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Welcome to Beaver State Roads!

My name is Jonathan. Simply put, Beaver State Roads aims to be your one-stop shop for information on Oregon state routes, highways, and other important roads. It was borne out of an earlier project, ORoads, which was originally hosted on Angelfire starting around 2002 under my pseudonym Jason of ORoads. Unfortunately, ORoads became all but abandonned in the late 2000s-early 2010s due to life and other things, and during that time both the site design and the information within grew stale. Beaver State Roads strives to correct the outdated information plus add in the wealth of additional knowledge obtained over the past 20 years, presenting route and highway history and data as accurate as possible.

📄 Pages

While I'll be adding more pages to the site in the future, here's what's available now:

• Pages on Oregon state routes:
  • Oregon Route 2 🚧, what is now US-26 from Cannon Beach Junction to Portland
  • Oregon Route 37, created in 1972
  • Oregon Route 42N, rediscovered thanks to a 2016 AARoads post
  • Oregon Route 64 — yes, you read that right — an extremely short-lived state route which became a westward extension of Oregon Route 140
  • Oregon Route 127, applied to Cornelius Pass Road between Hillsboro and Burlington in 2020
  • Oregon Route 132, applied to the Delta Highway in Eugene in 2019
  • The first iteration of Oregon Route 231 from Oswego to Wilsonville, which may have only existed on paper around 1934
  • US Route 320, proposed to — and soundly rejected by — AASHO in 1958, rediscovered thanks to a 2005 misc.transport.road post
• Articles on mileposting and related signage:
  • Mileposts
    • A list of surviving concrete mileposts originally erected starting in 1924
  • Bridge and Culvert Inventory Markers
  • The "Mile 69 Problem"
• A page of common abbreviations used on the site

Future articles will revolve around Oregon Route 6 and Oregon's mileposting system as a whole.

❓ How to Help

At present, writing these articles is a solo effort. Once I get some good information on here in the near future, the goal is to recruit additional Oregon roadgeeks as contributors. The decision to present this site in a wiki format was made with collaboration and education in mind. I don't have all the answers, and want to give people who may have those answers a platform on which to reveal them. Once I figure out some basic guidelines, I will extend offers as necessary.

However, there are other ways to help:

• What I prize above all is information. This includes (but isn't limited to) any documents, photos, maps, articles, meeting minutes, or other miscellany that may shed new light on Oregon's highways or provide a glimpse into the past, present or future. If you have anything about Oregon's highways that I can use on this site — especially historic or unique photos — please feel free to send it to beaverstateroads AT gmail DOT com. You will be given credit on the about page once I write it.
• That said, I will eventually figure out how to set up accounts for people to donate to assist the site. This is necessary because unfortunately, a lot of good information, including high-quality photos, are locked away behind expensive fees to retrieve and scan the data. For example, the Oregon Secretary of State's office demands $20 per high-quality scan of photos, and research time in the Multnomah County archives can add up quickly. Any future financial assistance I receive would be much appreciated, and I would make an effort to document where and how the money I receive is used.
• I may also need some assistance making this site mobile-friendly in the near future.

Creating the most complete history of Oregon state highways is a herculean effort, but with your help it doesn't have to be. Thank you in advance!

📰 Recent Oregon Highway News

🔨 172-mile bike and pedestrian corridor in development in southwest Oregon

(1/23/2024 — KDRV NewsWatch 12 — Medford)

The Rogue-Umpqua Bicycle and Pedestrian Corridor plan helps address bicycle and pedestrian needs along the entire 172-mile corridor. That corridor consists of North Umpqua Highway, Diamond Lake Highway, Crater Lake Highway and Sams Valley Highway.

💥 PHOTOS: Driver ignores Tillamook County road closure, plunges into hole left by 200-foot landslide

(1/22/2024 — KOIN CBS 6 — Portland)

An unknown driver in Tillamook County drove past safety barricades during the early morning hours of Jan. 21 before plunging into a hole left by a 200-foot landslide, which shut down Sandlake Road on Dec. 6.

😡 🔨 $200 million federal grant will help fund Hood River bridge replacement

(1/22/2024 — KGW NBC 8 — Portland)

The Hood River Bridge replacement project has secured a $200 million federal grant, enough to cover more than a third of the projected cost of a new bridge across the Columbia River between Hood River and White Salmon.

🚧 I-84 reopens in Columbia River Gorge

(1/19/2024 — OregonLive — Portland)

Oregon transportation officials reopened a 47-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge that had been closed since Tuesday afternoon. The closure of the freeway from Troutdale to Hood River lasted nearly 31 hours.

