NEWBERG — After residents expressed concern on social media about the impending closure of E Illinois Street scheduled for Sept. 15, the City of Newberg is detailing the process that led to the decision to close access to the street.
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Interim public information officer Emily Salsbury said the decision comes after years of traffic safety complaints and community feedback. City officials first started examining the intersection in 2023, when engineering staff surveyed nearby neighborhoods and hosted an open house to gather input.
“Feedback highlighted concerns about pedestrian safety, traffic speeds, and visibility at the intersection,” Salisbury wrote in an email to Newsberg. “These concerns echoed Traffic Safety Commission complaints received over multiple years.”
City staff initially considered a more extensive study and infrastructure options such as roundabouts or traffic signals, but determined those were too costly under current budget constraints. Instead, they focused on simpler and more affordable measures.
A follow-up open house in January 2025 drew broad support for closing the intersection. According to Salsbury, 78% of survey respondents favored the closure, citing frequent near misses and safety concerns.
The Newberg City Council approved the closure on April 7 after discussion.
Salsbury acknowledged that communication about the project was limited, given the city’s staffing levels.
“With our small, scrappy team of public servants, communication to the surrounding neighborhoods was not as robust as we would have liked,” she said.
She added that the closure was prioritized this year so the city could move on to other projects, including River Street repairs and overdue pavement maintenance elsewhere in town.
While some residents have expressed frustration with the change and concern for traffic potentially rerouting through smaller residential streets, Salsbury said the city will be monitoring the surrounding neighborhoods to see if traffic shifts to smaller residential streets or redistributes to Main Street’s north and south routes.
“For now, closing the street will be the best solution to prevent crashes and the potential of fatalities in this area,” she said.
The change is not permanent, she added, and the bollards can be removed if the closure is not deemed a success or puts too much strain on other roadways.
Residents can report issues related to the closure to the Traffic Safety Commission at trafficsafety@newbergoregon.gov or by filling out the Traffic Safety Issue Report Form on the city’s website, which will inform future decision-making around the intersection.
