Portland, Oregon. A city of bridges. A city of rivers. A city of rain. The greater metro area is home to nearly
two and a half million people. And just like any major US city, freeways play an
essential role in keeping those people moving. Some might say Portland
has too many freeways. Some might say it doesn't have enough. Regardless, more cars are driving
on these roads every year, but the infrastructure
isn't getting any younger. When most of these freeways
are being built in the 1960s, they were only the first step
of a much grander vision. Portland's city planners were working toward
a network of freeways and highways that was nearly double
of what exists today. The history of these failed
projects is fascinating, but it's also incredibly extensive. We'll be exploring just a few pieces
of this much bigger story, and highlighting some of the evidence
you can still find throughout the city today. In September of 1943,
the city of Portland and Multnomah County invited the renowned urban developer
Robert Moses to come visit the city. Moses was well known for transforming
the boroughs of New York City with his highways, parks and bridges. "Many of the people — by no means all —
who call themselves planners "are people who make pretty pictures. They draw things." "They present a plausible and often
dramatic... melodramatic program," "but they're not people
that get anything done. " While he was one of the most influential
urban developers of the 20th century, he would also become highly controversial. The later decades of his career would see
his corruption and racism brought to light. His projects would become notorious
for dividing communities, literally, at the cost of his vision for progress. These aspects of his career weren't
common knowledge in the early 40s. But in the very least, he was
known for his abrasive personality. World War II was still ongoing, but
Portland's leaders were looking ahead to how they could revitalize the city
and create jobs for returning servicemen. once the war was over. This was a progressive outlook
at the time, as most other big cities weren't planning ahead for
these postwar challenges. Moses was brought in
to offer his expertise. And two months later in November,
he presented an 87-page report that outlined his vision for
the city's future infrastructure. The projects outlined in this report
would help modernize Portland in ways it had never seen before. And importantly, it would create
20,000 new jobs in the process. The New York Times described the plan as one of the most comprehensive postwar
public works programs in the country. Of course, his plan was really just the playbook
to get the city started in the right direction. Urban planners within Portland
and the state of Oregon would expand upon these ideas
tremendously in the coming years. Few things inspired these plans as
much as the Federal Aid Highway Act, signed by President Eisenhower in 1956. This introduced the United States
to the new concept of interstate highways. The best part was that
the federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost
of any approved interstates. This meant that cities
could realize their visions for growth, while in many cases
only paying a small fraction of the cost. These wider, faster roads fueled Americans'
growing love affair with the automobile. In fact, the number of cars on American
roads more than doubled during the 1950s. This kicked off Americans' mass
movement out to the suburbs, making the highways all the more vital
to their daily commutes. Freeways quickly became
a mainstay of American life, and this was certainly
no exception in Portland. In June of 1955, a year
before the Highway Act was signed, the city announced its
first rough blueprint for 14 freeways, 14 expressways and five new bridges. These plans weren't set in stone
by any means, but they included several more routes than Robert Moses
had suggested in the prior decade. Many of these would become the
infrastructure we're familiar with today. The first of these projects
was already being built, and opened just four months later
in October of 1955. The Banfield Freeway linked
to the city center with the neighborhoods of northeast Portland, continuing
out of the city as far as Troutdale. With the introduction
of the interstate system, this route would soon be signed as
I-80 North, known today as I-84. Around the city center itself was what Robert Moses
had proposed as the inner-belt thruway, with freeways serving both
sides of the Willamette River. The route on the east side of
the river would become I-5, which opened with the completion
of the Marquam Bridge in 1966. I-405 opened a few years later in 1969 , circling downtown and forming
the western half of the loop. The loop wouldn't be fully completed until the
Fremont Bridge opened a few years later in 1973. Farther east is I-205, which serves as an
outer loop that bypasses the city center. This was Portland's last
freeway to be built, opening in 1983. The 1955 plan got a few
