Gales Creek Road will close near Thornburg Road starting Aug. 27 as county contractors begin work replacing one of two culverts carrying White Creek, a Gales Creek tributary.
In a webpage established for the project, Washington County Land Use and Transportation said the road would be closed between Thornburg Road, just east of the Highway 6 and 8 junction to 200 feet east of Thornburg Road.
The closure is scheduled to last through Sept. 23, when the road will reopen, and a different road closure will begin on Thornburg Road south of Gales Creek Road for work to replace the second culvert.
That closure is scheduled to last through Oct. 20.
White Creek enters Gales Creek near the junction of Highways 6 and 8.
The county supplied detour maps showing a detour for the Gales Creek Road closure routing travelers along Highway 47 and Highway 6 through Forest Grove and Banks. While those routes are suitable, especially for freight and larger vehicles, area residents should note much simpler and shorter detours along area gravel roads, though they could result in a left turn onto Highway at an area that has been prone to left-turn crashes.
Heading west on Gales Creek Road, travelers can take Balm Grove Loop, turn left on Parson Road to either Parson or Timmerman Road to Highway 6 to turn left or right depending on your destination.
The county noted that the project is pursuing the goals of preventing damage to the roadway — failed culverts can cause sinkholes and washouts — and improving fish passage in the Gales Creek area.
The two culverts — one passing under Thornburg Road and one passing under Gales Creek Road — were described as substandard and deteriorating in Washington County Land Use and Transportation (LUT) documents.
The Washington County Board of Commissioners awarded the project to Woodburn-based Kerr Contractors Oregon during their July 15 meeting.
The project is being done in partnership with the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District, the county said.
The county previously sought — and was denied — federal funding for the project.
A grant request to the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Private Forest Accord Grant Program went unfunded in 2024, and the county instead turned to its own County Road Fund, approving the project in the 2024-2029 Capital Improvement Plan as part of the county’s Culvert Replacement Program.
The two culverts will cost an estimated $1.5 million to replace. The county said on July 15 that the Tualatin Soil and Water Conservation District had secured funding for the project as well, but did not note what the amount was.
“The crossings at NW Gales Creek Road and NW Thornburg Road have been identified as fish passage barriers by the Tualatin River Watershed Council,” the county said in a document outlining the project in 2023.
The two existing culverts restrict the passage of anadromous fish, species that travel to and from the ocean as part of their natural lifecycle, like salmon and steelhead.
The county will install two larger reinforced box culverts that would open habitat that once held robust fish populations near the historic Fir Creek neighborhood and further upstream of the Gales Creek area.
“Removing these barriers to fish passage will provide a direct connection with Gales Creek, which is classified as critical fish habitat for Upper Willamette Steelhead by National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS),” the county said.
The lower culvert under Gales Creek Road was included in the 2025 Statewide Priority Fish Passage Barrier list adopted April 19, 2025.
