The Real Story- A Column
Editor’s Note: After this article was written, I watched the film of the decision made Tuesday AM. It was incumbent upon me to report on the large financial contribution made to Commissioner Pam Treece by the developer of the project that is the reason River Road is shut, The New Home Corp.Risewell. And Treece voted to close it in August of 2025 after I challenged her to disclose her ties to the President of this homebuilding company, She did not disclose – instead she led the charge to close River Road with NO FLAGGERS. Now, in March of 2026, she took more campaign money from the same developer and then voted to extend the closure again this week. Folks, this person, Pam Treece, represents big business, power, money, and energy. She is not one of us regular folks who slug it out every day. Watch her behavior in this video – and think if this is who you want leading our County through rocky times. The Hillsboro Herald is done with Pam Treece. Nafisa Fai consistently demonstrates excellence in her work as a County Commissioner. It is her or Treece for the future of Washington County. The non-disclosure, deception, and luxury travel deals involving Clean Water Services have ethically and morally disqualified Pam Treece from being a leader we can count on. She is not. Consider this a complete endorsement of Nafisa Fai for Washington County Chair. Please consider her when you Vote this next month!
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For months, the residents of Hillsboro have been living in a world of orange cones and “Road Closed” signs. Since October 2025, SW River Road has been less of a thoroughfare and more of a 30-foot-deep canyon. But tomorrow, Tuesday, April 28, the clock finally hits zero. Inside the Washington County Board of Commissioners’ chamber, a decision looms that will either reopen the “vein” of Hillsboro or keep it pinched for another three weeks or longer.
The Developer’s Dilemma
The contractors, Emery and Sons, aren’t just digging a hole; they’re trying to build a city. The Witch Hazel Village South project is adding 900 new homes, but it required a sanitary sewer line so deep, 34 feet, that even a standard excavator could barely reach the bottom. They thought they had enough time. But Oregon’s winter had other plans. Storms turned the deep trenches into pits that required weeks of pumping just to see the bottom again. Now, they are asking for a “grace period” through May 19. This is more than most people can handle at this point.
This road was closed for a private developer to build homes. An option to have 1 land open was available last Fall, but only County Commissioner Nafisa Fai fought for that option. That option is on the table again, but County Staff argues it is not a good option. All of this has saved the developer Millions in flagging costs and has really given them no incentive to finish the road on time. Thus the need for an extension.
Here is our Story from last fall-
The Neighborhood on Edge
For the 8,000 daily commuters who used to travel down River Road, the detour has become a grueling ritual. An extra 18 minutes a day might not sound like much on paper, but over six months, it adds up to thousands of dollars in gas and countless missed dinners. Not to mention millions in gasoline and labor wages. In the Oakhurst and Riverstone subdivisions, the frustration isn’t about the sewer—it’s about the “cut-throughs.” Frustrated drivers, desperate to shave five minutes off their commute, have been treating quiet neighborhood streets like auxiliary highways.
The Choice
Tomorrow, the Commissioners face a classic “lesser of two evils” scenario:
- The Extension: Keep the road closed until May 19. It’s a bitter pill, but it allows the crews to finish the job safely and quickly.
- The Flagging Alternative: Force the developer to open one lane with flaggers. This sounds better for drivers, but the County warns it would double the remaining work time. A mid-May finish could easily become a mid-June headache.
As of today, the barricades are still up. The message boards still point toward Farmington Road. But tomorrow evening, Hillsboro will find out if they’re getting their road back—or if they need to settle in for one last month of the “long way home.
More on this later today-
as a farm and homeowner on rood bridge… this can’t open soon enough. in the last week, drivers have become increasingly agitated, i believe because the road has not reopened on time, turning our once quiet country road into a racetrack. We’ve had 8 accidents during this 6 month closure due to poor driving decisions (distracted by phone, intoxicated, ‘never been on this road before’). Fine the developer for not meeting the timeline, have them cover the cost of flaggers and open River Road.
I agree – flaggers 24 hours a day – they have had long enough and I have been by 15 times and seen very little work going on- no work on weekends etc– just a very slow execution of the entire thing!
Because, Dirk, that’s an East Coast road project in a nutshell.
Oregon roads, in general, look like a dreamscape compared to most East Coast roads. The weather makes potholes far more numerous, the infrastructure was retrofitted from more than a century ago (and horse paths, in the case of certain urban neighborhoods), and the maintenance process is so beleaguered by bureaucracy, patronage and deferrals that even seemingly simple projects seem to extend indefinitely.
