Yep, I’m still here.

I was on ZuckBook the other day when I caught a post from the Oregon Department of Transportation warning of road work along Oregon 6. Apparently a new roundabout is under construction at the intersection of Aerts Road, just southeast of Banks near MP 50 and the US-26 junction.

This surprised me, as I didn’t know there was a roundabout planned for that intersection. Maybe it’s because I’ve been focused too much on the section of Oregon 6 that passes through the Coast Range — check back soon for a much longer article about that. In any event, it piqued my curiosity, so I ended up taking way too deep a dive into how this came to be. Don’t worry, I did take some pretty pictures to document the process — you can find them throughout this article and at the end.

Brief Background

According to ODOT’s project website, the design work for the roundabout was done in 2024, and construction was planned for later in 2025. However, it appears that the preparation for this roundabout has only happened recently, and that actual construction is starting soon, at least as implied by ODOT’s press release from May 4th. Soon, a temporary road will be built… somewhere… to detour the traffic, followed by the roundabout taking shape. ODOT’s website was nice enough to have a before and after look at the project area:

In the before shot, you can see the situation that needs fixing. Two different roads, Aerts Road and Washington Avenue, cross or begin at Oregon 6. After the roundabout is completed, only Aerts Road will still intersect Oregon 6. Traffic intending to use Washington Avenue will instead need to drive a more circuitous route along newer access roads from now on.

To reduce backups heading westbound on Oregon 6, a dedicated right turn lane onto Aerts Road northbound will be built; otherwise, it’s a single-lane roundabout throughout. The central island will be mountable to allow big rigs to safely pass through, as well as have a lane through the island for permitted oversize vehicles and farm equipment. Pedestrian and bike trails and crosswalks, standard features on many Oregon roundabouts, are also included.

Diving Into the Data

Now, I don’t have a problem with roundabouts. Nor do I have a problem with this roundabout. But looking at the Aerts Road intersection on Google Street View, I noticed that it didn’t look like a major crossing to me. Both Aerts Road and Washington Avenue look like narrow country lanes that were there prior to Oregon 6’s construction in the mid-1950s. Admittedly, this would not have been my first location for a roundabout along Oregon 6, so I wanted to find out why it was picked.

My first thought was that it was a highly-traveled intersection — lots of vehicles were either turning off of or onto Oregon 6 at this location. So I pulled up the latest year (2024 as of this writing) for AADTs on Oregon highways and found where ODOT calculated traffic on both sides of the intersection, which is officially at milepoint 50.03. Oregon 6 has an AADT of 11,308 vehicles east of the intersection, and 10,986 vehicles west of the intersection. This means that an average of only 322 vehicles are either entering or exiting Oregon 6 at this intersection daily.¹ By comparison, twelve times as many vehicles enter or exit Oregon 6 at its ’50s-style interchange with Oregon 47, the next junction westward along the highway. So while ten thousand vehicles pass through the Aerts Road intersection, not a lot of vehicles were actually using it.

I then theorized that the intersection was accident-prone; perhaps a few of those thousands of drivers aren’t expecting turning traffic only a mile or so off the US-26 freeway. This time I booted up ODOT’s Crash Report Viewer to see what accidents happened between 2016 and 2025 at that intersection. During the past decade, there were 16 accidents that resulted in 33 injuries, but fortunately zero deaths. Of those accidents, 15 were intersection or intersection-related, 13 happened during the day, and 13 occurred on dry pavement. Admittedly, I don’t know how this compares to current accident figures along highways statewide, but if the top 10 is anything like this list from KGW in 2018, then this seems relatively small.

So why is a roundabout being constructed at an intersection only 300 or so people use a day with no fatalities over the last ten years?

It turns out this has been the plan for quite some time.

Modern Roundabouts in Oregon

Roundabouts on Oregon highways are not a new phenomenon. ODOT built its first modern roundabout in Bend in 1999, at the intersection of Century Drive and Colorado Avenue.² Since then, they’ve built an additional 21 roundabouts along state highways — almost all of them have been built since 2016, and nine more are planned to open to traffic by 2028.³

The catalyst for this decade-long roundabout crusade was the tragic deaths of two Pacific University students, Kiden Dilla and Ayan Osman, in a crash at the intersection of Oregon 47 and Verboort Road north of Forest Grove in April 2014.^4 5 The day after the accident, ODOT spokesperson Lou Torres committed to building a multimillion-dollar roundabout at the intersection.⁶ Construction of the roundabout eventually began in March 2016, and it eventually opened by the end of September 2016.^7 8

When an intersection is converted to a roundabout, the is to increase safety and decrease accidents. In addition to acting as a traffic calming device to lower through speeds, roundabouts greatly reduce the number of conflict points — especially crossing conflict points — at the intersection. A typical crossing of two 2-lane roads, such as Oregon 47/Verboort prior to 2016, has 32 conflict points, with half of them being crossing conflict points. The situation is even worse at Oregon 6/Ayers Road because of the fifth road, Washington Avenue, converging from the west, the number of conflict points no doubt increasing.

