Near notorious Tualatin Valley Hwy, even alternate bike routes aren’t all that great

It’s no secret Tualatin Valley Highway, also known as Highway 8 or TV Hwy, is dangerous. Numerous news outlets have named it in the top ten most dangerous roads in Oregon across a span of many years. So on Saturday, June 15, Ride Westside, set out to explore alternative routes to get from Beaverton to Hillsboro and back by bike — without risking life and limb on TV Hwy.

Ride leader Tim Wayman (second from left above) promoted this ride as part of Bike Summer and labeled it suitable only for riders 21 and over due to a few difficult crossings. That meant Ride Westside’s usual brigade of bakfiets, bucket bikes, and baby seats was notably absent. 

Wayman’s inspiration for the ride was to share his two preferred east-west routes on either side of TV Hwy. “These are the two routes I take from my house in Hillsboro to Beaverton. They’re better than the bike lanes on TV Highway, but that’s a very low bar.” 

We met at the Tualatin Hills Nature Park, and set off in between rain showers.

The path through the park was beautiful, but also narrow and shared with a lot of people walking. It was a Saturday, and there was a volunteer work party happening in the park. It meant riding slowly, carefully, and single-file.

The first hairy crossing was at SW 170th at the edge of the nature park. Tim specifically asked us not to cork for this crossing, as the traffic coming over the hill on SW 170th was going fast and couldn’t see us until it was too late to stop. We crossed in two groups, waiting and listening carefully.

After crossing 170th, we biked through some low-traffic neighborhood streets, crossed the pedestrian bridge on SW Augusta Lane that joins neighborhoods over the Beaverton Creek gully, and found our way to Johnson Street. Johnson is a through street that parallels TV Hwy most of the way to Hillsboro (we took it as far as Hillsboro’s SE 72nd Avenue). It tends to be narrow in places, with bike lanes that appear and disappear, and we were close-passed several times by drivers that seemed impatient with people on bikes. 

“If I could, I’d like to turn Johnson Street into something like a neighborhood greenway, with car blockers [diverters] that prevent it from being a through street. Right now, drivers use it as an alternative to TV Hwy too,” Tim said.

Not long past Johnson, our intrepid ride leader had a mechanical failure. The bolt on Tim’s seat on sheared off entirely, sending him (and his seat) flying. There were no injuries, but Tim headed home standing on his pedals, and John Haide from Hillsboro stepped in as our leader for the rest of the ride.

When Johnson Street ended, we picked up SE Drake Road, and then skirted around marshy park lands where Rock Creek, Turner Creek, and Reedville Creek join. We eventually crossed TV Highway on SE Cypress Street (by the Hillsboro Home Depot and Lowe’s), tootled through big box parking lots, and came out on SE River Road. 

SE River Rd has three general travel lanes — one lane each direction plus a center turn lane — with sidewalks, but no bike lanes. Our group had dwindled to four from our original eight, and we mostly rode the sidewalk. This part of the ride was uncomfortable, and I was more worried about traffic than taking pictures, so I pulled a few shots from Google Street View.

We left River Rd into neighborhoods again at SE Discovery St, and I was less worried about wrecking my bike and traffic enough to take more pictures. This portion was fairly typical low-traffic suburban streets — quite a relief after SE River Rd.

On SE Alexander St, which is handy for biking as it goes behind many TV Hwy businesses, there are painted bike lanes (a welcome change from River Rd) and many cross-streets to access TV Hwy from the back.

Then I had my absolute shock of the day: At SE 67th Ave, SE Alexander turns into SE Blanton and the Reed’s Crossing neighborhood. And there are cycle tracks. Between SE 67th and SW 209th (and it’s not that far, because the streets renumber between Beaverton and Hillsboro), there are lovely, beautiful, separated cycle tracks. Separated from cars. Separated from the sidewalk. An actual designated place for bikes to be. On both sides of the street.

I wanted to kiss the ground, but that would have been weird. Instead, I just rode, with a big grin.

When we crossed Cornelius Pass Road, ride leader John Haide explained how the cycle tracks work at the crossing a major road. Turning bike traffic has a difficult time getting off the cycle tracks and into a left turn to access TV Hwy businesses.

Sadly, all good infrastructure must come to an end (or must it?!). At SW 209th Ave, we crossed out of the new development and the blessed cycle tracks, and back into an area of older houses likely built in the 70s or 80s, with no bike lanes or sidewalks at all.

Blanton Street on the other side of 209th is narrow and has a lot of cars. Sadly for us, cars are using it as an alternative to TV Hwy just like we were.

After a hairy no-signal and unaligned crossing of SW 185th, we stayed on Blanton until 160th, where we crossed TV Hwy again, and caught the Westside Trail at 160th and TV Hwy. Whew. Off the roads again.

After the ride, I talked with two riders, Michael Hashizume (third from left in green hi-viz jacket in group photo) and Mick Orlosky (second from right in yellow hat), at our impromptu lunch at the BG Food Cartel in Beaverton, and later by phone with ride leader Tim Wayman (who fixed his bike at home).

Hashizume, who lives and bikes in Beaverton, said this ride felt different from typical Ride Westside outings. “It felt like there was a different attitude with drivers. We got close-passed and honked at. The cycle tracks were great but then they just ended.” Would he ride this route on his own to go to Hillsboro? “No,” he replied. “Hillsboro is pretty much drive-only for me. Biking is pretty hairy.”

Orlosky, who also lives and bikes in Beaverton and didn’t start riding until he turned fifty, found the ride pleasant with more utility than scenery. “There were busy roads, but not anything I’m not used to,” he said. When asked about infrastructure, Orlosky added, “I want the infrastructure to improve. I think people can do a lot more than they think they’re capable of. That doesn’t mean we don’t need more infrastructure.”

“I’m practically a senior citizen at this point.,” Orlosky added. “I try to avoid my car as much as possible and do everything I can by bike. I’m not a particularly strong rider, but I coexist with cars.”

If Wayman, our ride leader, could wave a magic infrastructure wand, he said he’d make everything look like the Blanton St. cycle tracks. He laments that his preferred alternatives from TV Hwy still aren’t that great. “This is probably not the place to cut your teeth learning how to be a commuter cyclist,” he acknowledges.

I’m a former suburban soccer mom who only started riding frequently in 2019. My kids are grown, but I still tend to see the world through the lens of kids and parenting. Would I have sent my hypothetical twelve-year-old out to sports practice on those roads? Maybe, in places. Definitely on the cycle tracks. Definitely not on parts of Blanton, Johnson, or River Road where there are no bike lanes and lots of traffic.

Would I use these roads as an alternative to driving if I had to go to Hillsboro? For me, probably not. I’d take my bike on the MAX instead.

What about you? What would it take for you to ride more in Washington County?