River Road is now Hillsboro’s West Side Highway. It’s the city’s Big Dig. For as long as it’s taking, it may as well be trying to sink the Alaskaway Viaduct. But this is what happens when you hand the keys to developers in a “public-private partnership”: The public right-of-way loses out to private interest and cost. We saw it downtown, when the developers of an over-55 community were allowed to shut down entire segments of street for weeks at a time and whole sidewalks for months (the Oregonian privatization of sidewalks deserves an entire study). As soon as that project hit a water table it wasn’t expecting, those closures just carried on interminably.
With a public project, meanwhile, there are at least timelines and accountability. The Lincoln Street project had its rough spots, but at least the public got to weigh in, voice its displeasure and press the city to move in ways beneficial to the locals.
I’ve been watching River Road carefully, because it seems to have a direct effect on how both the city and its development partners handle road construction and closures up here in North Hillsboro. They originally had designs on shutting down Jackson School between Evergreen and Meek for months. The River Road pushback got them to open it back up—albeit under bumpy conditions—and restrict closures to specific portions of the project (light installation, paving and painting).
Over dinner the other night, I heard someone bemoan the influx of trial attorneys and “Road fabric?” signs imploring people with vehicles damaged by construction to call for legal advice. The city, county, and their developer partners bring this litigious turn upon themselves by ignoring the genuine concerns of the people who use the roads each day and by not doing the one thing Oregonians have generally come to rely upon: Having their roads fixed in a timely fashion without undue loss of access.
I have no idea why Hillsboro and Washington County have such mediocre dreams. You have proximity to a city that should be taking most of this burden off your shoulders, you have similar proximity to natural wonders in each direction that are the main draw for people living here and you have a quality and pace of life that, somehow, remains nominally slower than similarly sized areas around the country. Yet it consistently aims to be the equivalent of the ugliest, warehouse-riddled, highway-strewn, pothole-addled, culture-devoid corners of the country—just so it can tap the population number on the signs at city limits.
Well, congratulations: River Road is now a project every bit as awful as anything those middling peers could offer. The city’s really made it.
Hillsboro city council reeks of laziness and bribes. If only any if them had work ethics……
I agree with Lindsey, Dirk, and you, F Emry and sons. Maybe we should start talking to people waiting in the traffic lines about coming elections and have extra traffic police handing out tickets for going through the detours like idiots and kindly ask the commissioners to help pay them or even the developer! Just my opinion but when a dollar is involved, it’s surprising what can change in traffic or deadlines.
Does the author live here, what winter and storms are you talking about that filled them full of water. It was such a mild winter I can’t belive that is the excuse.
Im so disgusted by the sell out of our beautiful countryside. Lake Oswego would never allow such devastation , how is it we don’t have the same respect?
Are these contractors really that dumb? I can’t dig a two foot deep fence post hole on River Rd in the winter without it filling with water. At 34′ of depth through multiple sloughs and creeks, of course you are going to hit water, even in a dry winter.
Once again, this Council has voted to help support one guy save millions of dollars while kicking the 8000 people who use River Rd every day to the curb…
I can’t wait for the next extension well past May 19th with more excuses. These guys have rarely worked a weekend to catch up (I can hear and see the equipment moving from my house).
Whether this construction effects your life or not, think about the next “big” project heading to your neighborhood and vote with confidence on May 19th that the people who voted for this mistake, will make the same choices in the future.
Things are changing and not for the better.
Just a cross TV highway onto Cyprus that turns into 32nd Ave. we are putting up with speeding and more traffic than we should have to endure. And I assume that someone made a terrible mistake on putting the concrete planters on our street. There’s seven of them they mean nothing. They are a hazard for night driving. . No one maintains them and then they’re dead plants. The people on this street never were asked if we wanted the concrete planters. I wonder if anyone in the city has a thinking cap. I believe the people should always be asked.
Now let’s go back to River Road not opening on time. I need to get out there so I can go get my fresh farm eggs. That’s not happening, not only am I affected but the Farmer that I get my eggs is affected too.
What I’d like to see is that the people vote on what we want to have happen in our city there are way too many things going on that should never take place without the peoples input. It’s vital that the people in charge that l they get the peoples opinion. And they haven’t already have made a decision before the people give their opinion.