other things right, too. But with all that said, half of the proposed
routes here would never materialize, although some of them came very close Now that we know which
freeways became a reality, Let's take a closer look at three projects
that were almost built alongside them. As seen on the 1955 map, there was a route
that split off from the inner-belt thruway and ran up through Portland's
Northwest Industrial area. This was referred to as the Industrial Freeway. In this earliest draft, the freeway would've run a little over five miles, ending with a connection
to the St. Johns Bridge. Since this wasn't
a major connecting route, the idea didn't get much traction
for over a decade. The city had its hands
full with building its major interstates, which remained the top priority
through the end of the 60s. But in 1968, Congress approved
additional funding for new interstates. With more money up for grabs, The city chose the Industrial Freeway as
part of a second wave of new construction. The nearby I-405 was just
six months from completion. So the offshoot of the Industrial
Freeway was a natural next step. A few months later in December, the future
route was designated as Interstate 505. At the time, the proposed length of
the route was still being decided. The city briefly explored the idea of
extending it to a length of eight miles, running up closer to Sauvie Island
and naming it the St. Helens Freeway. Here it would've hit another expressway
that would've run across the West Hills, and up into Vancouver, Washington. But these ideas didn't
last for long, and soon, I-505 was scaled down to only serve
the Northwest Industrial neighborhood. It would've followed Upshur Street
for a little over a mile, being depressed below ground level
between Thurman and Vaughn Streets. This would form a connection
with the US Route 30, which at the time ran through the
neighborhood along St. Helens Road. As these plans were made public in 1969, local residents were skeptical, but many
were initially supportive of the idea. The neighborhood was growing, especially with young
professionals and lower-middle-class families. With this growth came the need for a clear
division between its residential and industrial areas,
and the freeway would provide just that. But there are plenty of concerns
about the project from the start. Nearly 400 residents would be displaced
from their homes, and the neighborhood wanted to make sure
these people would be properly rehoused. At the same time, Americans were growing
increasingly concerned about the environment. The National Environmental Policy Act
was introduced in 1970 and required all federal projects
to evaluate their environmental impacts. Almost immediately, Portland's residents
firmly held the freeway planners accountable to this rule. In 1971, the neighborhood
filed a class action lawsuit to conduct an environmental survey
for iPhone five. By this time, most residents
and business owners weren't satisfied with the Upshur route. So the survey would explore
the environmental impacts of a few possible alternatives as well. These routes were presented when the survey
was completed two years later in 1973. The neighborhood's favorite
option, called Long Yeon, would have four elevated lanes
along Yeon Avenue to 29th, continuing at grade
until being elevated again for a flyover for a flyover interchange
with St. Helens Road. The local industries
didn't like this approach, as it had the greatest negative
impact on their businesses. But the residents favored it,
because it would keep the traffic out of their backyards, and would minimize
the need to tear down homes. The city council agreed, and selected
the Long Yeon route in 1974. Everything seemed ready to move forward, but not much progress was
made over the next few years. By this point, Portland's
leaders were facing an onslaught of freeway protests across the city And within the neighborhood, opponents of I-505 continued to push back on the
plans and delay construction. In November of 1978, the city council cut their losses and withdrew
their support for I-505. The neighborhood had made
their voices heard, and the city didn't consider the route essential
enough to keep pushing it any further. A decade later in 1988, US Route 30 was rerouted to Yeon Avenue
to alleviate traffic for locals. This alignment follows the route
that I-505 would've taken. But of course, it was never
built to freeway standards. At least, not entirely. When you exit I-405 onto Route 30, you'll notice that the road continues to
resemble a freeway for the better part of a mile, until it hits Nicolai street. This interchange was partially built in the early 70s
during the construction of the Fremont Bridge, and was intended for the future
connection to the Industrial Freeway. The ramps originally touched
ground at 21st Avenue, providing a temporary connection to the
surface streets while I-505 was being planned. After the freeway was canceled. the ramps were
repurposed to improve traffic flow in the late 80s, resulting in the interchange