By comparison, a roundabout has eight conflict points and zero crossing conflict points, thus making it a much safer design overall.⁹ In fact, ODOT mandates the consideration of a roundabout as “the safest design to handle current and future traffic volumes” for projects involving state highways like Oregon 6.¹⁰

So what’s going on in Banks to necessitate this new roundabout? Let’s dive deeper.

Banks: City on the GROW

Banks, a sleepy town on the footsteps of the northwest Oregon Coast Range, experienced a huge surge in population between 1990 and 2000, from 563 to 1,286 people. I imagine this largely had to do with the ’90s tech boom that boosted both Intel and Washington County into national prominence — a rising tide lifts all boats. While the commute between Banks and Portland is an almost 25-mile slog along the wide-but-perpetually-clogged Sunset Highway, the commute between Banks and Hillsboro is about half that, closer to 11-12 miles depending on the route. Banks is also in Washington County’s wine county, attracting those who wanted to start their own vineyards during the 1990’s wine boom.

To accommodate this influx, a large housing development in the area of what is now Greenville City Park, called Arbor Village, was built in the latter half of the ’90s, though it had been planned since the late ’80s.¹¹ Arbor Village would be built in waves so that this growth was a bit more managed. Even still, Banks continued to experience a population boost into the new millennium, growing to 1,777 by 2010.

In anticipation of future growth, the city wanted to annex two separate parcels east of the Portland & Western Railroad tracks, totaling 200.43 acres. By the rules of the city charter, these needed to be put up to a vote.¹² The two ballot measures, 34-232 and 34-233, were both passed by Banks residents in the 2014 election with about 60% of the vote.¹³ You can see the effect of the vote in Banks’ city limits and urban growth boundary between 2014 and 2023:

At about 172 acres, the largest chunk annexed belonged to Quail Valley Golf Course, which had opened in 1994. While the annexation vote did not include development plans, nor were any such plans in the immediate future, that doesn’t mean people weren’t thinking about it. An Oregonian article from before the 2014 election stated that “development… may be on the horizon”, and Quail Valley’s planner had estimated that 166 homes could be developed on the land.¹⁴

Back in October 2010, the city of Banks created a Transportation System Plan, or TSP, as required by Oregon law. The TSP identified the Oregon 6/Aerts Road intersection as operationally deficient based on projected 2029 traffic volumes. In June 2018, Portland-based engineering consultation firm DKS Associates sent an 8-page memo to Jolynn Becker, Banks’ city manager, containing an analysis of current and future traffic impacts at the intersection. The analysis, performed mostly in November 2017, evaluated three alternatives to the current intersection based on 2037 traffic volumes. None of them were roundabouts.

Alternative #2, the apparent preferred alternative (since it was the only one with a cost estimate), would have added some protected turn lanes to and from Aerts Road, but would have limited other movements entirely.¹⁵ The design appears to have come from a July 2016 plan developed by another Portland engineering consultation firm, Kennedy/Jenks.¹⁶

This alternative did not seem to jive with Banks’ recent annexation. Nor did it jive with ODOT, which as I mentioned earlier was really on a roundabout kick in 2018. That same year, they requested that Banks add plans for a roundabout at Oregon 6 and Aerts to their updated TSP.¹⁷ This change was adopted with the passage of Banks Ordinance 2019-01-01 on February 12, 2019 along with other parts of an eastside development plan:¹⁸

In 2021, the Quail Valley Golf Course Association told the Banks city council that it intended to close the course and was looking for someone to develop a mostly residential subdivision on the land.¹⁹ By January 2024, Holt Homes stepped forward with a plan for this subdivision in what is now called Aerts Addition: 955 new homes, new and upgraded roads, parks and open space, commercial and industrial sites, and new storm facilities to name a few.²⁰ A spreadsheet from Holt Homes presented to the city council at the January 23rd meeting shows a roundabout at Oregon 6 and Aerts Road marked as “intersection improvement”:²¹

From what I’ve gathered, the city of Banks and Holt Homes signed a development agreement early in April 2024, and the roundabout received conceptual approval from ODOT State Traffic Engineer Angela J. Kargel in July of that same year. Construction on the roundabout was originally planned to start later in 2025, but was pushed back to 2026 with a planned open date of 2027.²² During that time, operations at Quail Valley wound down and the land adjacent to the roundabout began redevelopment of what Holt Homes calls “Homecoming,” as evidenced by the sign below:

I don’t know the exact date work began, but it was underway by May 2026 when I visited. A temporary road will be constructed for Oregon 6 traffic once work on the roundabout really kicks off in the near future.

So Who’s Paying For It?

