Hillsboro: Driver Gets 75 Months in June Bicyclist Death; City Records Show Century Safety Work

A driver who investigators found was going 64 mph in a 40 mph zone when he ran a red light and killed a bicyclist on June 23 has been sentenced to 75 months in prison. Salvador Jaime Guillen Contreras pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to criminally negligent homicide, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said Oct. 20.

The DA’s release does not name the intersection. The city’s crash memo lists one fatal bicycle crash on June 23, at E Main Street and NE Century Boulevard. City records also show Main Street is where the Century Boulevard Extension, now under construction, will link Century to Lois Street, with flashing-beacon crossings planned as part of the project.

Speed, a red signal and a phone

Washington County Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Proctor imposed the sentence, which works out to six years and three months. Proctor also revoked his driver’s license for life and ordered three years of post-prison supervision, the release says. Deputy District Attorney Alicia Gerten prosecuted the case.

The county’s Crash Analysis and Reconstruction Team, known as CART, investigated. According to the release, the signal had been red for “approximately six seconds” when he entered the intersection, and the 19-year-old cyclist was crossing in the crosswalk. The DA also said he was driving without a valid driver’s license.

An analysis of his phone showed he was “scrolling social media and taking screenshots” seconds before the crash, the release says. Multiple witnesses at the scene confirmed he was speeding and driving erratically, according to the DA. He will be transferred to the Oregon Department of Corrections to serve the sentence.

What city engineers wrote in July

City staff had already reviewed the crash in July. The July 28 Transportation Committee packet logs it at about 8:50 p.m. and says excessive vehicle speed was “believed to have been a contributing factor,” with no final determination made. The entry also appears in our Oct. 22 review of the city’s summer crash memos.

A separate safety memo in that packet, from Principal Engineer Susie Serres, calls this a county intersection and says Hillsboro has no authority to change county or state roads. It lists what was in place: separated bike and pedestrian facilities, marked crosswalks and signals with reflective backplates.

The memo says the county had recently narrowed the travel lanes from 12 to 11 feet and added buffers to the bike lanes. Fire Station 6, 1.6 miles away, responded in under 3.5 minutes. After the death, the city received “a number of community requests” about safety there, and staff shared each one with Washington County.

Beacons planned on the Century extension

Construction is also under way on Century itself. A Sept. 11 project update in the Sept. 22 committee packet says the extension adds a long-span bridge over Rock Creek, connecting Century between Lois and Main. It also lists “enhanced street crossings with flashing beacons” at Borwick, Dogwood and Oelrich streets.

Contractors were installing light poles at NE Oelrich and NE Dogwood first. Once those are done, the update says, the city “will be cleared to install” rectangular rapid flashing beacons to help pedestrians and bicyclists cross. Trenching across Century, Ariel and Borwick was set to start Sept. 14 so utilities could move lines underground.

The update gives no completion date for the beacons or the bridge. Draft minutes in the Oct. 27 packet list a “Century and Main Update” presentation by Serres on Aug. 25 and the extension item on Sept. 22, but summarize neither discussion.

A lighted crosswalk near Century High

Another Century request came at the Oct. 20 City Council meeting. During council comments at the end, Mayor Beach Pace asked colleagues to support having the city scope a lighted crosswalk on Century Boulevard near Century High School, according to the meeting video.

Pace said residents of a retirement community there had asked for a crosswalk and got a painted one, but wanted one that lights up. The mayor said it would also help students and shoppers, and asked supportive councilors to email City Manager Robby Hammond. Pace did not give the exact location during the meeting.

City staff have already answered one beacon request on Century. A Sept. 28 request for a flashing beacon at Century and Johnson drew an Oct. 12 reply that the intersection “did not meet warrants,” the engineering criteria for a beacon.

It did qualify for a high-visibility crosswalk, which was installed with signage, the log in the Oct. 27 committee packet says. The intersection is “proposed to be signalized sometime in the future,” but staff “does not have a projected date.”

The log does not say whether this is the crosswalk the mayor described, though OpenStreetMap shows SE Johnson Street meeting Century a short distance south of the high school campus. The July safety memo names SE Johnson Street and SE Century Boulevard among five city-owned “highest crash intersections” in the city’s safety action plan.

The same log shows two October requests for barriers to keep cars out of the bike lane on Century at Century High School. Staff replied that parking or stopping there is already prohibited, said barriers could interfere with street sweeping and forwarded the concern to police.

The Transportation Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Civic Center Auditorium and on Zoom, with that log and a new crash report on the agenda. Residents can speak in person for up to three minutes, or register to speak online by contacting Public Works at 503-681-6146 before 3 p.m. that day.

Top image: Illustrative image, 2021: bike lanes at a signalized intersection on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, Maryland. Photo: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).