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Legislature substantially invested in additional county priorities
Oregon City – July 2, 2021: The close of the 2021 Oregon State Legislature Session brought significant investment to the Clackamas County community, including funding for key infrastructure priorities of the county. These include:
$94.5 million investment to the courthouse project
The legislature invested $94.5 million in matching funds for the county’s courthouse replacement project (SB 5505). The bill passed on June 26 and on July 1, we advertised a Request for Qualification, which is a competitive procurement process for contractors interested in financing, designing, building and maintaining the new courthouse. Contractors have until July 30 to apply.
The current courthouse, built in 1936 to serve less than 50,000 residents, can no longer handle the demands of a population of nearly 420,000, and is determined to be functionally obsolete and seismically unsound. We will construct the new courthouse on the county’s Red Soils Campus in Oregon City by 2025. The cost for the new courthouse is about $189 million.
Interstate 205 Improvements Project
I-205 is a lifeline route for our community to provide life-saving services following a major seismic event and is a key corridor for our economy that is currently a bottleneck costing businesses time and money. HB 3055 allows this important, yet previously unfunded transportation project to access the $30 million per year flexible penny. Given this new funding source to construct the project, the Oregon Department of Transportation can begin construction on Phase I of this project including the Abernethy Bridge in the spring of 2022.
Sunrise Gateway Community Visioning Project
The Sunrise Corridor along Oregon Highways 212/224 serves over 13,000 residents and dozens of businesses in the Clackamas Industrial Area. A visioning effort with the community will create the foundation for bold strategies and clear actions that will shape land use and transportation systems in this area for the next 50 years, supporting future residential and economic growth. HB 5006 invests $4 million for this two-year community-visioning project.
Willamette Falls Locks modernization
The Willamette Falls Locks and Canal moved Willamette River traffic through the falls. This water transportation system has been out of service since 2011 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed them because to structural concerns. SB 5534 invests $7.25 million to repair the locks and bring them back into service. HB 2564 establishes a public corporation that will ultimately own the locks upon their transfer from the federal government.
Additional highlights and investments
The 2021 legislative session brought significant new investments in housing, behavioral health, wildfire recovery and preparation, and capital projects. Clackamas County would like to thank the Clackamas Caucus for their support and advocacy in bringing investments that will help residents and businesses thrive.
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