On September 12, 2023, the Banks city council adopted an updated TSP which identified the Oregon 6/Aerts intersection as a high-priority project with an estimated cost of $4.5 million potentially sourced from ODOT, Washington County and the private developer. Another project, the closure of Washington Avenue at that intersection, was to be completed concurrently with the roundabout at a separate cost of $1.5 million potentially sourced from the city of Banks and the private developer.²³ This matches the ODOT project website, which states a $6 million total price tag “entirely funded by local and private funds” — that is, zero state funding.²⁴

✨🔮 The Future 🔮✨

This is simply the initial phase of both the roundabout and the improvement of roads in the area. On August 13, 2024, the Banks city council adopted another update to their TSP. Underneath the Oregon 6/Aerts Road roundabout, item 5, was a new secondary item 5A which was also listed as a high priority:

Expand the single-lane roundabout to a multilane roundabout on the north, east, and west approaches.²⁵

I’m not sure if this simply means adding dedicated right-turn lanes or if it actually means two lanes of traffic through the roundabout from all directions but the south. I’m leaning towards the latter since the east approach will already have a dedicated right-turn lane.

Potential funding sources for this project would be Banks and Washington County and cost roughly $2.25 million. Naturally there’s no timeline, as it requires the roundabout to be built first. Even though it’s considered high priority, there are $41.4 million worth of other transportation improvement projects on the east side of Banks — and that doesn’t count an additional $12.6 million in related second-phase projects.²⁶

Photo Tour

Here are the rest of the photos I took while I was looking around the intersection area on May 10, 2026:

Returning to the Surface

As construction of the roundabout proper will begin in earnest soon, I will keep following its development as best I can. Stay tuned!

🗃 File Repository

As a way to combat future link rot and in the interest of transparency, I have included all of the documents used in this article inside a zip file for easy download.

Download (98.2 MB)

1. I could not get any traffic count data for Aerts Road on Washington County, so I don’t know which way the traffic would have gone or come from.
2. Haas, Kevin, P.E. “Update on Roundabouts on the State Highway System in Oregon.” Oregon Department of Transportation, 12 Nov 2025, accessed 11 May 2026, p. 3.
3. Haas, p. 16.
4. Haas, pp. 5-8.
5. Frazier, Laura. “Kiden Dilla and Ayan Osman, Pacific University Students Killed in Crash, Were ‘Inseparable’ Mother Says.” The Oregonian/OregonLive, 11 Apr 2014, accessed 11 May 2026.
6. Rios, Edwin (2014A). “ODOT Will Push for Roundabout at Oregon 47 and Verboort Road near Forest Grove, Spokesperson Says.” The Oregonian/OregonLive, 8 Apr 2014, accessed 11 May 2026.
7. Washington County, Oregon. “Construction of Verboort-Purdin Road Roundabout Starts March 7,” 19 Feb 2016, accessed 11 May 2026.
8. Post on Forest Grove City Hall’s Facebook Page, 30 Sep 2016, accessed 11 May 2026.
9. Haas, pp. 18-20.
10. City of Banks. “Eastside Development FAQ,” 16 February 2024, accessed 15 May 2026, p. 1.
11. Rios, Edwin (2014B). “What the Annexation Vote Means for Banks.” The Oregonian, 29 Oct 2014, p. A2.
12. Rios 2014B.
13. Washington County Election Division (Oregon). “General Election Summary Report,” 21 Nov 2014, last accessed 21 May 2026.
14. Rios 2014B.
15. Johnson, Randy P.E., PTOE. “Memo to Jolynn Becker: Banks Highway 6/Aerts Road Intersection Alternatives Analysis,” 22 Jun 2018.
16. Kennedy/Jenks: “Highway 6 and Aerts Road Interchange Preliminary Plan,” 25 Jul 2016.
17. “Eastside Development FAQ” p. 3.
18. City of Banks. “Ordinance No. 2019-01-01 – An Ordinance adopting the East Banks Planning Project (EBPP), by amending the City of Banks Transportation System Plan, the Banks Zoning Code Chapter 152, Land Divisions,” 12 Feb 2019, accessed 24 May 2026.
19. “Eastside Development FAQ” p. 1.
20. Hundley, Chris. “Holt Homes Holds Aerts Addition Open House.” Banks Post, 17 Apr 2024, accessed 11 May 2026.
21. Holt Homes. “Aerts Addition,” 23 January 2024, accessed 14 May 2026, p. 19.
22. Hundley, Chas. “Banks Construction Preview: ODOT Plans Light Replacements, Roundabout, Ramps in 2026, County Will Replace Manning Bridge.” Banks Post, 9 January 2026, last accessed 17 May 2026.
23. City of Banks. “Transportation System Plan,” 12 September 2023, accessed 17 May 2026, p. 30.
24. Oregon Department of Transportation. “OR 6 and NW Aerts Road Intersection Improvement: About the Project,” 4 March 2025, last accessed 17 May 2026.
25. City of Banks (TSP 8/2024). “Transportation System Plan,” 13 August 2024, accessed 18 May 2026, p. 30.
26. TSP 8/2024.