000,000.
Meanwhile, on Oak Creek Drive: Also at the August 1 meeting, the BOC will look at a request to change the speed limit on Oak Creek Drive in Corvallis.
Currently, the section of the roadway has a posted speed limit of 50 miles per hour. The County conducted a preliminary speed zone survey and determined that a speed limit reduction request was warranted, according to Owen Millehrer with Benton County Public Works.
“The County requested that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) conduct a study with the recommendation that the speed limit be set at 45 MPH. ODOT Staff performed the speed study and concurred with the County’s recommendation to designate the speed on NW Oak Creek Drive at 45 MPH,” said Millehrer.
The County received a Speed Zone Order from the State Traffic Engineer which directs the County to set and post the designated speed of 45 MPH on NW Oak Creek Drive between 53rd Street and NW Cardwell Hill Drive.
Commissioners either must approve the speed change as requested or suggest an alternative option for the area.
By Jennifer Warner
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