Construction has finished on the major elements of the OR 217 Auxiliary Lanes Project, according to an announcement from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). The project, which took four years to complete, aimed to improve safety and reduce congestion along a five-mile stretch of OR 217.
The improvements include five miles of new auxiliary lanes designed to provide drivers with more merging distance and reduce bottlenecks. ODOT expects these changes will decrease crashes by 20% to 30% and save over 73,000 hours in travel time each year.
“We’re celebrating the completion of all major elements of the OR 217 Auxiliary Lanes Project – delivered on time after four years of planned construction,” ODOT stated. “We worked to improve safety and address longstanding bottlenecks on OR 217 while also completing key connections in the adjacent bicycle and pedestrian network. We expect that the new improvements will decrease crashes on the highway by 20% to 30% and save over 73,000 hours of travel time every year.”
The $174 million project was primarily funded through House Bill 2017—known as Keep Oregon Moving—with additional contributions from the City of Beaverton and Washington County.
Key accomplishments included placing over 19,000 tons of asphalt, building a new southbound frontage road between Allen Boulevard and Denney Road, rebuilding and widening Hall Boulevard overpasses in Tigard and Beaverton for improved sidewalks and bike lanes, widening Denney Road’s sidewalk for two-way bike and pedestrian traffic, reconfiguring ramps at six interchanges, connecting Fanno Creek Trail to Allen Boulevard with support from Beaverton, adding sound walls, expanding shoulders for emergency vehicles, constructing retaining walls, installing protective fencing and guardrails, laying down drainage pipes, storm swales, and retention ponds.
Final landscaping work is expected to continue into next spring as weather allows. Short-term lane or shoulder closures may occur during this period but no significant traffic impacts are anticipated. For ongoing updates about traffic impacts related to this project visit the official project website.
