OverviewTigard has decided to add 4 roundabouts on the short McDonald Street, connecting Hall Blvd and Pacific Hwy (99W). (Is this the same group that redesigned Main Street, and the enjoyable entrance and exit of the Post Office?) It will take at least two years to construct. I would like to attempt to stop Tigard from adding these roundabouts. But it can succeed only if users of McDonald Street speak out! Has anyone heard of so many roundabouts on this short of a street? As a 30 year resident a block away from McDonald, I'm pretty sure I know the results of their plan. First, we'll have 2+ years of construction. Based on their history, I assume that it will go beyond that. That means that we'll all be using side-street workarounds. Drivers and near neighborhoods (shortcuts) will not enjoy all of the new traffic. Once completed, there will be congestion at each roundabout. It will be more difficult for us to pull onto McDonald Street from side streets, and to make turns pulling off of McDonald Street. Tigard's web page says that its goals include "involve neighbors, the school district, families, and key stakeholders early and often during the design and construction process. In truth, the community engagement has been two small "open house" gatherings (Oct, 2025 with 75 attendees and March 2026 with 58 showing up), only the second of which brought up their plan of roundabouts. There are exponentially more people who will be effected. There are also some unclear (when it comes to the roundabouts) Tigard web pages (links elsewhere on this page). It's unclear how those attendees heard about the open houses, or how representetive they are of the users of McDonald Street. It doesn't sound as though they want to work with the drivers and residents effected. This is a major project for people in the area. The first thing they should have done would have been to make direct contact (by mail or otherwise) with us stakeholders. Tigard's Stated PurposesTigard's McDonald Street: Pacific Highway - Hall Boulevard webpage discusses sidewalks, turn lanes, safety for pedestrians and bicycles, and other commendable goals. |
Do you want 4 roundabouts on McDonald Street in Tigard??? |
One of their goals is to reduce queuing/idling on McDonald Street and at its intersection with Hall Boulevard. Little mentioned, but the most impactful design aspect is adding 4 roundabouts on this one mile stretch of McDonald Street. Somehow they connect roundabouts with reducing queuing/idling. Roundabouts will make McDonald Street and its intersections with other streets problematic. The fix needs to be at Hall and McDonald where the issue actually exists. A roundabout there, a smart stop light, or turn lanes would be more of a positive impactful than roundabouts.
Roundabouts will not reduce traffic on the street. There may be less "bunching" at each end, but cars that would be bunched would now be spread out along the street. This will make it more difficult to turn onto McDonald Street from all of the side streets. If they are convinced that congesting traffic along the length of the street is needed to solve a problem, what is wrong with stop sign(s) on McDonald? That would be far less costly, quicker to implement, and wouldn't disrupt traffic as much as roundabouts do. I personally don't have much issue with other goals (other than the construction itself), but you might want to let them know how you feel about the other ideas. If they have so much extra cash, build a bridge over the train tracks on Bonita or Hall. There's where real backups occur.
We likely cannot force Tigard to abandon or change their project. Some of the proposed changes look okay to me, except for the roundabouts. We need to let them know - how we were not involved, and what we feel about roundabouts. Make your voice heard about this horrible project by contacting the contact on their project page.