The two-lane, no sidewalk stretch of Jackson School Road that cuts through Hillsboro was never really built to handle commuter traffic, but that’s what it does now. There aren’t many north-south roads connecting US 26 to downtown Hillsboro, so 7,000 cars a day end up on Jackson School Road, according to the city.
On October 3 Scott Dreher, Hillsboro’s Capital Program Manager, laid out a series of improvements for the road. First, the entire road is going to be widened to three lanes, along with a protected bike lane and sidewalk on each side. Here’s what that looks like:
And there’s going to be all sorts of other improvements, from pedestrian crossings to traffic circles to new lighting. Here’s a more complete map of the improvements planned:
The improvements are the result of numerous convesations with residents. Initially a Washington County project, the City of Hillsboro took on the project in order to better address citizen concerns—the county handed off all money earmarked for the project to the city and the city added more funds above that.
Construction is years away at this point: working out the right-of-way issues alone will take about a year and a half. Anyone interested in finding out more about the project should attend an open house on October 25 from 5 to 7 PM at 5PM, though city officials clarified that the design is more-or-less finalized at this point after two previous open houses.
Get Involved
- Open House, October 25, 5-7 PM, Jackson Elementary School Gym.
Further Reading
- Official City page for the project, which offers all sorts of details.
- City Council Packet for the October 3 meeting, which includes an extensive report on the project.