Washougal nabs $3.4M grant to widen Shepherd Road

The city of Washougal has received a $3.4 million grant for a project to widen a portion of Shepherd Road, allowing for on-street parking, a shared-use path, traffic calming and drainage improvements, and improved access to the Sandy Swimming Hole. The Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) recently awarded the grant to the City, which will provide a $868,000 match to complete the $4.3 million project. The City will begin project design in early 2025, and hopes to start construction in the first half of 2026. “I think the city as a whole was really excited (to get the grant),” said City engineer Scott Collins. “The issues that we have on Shepherd (Road) span multiple departments, not only just engineering, but police, code enforcement, public works, and operations staff. I think this project will have a major impact, not only on the Sandy Swimming Hole itself, but the neighborhoods around it.” The project is a “transportation project that doubles as a parks project” because it addresses a “problem” at Sandy Swimming Hole, according to City Manager David Scott. “This is a significant safety project for Shepherd Road, but it’s also kind of a parks enhancement if you think about it, because it’s essentially taking care of a safety issue in and around the Sandy Swimming Hole,” Scott said during the Washougal City Council’s Dec. 2 meeting. “This will mitigate some of the concerns of some of the residents that live right there. It’s not a 100% perfect solution — that would require a big parking lot on property that we would (have to) acquire. But this will go a long way to really helping that situation. It’s a great project.” Shepherd Road is a two-lane collector between Washougal River Road and N.E. 3rd Avenue. Midway along the stretch of road between N. 12th Street and N. 4th Court sits Sandy Swimming Hole, a popular summer destination for outdoor enthusiasts. Access to the park can only be attained off of Shepherd Road, and the existing parking lot has only about 20 spaces to accommodate residents. The surrounding area lacks sidewalks and bike connections, and often draws visitors who are forced to illegally park off and within the roadway and the surrounding neighborhoods. “Projects that we’ve looked at in the past involved property acquisition and building a parking lot, whereas this is a street project which is improving safety on the street,” Scott said. “That’s a fairly significant corridor, (but) It’s an old county road. It doesn’t have sidewalks. Even in non-swim season, there are people that jog and walk (on it). I commute on that particular road or portion of that road every day, multiple times, and I see it. This is a great safety enhancement even without the Sandy Swimming Hole (aspect).” The improvements, which will extend from Washougal River Road on the east side to Lebrun Drive on the west, will include traffic calming measures and a raised crosswalk to provide pedestrians access to the park. “If there’s no parking (in the parking lot), people can park along most of the north side of Shepherd along the entire stretch,” Collins said. “It will likely be parallel parking along the curb. There will be a shared use path that’ll be wide enough to accommodate both bicycles and pedestrians. And then we’ll have a raised crosswalk — it’ll almost be a speed hub, in essence. With pedestrians walking across, it helps slow traffic, and it helps with the sight distance with some of the curves, because as you come from the west side on Shepherd, there’s a curve coming into Sandy. It should provide safe access to pedestrians that want to get into the Sandy Swimming Hole.” Collins said that the City has received complaints from residents about Sandy Swimming Hole, mostly focusing on speeding and parking. “The complaints and concerns are a huge issue for the City,” he said. “I would say it was one of the priority projects for the Council and for the City, which is why we worked with TIB (to get this grant).” Collins said that the road will most likely be open one way during construction, and that the City will communicate with Shepherd Road residents and leaders of Riverside Christian School, located at 463 N. Shepherd Road, about its plans. “Because it’s a major collector, especially for the residents in the area, we’ll likely have it in the design to keep it open,” he said. “But it’ll likely have to shift to only one lane with some flagging, so there’ll definitely be delays and things moving through there while they build this. We might do some outreach with the neighborhoods, get them involved, to figure out if they (want to) close it for a certain time and expedite the construction or if they want to leave it open.” Councilwoman Michelle Wagner said during the Dec. 2 Council meeting that she has advocated for the project in the past, but felt that other Council members didn’t prioritize it as much due to their beliefs that “out-of-staters” would be the primary beneficiary. “I thought it would never happen,” she said, “so when I heard from (Collins) at the Harvest Festival, I couldn’t believe at first that we were applying for it because I thought it hadn’t been noticed as much. I’m super excited. I know this was always a big priority for the community and the Parks Board. This is wonderful news.”

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