Sunday’s high temperature is expected to be in the low 80s, but the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s message to drivers this weekend sounds like what we’d hear in the middle of a snowstorm: If you can, stay home and reserve the roads for people who must travel.
That’s because four miles of Interstate 5 in Southwest Portland shut down Friday night and were expected to remain closed until 5 a.m. Monday.
All lanes of the interstate in both directions are closed between the Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard exit and the Capitol Highway overpass while the Oregon Department of Transportation rebuilds a freeway overpass over Southwest 26th Avenue.
- I-5 closure: Here are the best routes to avoid gridlock in Portland this weekend
- Complete list of closed onramps
- What you need to know about the closure
Traffic is detoured at Terwilliger from southbound I-5 and onto Southwest Barbur Boulevard/99W from northbound I-5. But ODOT is encouraging north-south travelers to use other freeways, including interstates 205 and 84, OR 217 and U.S. 26 to get around the four-mile closure.
Map courtesy of ODOT
Check ODOT’s TripCheck.com for information on traffic delays around the closure.
PBOT suggests using Google or Waze for information on local roads that are not covered by ODOT’s cameras. You can view Waze on TripCheck by selecting it in the “Map Features” section of the map legend in the upper left of the page.
As of 3 p.m. Sunday, a spokesperson for ODOT said construction was going as planned.
“Everything is on schedule,” said Don Hamilton, the spokesperson.
— The Oregonian/OregonLive