as we know it today. Our next point of interest is just across the Fremont Bridge, where I-405
closes the loop with I-5. The stack interchange here
is one of the most complex in the city with a confusing array of overpasses
that connect these two major routes. You wouldn't know by looking at it,
but this is actually considered incomplete as it was originally going to accommodate
a third freeway as well. Looking back to the 1955 plan,
we can see a route that splits off from this interchange into
the neighborhoods of northeast Portland. Another map from a few years later gives
us a clear view of the proposed route. Originally called the Fremont Freeway,
this would've been about six miles long, running along northeast Fremont Street
and bending around Rocky Butte before merging with the Banfield Freeway. This idea wasn't seriously considered
for several years, but it soon gained the new name
of the Rose City Freeway. By 1969, I-205 was still
far from being built, but its alignment had been mostly
figured out after years of local pushback. The proposed route of the Rose CityFreeway
changed slightly to accommodate this. It would now be about five
and a half miles long for six lanes with six lanes running up to
Prescott Street and then eastward, eventually reducing to
four lanes until hitting I-205. City planners still weren't
ready to build the freeway quite yet, but the construction of the Fremont Bridge
would provide a critical starting point. Part of this project
included a set of freeway ramps that led straight into the nearby
neighborhoods of the Albina district. This was going to be the connecting segment
for the Rose City Freeway once it was built. And in the meantime, the ramps would serve
as a street connection to the bridge. The problem was, the neighborhood
wanted nothing to do with the freeway. Albina was home to the majority
of Portland's black residents, and many of their homes and businesses
had already been destroyed by the construction
of I-5 a few years earlier. What's worse, the neighboring Emanuel Hospital
was getting ready for a big expansion project that would wipe out 19 blacks of the neighborhood
and displace 300 homes and businesses. The Rose City Freeway would wipe out
more than 4800 homes on top of this. While planners simply saw it
as a blighted area of the city, needed investments to help it grow,
not tear it apart. In September of 1971, neighborhood groups staged
a protest on the recently built freeway ramps. They argued that connecting these
to the street network would bring disruptive amounts of traffic,
noise and pollution to the neighborhood. What's more, their rallying cry
that the city was building "white roads through black bedrooms"
caused a stir among the city council . They quickly rebutted the idea that the freeway
had anything to do with racial prejudice. They also pointed out that the freeway
wasn't even confirmed to happen. While the general idea had been around
for nearly two decades, they claimed there were still
no firm plans to carry it out. It was hard to convince the neighborhood
of this though, when the ramps had been built in their backyard
without warning. Two years later, in November of 1973,
the Fremont Bridge was finally completed. But the Rose City Freeway ramps still had
not been connected to the surface streets, as the neighborhood continued
to block this from happening. By this time, most city planners already
concluded that the freeway would not be built, but the neighborhood was
concerned that opening the ramps would bring in enough traffic
to reignite the city's interest. Emanuel Hospital,
which was now carrying out its own destruction of the neighborhood,
urged the city to open the ramps. They argued that it would provide an important
connection for their commuting employees, as well as for emergency vehicles
that needed quick access to the bridge. The opposing sides remained in deadlock
for the remainder of the 70s, leaving the ramps unused for
the better part of a decade. Finally, by fall of 1979, the ramps were connected to
the street and opened to traffic. Fortunately for the neighborhood,
the city had long since given up on any intentions
to build the Rose City Freeway. As you travel north across
the Fremont Bridge today, you'll see these ramps are still in
use for the exit onto Kerby Avenue. This exit is unusual, resembling a
freeway for about half a mile before ending in a sharp turn into the street. Perhaps even more striking, though,
are three abandoned freeway ramps scattered across the interchange. These are often referred to as rip stubs
or ghost ramps for obvious reasons. These would've been direct connections
to the Rose City Freeway. It's hard to know exactly how the
flyovers would've been aligned, but they probably would've
looked something like this. A couple of these ramp stubs
are hard to see while driving, but the northmost one can be clearly
spotted from both directions I-5. In this aerial photo from 1965,
before construction began on the bridge, you can see two ramp stubs had been
