Stop light at 107th and Cornell?

Nancy Scheewe, owner of DuFresne’s Auto Service at 107th and Cornell, has been worried for years about the dangers to motorists and pedestrians at the intersection. She has witnessed everything from fender-benders to serious accidents. “We’ve had really bad ones from first-time drivers, to motorcycles, to people sliding down the street on wheels only – no tires! Speed has a lot to do with it, with drivers trying to beat out the cement truck or something. Of course, increased traffic plays a big part in it. Now, with the new development just west of us, it will be even worse,” she says.

107th serves as a connector for the residential areas to the south in the Leahy Road area between Barnes and Cornell. Scheewe notes, “when it gets busy, drivers use our lot as a cut-through. We’ve seen as many as three cars at a time. It is really serious as little kids are often present.” Cedar Mill School is just up the road at 102nd.

Greg Miller, Washington County Engineer, says, “This intersection is very close to meeting warrants for a signal now. Warrants for turn lanes westbound on Cornell and northbound on 107th are met now. We have recently requested updated traffic counts and will be happy to share those when we get them.”

He continues, “a signal is not all that is required at this intersection – it also needs turn lanes on Cornell and a second northbound lane on 107th south of the intersection. Right of way will also be required. These sorts of improvements typically cost $5-600,000, sometimes more.”

“Our plan is to require a developer to do this as a condition of the land use approval. This may be complicated by Beaverton’s annexation of most of the undeveloped Peterkort property, so the city would control these conditions on developers on the Peterkort property. If we don’t have a developer do it, we will take some of the Traffic Impact Fees money that all the developers pay and do it ourselves. The time line is probably the next two to three years for improvements to be made. You may see first the turn lanes and then later the signal, or it may be all at once,”Miller concludes.

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