Hermiston City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a sweeping new transportation system plan, replacing a document that city planners say no longer matches how fast the city is growing. The plan, which takes effect 30 days after passage and lays out 61 road projects across the city meant to carry Hermiston through the next two decades of growth, according to Hermiston Herald.
The vote caps a process that stretched back years, according to East Oregonian, whose reporting forms the backbone of this account. City planner Clint Spencer said the existing plan no longer matched Hermiston's growth projections, a concern that helped drive the update. The new 74-page plan was developed with the planning firm Kittelson & Associates, whose principal planner, Nick Foster, worked alongside city staff on the proposal.
A Plan Decades in the Making
Hermiston has updated its transportation system plan four times since adopting its previous version, though city records disagree on exactly when that prior plan was first adopted — the East Oregonian's reporting places it in 1997, while an attachment to Hermiston Resolution No. 2282 states the existing plan was adopted in 1999. Either way, the document has been due for a refresh: a TSP is meant to be a comprehensive, long-range blueprint for a city's transportation needs over roughly 20 years, and the same East Oregonian report from January described the city working on this update since spring 2025 with hopes of implementing it this year.
That timeline traces back further still. In June 2023, the city council backed submitting an application to the state's Transportation and Growth Management program to help fund the overhaul, according to the Resolution No. 2282 attachment. The same document notes that Oregon Administrative Rule 660-012-0015 requires cities like Hermiston to prepare and adopt a transportation system plan in the first place.
Public Input Shaped the Final Draft
Residents got multiple chances to weigh in before the vote. The East Oregonian reported that Hermiston opened public feedback on proposed projects through February 3, and a City Council and Planning Commission work session on the update and its recommendations was held March 9, according to a city council agenda. Residents who submitted comments said they wanted sidewalk improvements, more off-street trails and street lighting, more local street connections, and improved intersections, the newspaper's January report found.
The final plan reflects much of that input. It includes 43 intersection-focused projects, 24 street modernization projects that may add turn lanes, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and 21 street-extension projects designed to increase connectivity, as reported by Hermiston Herald. Eight projects call for entirely new roads, and the plan also folds in new bike lanes and trails, along with a push to prioritize and improve bus stops as Hermiston continues partnering with Kayak Public Transit on fixed-route service.
Roundabouts Built for Farm Equipment
Perhaps the most visible change coming to Hermiston streets: 17 projects involve new turn signals or roundabouts. Foster said roundabouts are among the safest intersection forms and can reduce the time drivers spend sitting at red lights. He also said pedestrian crossings near the roundabouts are set back from the circular area, which he said separates pedestrians from traffic and keeps drivers focused on who's crossing.
Not every resident is sold. Jackie Myers said she dislikes roundabouts, and residents Jeff Kelso flagged the intersections at Highland Avenue and Fourth Street, as well as Orchard Avenue and First Place, as particularly troublesome spots in the city. Spencer said roundabout design can account for the freight traffic that rumbles down Highland Avenue, and the plan specifies that Hermiston's roundabouts will be built to accommodate semitrucks with double trailers and combine harvesters moving through town, as noted by Hermiston Herald.
Josh Roberts, also quoted in the East Oregonian's report, said roundabouts can reduce crash speeds and injuries simply by forcing drivers to slow down. But he cautioned that not every project in the 20-year plan will necessarily happen, a reminder that the document functions more as a roadmap than a guarantee. The plan's projects broadly aim to modernize streets, improve connectivity and provide safer routes to schools, with priority given to activity centers and regional impacts.
Looking Back at How Priorities Shift
Hermiston has been here before. Back in 2014, the city's transportation plan — itself an update from a 2003 version — listed 22 priority projects, of which 10 had been completed, the East Oregonian reported at the time. That round of priorities was shaped partly by traffic studies and predictions from JRH Transportation Engineering, alongside public input sessions. One intersection, at Geer Road, Harper Road and Umatilla River Road near Theater Sports Park, jumped to the No. 2 spot on that list after residents said its design was confusing and cumbersome.
The newly approved plan is now available online for residents who want to review the full project list. With the plan set to take effect 30 days after Monday's vote, city officials and the Kittelson & Associates team will next turn to the slower work of funding and building out the dozens of projects now on Hermiston's books.