built for the future interchange. By the early 70s, the northbound ramp to the
Fremont Bridge was constructed as planned. And in turn, it included its own new stub
for the upcoming Rose City Freeway. This view is largely the same today,
and it's pretty amazing to think that the southbound ramp in particular has
gone ractically untouched since the mid-60s. Of all of Portland's cancelled
freeway projects, the Mount Hood Freeway
became the most notorious Once again, our story begins
with the original 1955 plan. This east-eest route in Southeast Portland would've been one of the crown
jewels of the city's freeway system, providing a major commuting route
between the city center and Gresham. But when the interstate highway program
was announced the following year, the Mt. the Mount Hood Freeway wasn't chosen
as one of Portland's first interstates. The Banfield Freeway had just opened, and already provided the
city with an east-west route. It was soon grandfathered
into the interstate system instead, and the Mt. Hood Freeway was put on
the backburner for the next decade. By the mid-60s, the city was exploring
several different route options for the outer loop of I-205. in what was called a
"hot potato" of sorts, the city kept eyeing
routes for the freeway and then getting pushed out
by neighborhood protests. The original plan was for I-205
to cut through Lake Oswego, but its residents harshly criticized these plans and blocked any construction
from taking place within the city. State engineers look north
for other options. they proposed the Mount Hood Freeway
as the southern leg of the loop. However this proposal was rejected, and I-205 was instead pushed much
farther south to pass through West Linn. But the city of Portland was still fully on board with
building the Mount Hood Freeway as its own project, even if it couldn't get
the full federal funding. The route would split off from I-5
on the east end of the Marquam Bridge, which was still under
construction at the time. The massive eight-lane highway
would've been four city blocks wide, traveling east along the current route
of Division Street and Powell Boulevard. Spanning just over five miles, it
would then intersect with I-205. From here, it would continue east
as the Mount Hood Expressway, a less substantial road that would run
to the southeast end of Gresham. A third segment would continue
it southeastward down to Sandy. As the residents of Southeast Portland learned
about these plans, their reactions were mixed. Some were receptive to the idea of
the new freeway, but most are frustrated. They felt that the city should provide
more clear information about the project and involve them in the planning process. Not the least of their worries was the fact that the
freeway would split their neighborhood in half, bulldozing 1% of the entire city's
housing market in the process. And with the density of the
southeast neighborhoods, some predicted that the freeway would
be in gridlock as soon as it opened. Despite the controversy, the Mount Hood Freeway
was given another chance to gain interstate status. By the late 60s, the Banfield Freeway had become a
choke point for the city's increasing traffic demands, since it was more windy and narrow
than the modern standard. If I-80 North could be rerouted
to the south instead, this would not only alleviate traffic,
but would finally let the city build the Mount Hood Freeway on the
federal government's dime. In January of 1969, the Federal Highway
Administration approved this new plan, and the city began making
preparations to move forward. This began with an Environmental Impact Survey,
which was completed in 1972. To appease the concern of residents, the
survey explored two alternate alignments, But the original Division-Powell
route was ultimately chosen, and the city began acquiring properties
and tearing down houses in preparation. Unsurprisingly, residents were outraged, and felt that the city was moving forward
without taking their feedback seriously. Fortunately for them, they began to see support
from a new generation of local politicians who were equally interested in
putting a stop to any more freeways. On top of all this, the US was beginning to experience
a severe energy crisis and gasoline shortages. Freeways were making
less sense than ever, and the Mt. Hood Freeway soon became one of
the biggest targets for Portland's freeway protests. It became the poster child for everything
that was wrong with the city, from reckless roadway expansion to
irresponsible damage to the environment. This widespread belief threatens
not only the Mt. but many of the other planned
projects around the city, including the Industrial and Rose City freeways. Amidst the uproar, the city began to withdraw
its support for the freeway in 1974. The construction of I-205 had
continued to be controversial as well, and the future was looking grim
for both projects. In 1975, local politicians
made a compromise. They agreed to cancel the plans
for the Mount Hood Freeway, and instead focus their efforts on finishing
