An estimated $2.6 million project has been funded and approved to add sidewalks, bicycle lanes and other improvements to South Ivy Street between Highway 99E and Philander Lee Elementary School. The project will also install ADA ramps where necessary and a traffic signal at the intersection of Ivy and Township Road near Bethany Church.
That’s the good news. The bad news? The project won’t be built in the new year, or the year after. Though the initial project agreement was approved by the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners in July 2017, county Assistant Director of Transportation Mike Bezner said this week that the project is not slated for construction in 2019 or 2020.
“It has taken a while to get agreements signed between the County, City, and ODOT (since some of the money is coming from ODOT),” Bezner said in an email this week. “We are very close to having those agreements signed. Once we do, we can begin hiring a consultant to design it, and we’ll have a better idea of the timeline.”
Part of the delay is due to an effort the county made to exchange some of the initial federal funding for state funding, which staff believes will save money down the road (get it?) by bypassing some of the costly requirements and documentation that come attached to certain federal funds. However, this exchange wasn’t confirmed until early this year.
Staff turnover at the Oregon Department of Transportation has also been partly to the blame, and the intergovernmental agreement between the county and city of Canby proved “more complicated than originally anticipated.”
The project’s background is almost as confusing as that of the road itself; though South Ivy winds virtually through the heart of Canby city limits, it is actually a county road. The improvement project, on the other hand, is technically a city project, but Canby requested that the county take the lead as part of its Local Agency Certification Program.
Once the project is completed, the city will take over ownership and maintenance of the street.