Tigard is breaking ground on their upcoming ADA accessible dock project at Cook Park, which will involve installing a new dock with ADA accessible features. The city started site prep on July 13 and construction is slated to be underway until October, with the new dock being complete in either late fall or spring of 2027.
Tigard Parks and Recreation Staff Liaison Rick Gruen told Tigard Life that the current phase of the dock project would be completed in two parts; dock fabrication and site preparation.
“There’s two things happening simultaneously,” Gruen said. “We had the site contractor who just came in this week, their job is to prepare the site to be able to accept the gangway and dock.”
River access around the new dock’s installation spot will be modified. Large sections of the river bank are currently fenced off for construction. The new ADA dock will be placed “about 150 feet” north of the original boat dock, according to project engineer Jeff Peck.
“It’s quite a bit of work to do for all of this to take place,” Gruen said. “Vehicle access to the boat launch area is now shut off until the end of the construction period.”
While the site is being braced for the new dock, gangway and path from the parking lot, contractors are at work fabricating the new appendage with “adaptive hardware and kayak/paddleboard slip,” according to the city’s website
Gruen described the dock, explaining how new features like a low profile, transfer platforms and adaptive hardware will enhance accessibility for users. The new gangway will be 110 feet long and anchored down to the new dock, which will be 28 feet long and 28 feet wide.
“Adaptive hardware, transfer platforms that will allow people to be able to get in and out with whatever their needs are,” Gruen said. “So it becomes really accessible for people of all abilities or limitations.”
Another potential project benefit that Gruen mentioned was mediating river congestion, explaining that the gangway would split up stream parties and help spread out river rafters.
“It becomes very congested down there on a weekend and hopefully this will also disperse people as well,” Gruen said. “It will help from the conservation nature of keeping people off the bank and the sidehill hill.”
The dock project completed its first phase last summer, with contractors removing and replacing the 27-year-old boarding dock at the park’s boat launch.
The project was slated to cost $1.7 million, according to the city’s capital improvement plan, and Tigard received funding from park system development charges, Oregon State Marine Board, Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
The second phase of the project was partially funded by a Local Government Grant and a Recreation Trails Program Grant, both from the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation.
“Effectively it’s a 50/50 match between the two grants and our own dollars,” Gruen said.
More project information is available on the City of Tigard website and is slated to wrap in 2027 at the latest.
