Grant leads to greening of Tigard’s Main Street

The city receives a $2.54 million grant from Metro utilizing federal transportation dollars for the project

The Times, Apr 5, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Jonathan House / The Times

THE COLOR OF MONEY — Tigard’s Downtown Senior Planner Phil Nachbar, standing on a bridge over Fanno Creek on Main Street, and other city staff will utilize a $2.54 million grant from Metro to turn Main into a “green” street.

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Tigard is turning greenbacks into a “green” cityscape.

The Metro Council on March 18 voted to give Tigard’s Main Street Retrofit Project a $2.54 million grant, which is the largest the city has ever received.

Tigard, which has pledged $500,000 of its own money toward the project, will transform 1,400 lineal feet of Main Street from Pacific Highway to Burnham Street to full green street standards.

The project includes widening sidewalks, reconstructing and reconfiguring portions of the existing street plus adding new lighting and native street trees to create a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere, according to Duane Roberts, the city’s associate planner in long-range planning.

The first phase includes incorporating recently developed streetscape design standards for Main Street together with green street elements.

The green aspect includes sustainable elements such as brick pavers, holding cells for stormwater and pervious areas where runoff can infiltrate naturally as opposed to being piped underground.

“The green street design is part of Tigard’s overall sustainability/nature theme being used throughout the downtown,” Roberts said.

Tigard is a town center by Metro’s definition, according to Phil Nachbar, the city’s downtown senior planner.

“From Fanno Creek Park, we are bringing the park up into the city and connecting the downtown with the park,” he said. “Main Street will be gateway to Fanno Creek Park. The street will be designed more for pedestrians, and the layout will help control traffic. We have to get the traffic to slow down.”

According to Nachbar, Burnham Street, which runs from Main Street to Hall Boulevard, also will be developed as a green street.

It will include the same features planned for Main Street, such as holding cells for storm runoff that will be part of the curb system.

“Burnham will be a fully reconstructed street with sidewalks, new street lighting and landscaping,” Nachbar said. “Both streets will have sidewalks that ‘bulb’ out where there are crosswalks to make crossing the street more pedestrian friendly.”

According to the Metro staff evaluation of the project, the Main Street retrofit “provides an opportunity for construction of a green street demonstration project in Washington County… The project will improve water quality and quantity discharge into Fanno Creek.

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