HOOD RIVER — Port of Hood River Executive Director Kevin Greenwood and Commissioner Ben Sheppard are on a mission to develop Lot 1 at the Hood River Waterfront. The two are working on a project to bring a roundabout to the intersection of Riverside Drive and North Second Street. A popular destination during the windy summer months, the waterfront is home to the port’s largest undeveloped parcel of land: Lot 1. Yes, development could happen today, but without proper means of controlling traffic congestion, the port is trying to avoid delaying the inevitable.
The intersection is located north of downtown Hood River and off the exit ramp from Interstate-84. Greenwood and Sheppard said this project is the key to continuing development on the waterfront, but barriers to the roundabout’s construction remain. “There are limits to how many trip count per day, at what time of day you can generate with development before infrastructure changes are required,” said Sheppard. He added that with every completed development comes additional vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The port has plans to construct additional parking and a possible transportation hub.
The project began to pick up momentum 18 months ago when former Port of Hood River Deputy Director Genevieve Scholl wrote, and was awarded, a $2.9 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Greenwood said that the port must complete design, engineering and planning before they can tap into that grant. Senator Chuck Thomsen secured $500,000 that the port will use for preliminary design, project management and some of the traffic studies that were completed. From those studies, the port found their development would be restricted and cost considerably more if they do not provide adequate traffic controls. Staff and commissioners considered an extension of East Anchor Way and stoplights at the intersection, but through conversations with Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) they determined a roundabout would have the “greatest benefit long term,” according to Greenwood. The port is hopeful they will receive the go-ahead from ODOT to pursue this project within the next 30 days. ODOT has been very detailed in their review of this project because of their proximity to I-84. Sheppard said he has approached the meetings with ODOT as a community representative.
“[I’ve] tried to voice the more practical reasons that we want to do this and how it can benefit the community, and how it can benefit recreation and the people living in this community,” Sheppard said. “And ODOT has been, in my experience, so far, very receptive.”
On the technical side, ODOT has expressed worries about traffic getting backed up onto the highway.
As of last week, Greenwood said design is about 5% completed with a tentative end date in late 2026. Greenwood said that timeline is “aspirational,” and their top priority right now is to get ODOT’s approval.
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