💥 East MultCo. still plagued by icy roads and downed power lines

(1/18/2024 — KOIN CBS 6 — Portland)

A powerline that struck an occupied car Thursday night in Troutdale is just one example of the freezing rain making a mess of local roads and causing outages — particularly in East Multnomah County — just as parts of the greater Portland area were starting to thaw out.

🚧 📺 Truckers wait for I-84 to reopen between Troutdale and Hood River

(1/17/2024 — KPTV Fox 12 Oregon — Portland)

Driving conditions are bad everywhere but even more dangerous as you head toward the Gorge.

🚧 ODOT warns drivers to prepare for slippery roads, announces road closures

(1/17/2024 — KVAL 13 News — Eugene, OR)

As temperatures begin to warm up, ice and snow will melt. That's why the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is telling drivers to be prepared for slippery roads and high water.

💥 Icy conditions causing loss of traction, downed power lines on I-5

(1/16/2024 — KATU ABC 2 — Portland)

Icy conditions are causing vehicles to lose traction and crash on the southbound off ramp of Interstate 5 at Exit 199, Oregon Dept. of Transportation reports. They advise motorists to use an alternate route.

🚧 ODOT closes I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge

(1/16/2024 — KATU ABC 2 — Portland)

The Oregon Department of Transportation says they have closed I-84 in the Gorge before conditions become unsafe. “We close the gorge when conditions are unsafe, and we will keep it closed until we can get the roads safe again...”

💥 I-5 backup leaves drivers stranded for hours

(1/15/2024 — KEZI-TV ABC 9 — Eugene)

Hundreds of people are home safe after spending more than 15 hours stuck on Interstate 5 south of Eugene, but many more are still stuck on the highway. Spin-outs and loss of traction caused multiple accidents, and brought traffic on I-5 Northbound near Cottage Grove to a stand-still.

🚧 PBOT provides update after 3 days of winter storm: 44 roads closed in Portland

(1/15/2024 — KATU ABC 2 — Portland)

Although there are currently 44 closed roads in Portland, the Portland Bureau of Transportation says that if you have any important errands to run, you should do them today - because more winter weather expected tomorrow will tangle things up again.

🔨 🔊 Historic Columbia Gorge highway is one step nearer completion, with world-class aspirations

(1/11/2024 — Oregon Public Broadcasting — Portland)

There are 77 waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge, and that’s just on the Oregon side. You can catch a glimpse of some as you drive along Interstate 84. But for the best views, you need to travel the old Columbia River Highway, which snakes along the basalt walls offering one picture book scene after another.

Tolls on U.S. 26, Hwy 217? Local leaders to consider study’s proposal

(12/27/2023 — KOIN CBS 6 — Portland)

Tolling has been a hot topic in the Portland metro area throughout 2023, but that heat could spread next year as government leaders consider tolling on the west side. A new study by the Oregon Department of Transportation and Metro focused on improving gridlock during commute times on Highway 26 and Highway 217 — and proposed tolling as a possible solution.

Wilsonville City Council votes to survey public on I-5 and I-205 possible tolling plans

(12/23/2023 — KATU ABC 2 — Portland)

The Wilsonville City Council this week voted to join other cities in an effort to poll public opinion on adding tolls to I-5 and I-205. There is no official plan to add any tolls. In fact, Governor Kotek ordered ODOT to pause all tolling efforts until 2026.

🔨 Interstate 5 Bridge replacement project wins $600 million federal grant; $4 billion total now secured

(12/15/2023 — The Columbian — Vancouver, WA)

Christmas came early for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program in the form of a $600 million federal grant, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Oregon drivers can pass cyclists in no-passing zones starting in January

(12/12/2023 — Oregon Public Broadcasting — Portland)

A new law in Oregon will let drivers pass a slow-moving cyclist in a no-passing zone. Starting Jan. 1, vehicles traveling at less than half the speed limit will be considered road obstructions.

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⏪ Older News

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Key: 🔨 = Project information | 🚧 = Road closure information | 🔥 = Fire information | 💥 = Hazard information | 🧾 = Historical information | 🔊 = Audio version/podcast episode available | 📺 = Video | 💲 = Paywall | 💰 = Obnoxious paywall | 😡 = Other webpage annoyances

🌎 See Also

• Beaver State Blog, the blog companion to this wiki. Provides news and articles about past, present and future Oregon roads.
• ORoads, the site that started it all back in 2002. Kept around for posterity.