A man came into a farm stand on Johnson Road to buy peaches. In September 2025, Rich Fiala, vice-chair of the Stafford Hamlet, told the West Linn Tidings what the customer said: "People come and offer me money all the time because they want to develop it. As long as I own the property, it's never going to get developed. It's not going to get sold."
At the time, Stafford Road was closed to through traffic near Childs Road. Fiala told the paper that the disruption was a good argument for planning any future development in the Hamlet more carefully. Fourteen months later the construction is finished. The road that came back was designed to move people through Stafford more slowly and more safely, and the policy that would turn the area into a growth corridor is still waiting on a highway project that is on hold.
Eighteen months of work, five changes
Clackamas County says construction ran from April 2025 through September 2026, with several closures along the way. County commissioners and Lake Oswego leaders cut the ribbon on September 30, and Stafford Road fully reopened on October 1.
The finished project, as the county's completion announcement lists it:
- A roundabout at Childs Road, where drivers used to wait at a stop sign
- Johnson Road realigned to remove the skewed intersection and reduce steep slopes
- A southbound left-turn lane at Johnson Road
- Stafford Road widened between Pattulo Way and Rosemont Road to make room for bike lanes
- A larger, fish-passable culvert for Pecan Creek at Childs Road
The full project cost $18.6 million. Of that, $11.2 million came from the county's Community Road Fund, which the county has paid for with local vehicle registration fees since 2019. Commissioner Paul Savas credited the fund for fixing the Johnson Road intersection, which now gives northbound drivers better sight lines. Lake Oswego Mayor Joe Buck described the project as "a true shared vision and a powerful partnership between Clackamas County and the City of Lake Oswego."
A roundabout built to slow the road down
The county describes the project as a safety and congestion-relief effort. The widening between Pattulo Way and Rosemont Road went to bike lanes, which the county says connect riders to parks and outdoor spaces in West Linn and Lake Oswego.
The roundabout cuts waiting time at Childs Road, and it also changes how fast drivers can go through the intersection. In August, before the final closures ended, county staffer Mike Ward told the Lake Oswego Review:
"Previously traffic was in excess of the speed limit. This will slow people down. The roundabout geometry requires drivers to go slower and makes it significantly safer at that point of conflict."
Ward also told the Review that congestion on Childs Road "was really significant." In his view, the new design would mean shorter waits and slower speeds. For someone driving from Stafford to Lake Oswego or Interstate 205, the rebuilt road should mean less time stopped at Childs and less speeding through the corridor.
What the closures meant for the farm stands
The businesses along the corridor felt the construction most. In September 2025, Fiala told the West Linn Tidings that lower traffic had hurt the farm's sales during its usually busy summer months. He was counting on fall, which he called the farm's most important selling season. Hamlet Board Chair Danielle Weber called the closure and the high-voltage power lines planned along Stafford Road the community's biggest challenges at that time.
Fiala Farms, at 21231 SW Johnson Rd. in West Linn, sells fresh-picked produce, jams and jellies, and flowers for picking. Its 2026 season is over, and the farm plans to reopen in mid to late July. The newly realigned Johnson Road intersection is that farm's connection to Stafford Road. Next summer will be its first full season with the work finished.
Where the reopened road leads this season
Stafford Road reopened in time for the holidays, and two of the area's seasonal stops have dates on the calendar.
| Stop | Address | Dates and hours |
|---|---|---|
| Yesteryear Farms, Christmas season | 26801 SW Stafford Rd., Wilsonville | Opens November 19; daily 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Tumwater Vineyard Winter Market | 375 SW Barrel House Way, West Linn | Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, December 6, noon to 5 p.m. |
| Tumwater Vineyard wreath-building class | 375 SW Barrel House Way, West Linn | Tuesday, December 8; sessions 3:30 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m. |
Yesteryear Farms, at the south end of Stafford Road, begins its 2026 Christmas season on November 19. It sells pre-cut trees only, with no u-cut. The farm also has a holiday store with fresh wreaths and garlands, plus snow and photo spots. On weekends it adds character appearances and food trucks. Its holiday store also sells locally sourced jams, honey and soaps.
Tumwater Vineyard describes its Winter Market as a free, family-friendly weekend with local vendors and seasonal food and drinks. The vineyard's Thursday dinners run 4 to 9 p.m. In December they are scheduled for the 3rd, 10th and 17th. The vineyard is closed Christmas Eve and has a New Year's Eve dinner on December 31.
At the north end of the corridor, the City of Lake Oswego holds its Reunion Farmers' Market on Saturday, November 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Millennium Plaza Park, 200 1st Street. The city lists returning vendors, fall harvest goods, live music and local artisans.
Why the corridor stays a farm road
The project made Stafford Road safer. The land around it is an urban reserve, which the West Linn Tidings has explained means it could be developed sometime in the next 50 years. When that happens depends on a highway project that is not moving.
West Linn, Lake Oswego and Tualatin have an intergovernmental agreement that ties concept planning for Stafford to the widening of Interstate 205. For land south of the Tualatin River, none of the three cities will complete or adopt a concept plan until the widening has preliminary design approval, construction money has been identified and appropriated, and construction is scheduled to start within two years. For land north of the river, the earliest date is December 31, 2028, or later if the widening conditions take longer to meet. In an order dated June 18, 2026, Oregon's Land Conservation and Development Commission found that the three-city agreement does not violate Metro's Regional Framework Plan and declined to issue an enforcement order. The same order says the agreements cannot stop Metro from analyzing Stafford or adding it to the urban growth boundary if state law requires that.
The widening is still on hold. In its second-quarter 2026 major projects report, the Oregon Department of Transportation lists I-205 Phase 2, the section that would widen the highway out to Stafford Road, as on hold for lack of funding since tolling was paused indefinitely. The $57.6 million programmed so far brought the corridor to 60% design and bought right-of-way for an earlier phase. Phase 2 has had no design work since the project was paused in 2022. ODOT puts the cost to finish at more than $500 million, with construction costs rising an estimated 6 to 8% a year.
The Hamlet has said what it wants from any eventual change. "We're not against development totally," Weber told the West Linn Tidings in 2025. "We just want the development to be smart. We want to make sure there's infrastructure, and that everyone thinks more about it and thoroughly." The Stafford Hamlet's next meeting on its agenda page is December 8, 2026.
Properties along Stafford, Johnson and Childs Roads are valued in part on things that rarely show up on a listing sheet, like how long a commute takes and what can and can't be built next door. If you own on the corridor and want to see how the finished roadwork and the I-205 timeline affect your property, the senior brokers at Eleete Real Estate can go over the numbers with you. Request a complimentary market valuation.
