Oregon Route 217 - Route Description

Route Description

For most of its length, OR 217 is a freeway with two travel lanes in each direction, with a third weave lane for exiting and merging, with the exception of its two termini.

The northern terminus of OR 217 is an interchange with US 26, at that point a freeway known as the Sunset Highway. OR 217 proceeds south, through the suburbs of Beaverton and Tigard. The southern terminus of OR 217 is an interchange with I-5 at exit 292 (292A for northbound traffic)

Commuters heading towards either terminus will find themselves on surface streets if they fail to exit. Indeed, southbound travelers wishing to get onto northbound I-5 have to turn left at a traffic signal; southbound travelers of I-5 wishing to become northbound travelers of OR 217 must turn right at a traffic signal at the end of the off-ramp. Traffic from I-5 North wishing to use OR 217 North used to have to make an exit and a right turn at a traffic signal. A major rebuild of the I-5/OR 217 junction around 2001 resulted in the construction of a flyover ramp, relieving the severe congestion the old design caused (compare before and after satellite photos). This reconstruction also left room for future freeway-to-freeway connections in other directions.

Traffic on OR 217 is frequently heavy, especially during rush hour. The freeway has several major design issues, one of which is the many on and off-ramps within a very short distance of each other (sometimes less than 1/4 mile). The ramps are frequently short and do not allow for gentle acceleration to freeway speeds. Once on the freeway, one finds themselves hastily jostling for position before they are forced to exit. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is investigating a major overhaul of this route.

Before the freeway was completed in the 1970s, OR 217 ran along surface streets. It originally started at the junction of OR 8 and Hall Blvd. in Beaverton, continuing along Hall Boulevard through Beaverton, Progress, Metzger, and Tigard for 7 miles (11 km) until it reached Durham Road. There, it took a left onto Durham Road, following it for about 0.8 miles (1.3 km) until the intersection with Boones Ferry Road. It remained on Boones Ferry Road through Durham, Tualatin, and Wilsonville for about 8 miles (13 km), crossing the Willamette River on a ferry and continuing south for another 5 miles (8.0 km) until finally ending at U.S. Route 99E at Aurora, for a grand total of about 20 miles (32 km) or so. The southern terminus was scaled back to Wilsonville (current I-5 exit 286) with the completion of I-5 to Portland. This older highway, called the Beaverton-Aurora Highway, was kept in the state highway system as the Beaverton-Tualatin Highway No. 141, and was recently given the route designation OR 141.