what they had started with I-205. Despite it never being built, several remnants of the
Mount Hood Freeway are still visible today. Before the Marquam Bridge was even built, it was always designed to accommodate
the interchange with the freeway. This amazing scale model from 1962 gives us a clear
view of what the interchange would've looked like. For reference, it would've stood right
bove the current-day location of OMSI. Of course, the interchange
was never built, but the bridge still has a leftover ramp stub
that was built for this purpose. Although there's just one of them now, the bridge originally had several of these ramp
stubs when it was first completed in 1966. These were removed in 1990
when the bridge decks were widened to accommodate
more lanes of traffic. More evidence of the Mount Hood
Freeway can be found if you travel east along
its proposed route. Piccolo Park near Division Street uses land
where four homes were destroyed in the early 70s in preparation
for the freeway. As you continue in this same direction
along Powell Boulevard, you can see a series of narrow
parking lots to go on for several blocks. These are more properties that the city
had cleared out for the freeway in the 70s. As you continue beyond
I-205 and approach Gresham, Powell Boulevard bends up into
the City Central neighborhood. The Mount Hood Expressway would've
instead cut southeast through Gresham Butte. At this spot, you'll notice
the eastbound and westbound lanes of Route 26 split apart
from each other for a short distance. This was designed for the eventual
interchange with the Mount Hood Expressway. Of course, since it was never built,
this divided section serves no practical purpose today. From this point onward
for the next eight miles, Route 26 actually does
take the form of an expressway. This remains the only section of
the project that was actually constructed, as it was already completed by the time the
rest of the Mount Hood Freeway was cancelled. Although it was a long and arduous
fight, Portland's residents proved that their voices were critical
to the city's growth and development. But this wasn't simply
about canceling freeways. It was about taking a community-centric
approach to investing in their shared future. As Portland's freeway
projects were canceled one by one, hundreds of millions of dollars of funding
were freed up for other projects. Among these was the city's investment
in its first MAX light rail line. When it began service in 1986, the system
was one of the first of its kind in the US. "I think it signals that we've taken
yet another step, my friends, together," "in making Portland and
the surrounding area" "a world-class metropolitan area." Portland's transit network has grown
considerably in the years since. Likewise, in the last few decades,
the city has earned a reputation as one of the most bike
friendly cities in the country. Investments like these wouldn't
have been possible if the city had put all of its funding
into building more freeways. Portland isn't perfect by any means, and it will always have
its share of challenges. But it's safe to say that the city
would look a lot different if it weren't for those community voices
who shaped the city as we know it today.
Too bad this didn't touch on Harbor Drive, which was the freeway that was built, and then torn out. It is now McCall Waterfront Park.
If Portland was smart, we would rename I-205 (or I-405) and call it I-5. Then we would do the same thing to I-5 that we did to Harbor Drive: We'd turn it into a park or a waterfront development project.
Imagine if the 20th Avenue Expressway (from the proposed Mt. Hood Freeway to I-84) had been built. The intersection of 20th and Hawthorne would look very different, I suspect.
Peter Dibble has created a definitive video document describing Portland's freeway history. Comprehensive, rich in interesting details, and wonderfully clear. A lot of work behind this piece. Absolutely terrific! Thank you, Peter! https://youtube.com/c/PeterDibble0
Wow fantastic video. Great job to whoever made it
I’m very opposed to freeway expansion (I’m from Dallas, a pretty textbook example of it getting out of hand) but the part of me that drives a semi around the PNW at least wishes there was an actual city bypass highway so I didn’t have to drive through the heart of Portland constantly to pick up or deliver somewhere.
Too bad tunnels are so costly.
All these comments about "imagine what SE would look like" - see Albina and the Rose Quarter. And ODOT is expanding the highway again in that neighborhood.
I had heard quite a bit about the Mt. Hood Highway, and I could still see something like that occurring (albeit with a lot of unhappy people.) The industrial highway seems like it may have completely changed much of the shipping and yards that are up there. Port of Portland may have been much bigger had it completed.
The best decisions Portland ever made.
I am thankful these highway projects weren't built, they would have drastically changed Portland and would have destroyed so many great neighborhoods.