The City of Montrose is poised to begin the realignment of Woodgate Road, one of the largest capital projects of 2021. The design of the project is currently being finalized and the city is looking for public feedback to fine-tune the work.
As far back as the 2008 Comprehensive Plan, the community has envisioned connecting Woodgate Road at its northern end to East Oak Grove Road along the eastern side of Townsend Avenue. This connection aims to relieve heavy traffic congestion in the area and give an alternative to Townsend Avenue, especially for local residents.
With traffic pressure building in the area, the city formally started on the design of this realignment project in early 2020. This design included the completion of traffic studies and models to ensure the project was warranted, evaluate intersection performance, and determine the best alignment for the new roadway.
Once the preferred alignment for the roadway was identified, the city began working to secure the necessary rights of way, which cross six different parcels of private property. Negotiations on these land purchases have progressed to a point that the rights of way have generally been secured and the city is able to unveil the road alignment to the public.
“We are very excited to be at this point on the project,” said City Engineer Scott Murphy. “Between the project design, utility relocations, traffic considerations, and landowner implications there have been a lot of moving parts. We are glad to report that these elements are coming into focus and we can now start to direct our efforts towards construction.”
As shown on the project overview drawing, the alignment joins East Oak Grove approximately 600 feet east of Townsend Avenue. This distance from Townsend is necessary to avoid negatively impacting traffic operations at the East Oak Grove signal and to line up with a future road connection to Church Street that has been envisioned in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The road will include a center turn lane, bike lanes in each direction, and a sidewalk along the eastern side that will tie into the existing sidewalk network along Woodgate and East Oak Grove Roads. The existing intersection with Woodgate Road at Townsend will be closed with this project. The roundabout shown on the project overview drawing will not be constructed at this time, but will likely be constructed in conjunction with a future road connection to the north, should it ever occur.
The city has prepared a recorded video presentation with additional detail on the project drivers, background information, evaluation of alignment alternatives, and the path forward for the project. This presentation is being provided in lieu of the typical open house format in order to enable remote participation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The design of the project is currently being finalized while the city solicits public feedback for the project. The video is available to view at the following link.
Comments may be directed to City Engineer Scott Murphy at 970.901.1792 or by email to smurphy@cityofmontrose.org.
Construction of the project is currently scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.