ODOT considers rush-hour fixes for busy Highway 217

Some local traffic ramps could be closed at times to ease traffic flow

By Ray Pitz

Pamplin Media Group, Nov 3, 2009, Updated Nov 3, 2009 (10 Reader comments)

Tribune file photo

Busy Highway 217 could get a few fixes to help traffic move more smoothly during rush hour. An ODOT official said Monday that some highway ramps could be closed to ease morning and evening traffic.

Would closing some northern Highway 217 ramps to local traffic during rush hour relieve congestion along that crowded corridor?

That’s one of the possibilities Oregon’s Department of Transportation is considering to allow the heavily traveled highway to run smoother, an ODOT official told members of the Washington County Public Affairs Forum Monday afternoon.

Jason Tell, manager of ODOT’s District 1, which includes Washington and Multnomah counties, told an audience that Highway 217 is one of the trickiest in the state to get a handle on, noting that when it was built there was a high level of traffic on the road with many motorists traveling short distances between the closely spaced ramps.

Past Highway 217 improvement plans included charging tolls to use the highway, a proposal that’s largely been abandoned in part because it would not generate enough revenue. Since it’s estimated that $1 billion would be needed to widen the road, money that’s not forthcoming, Tell said incremental solutions will have to do.

“We’re either going to do nothing or we’re going to have to do something in steps,” he said.

However, Tell said a study looking at where potential rush-hour ramp traffic would be diverted is a question that would have to be answered before any decision was made on Highway 217. In addition, gaining support from local cities and the community at large would have to be gauged before any highway improvements would be made, he said.

100 projects planned

ODOT is in the process of adding a third lane to Highway 217 northbound between the Tualatin Valley and Sunset highways.

Meanwhile, Tell said ODOT was busy on other local projects as well.

“Right now, over the next four years, we have about 100 projects that are planned,” he said. “They’re moving through the process. They total over a half a billion dollars.”

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