The new lane will help reduce sideswipe and rear-end crashes
Oct. 4, 2018
Contact:
Don Hamilton, 503-704-7452
TUALATIN
-- A new auxiliary lane along southbound Interstate 5 opened last week in a
project to reduce crashes and improve safety between OR 217 and Interstate 205.
The
project completes an auxiliary lane along three miles of southbound I-5 from
the OR 217 on-ramp to the I-205 off-ramp. The lane will also serve on-ramps and
off-ramps at Carman Drive, Lower Boones Ferry Road and Nyberg Street.
The
new lane is open with signs and permanent lane striping scheduled for
installation in the weeks ahead.
Research
shows that two-thirds of all southbound traffic entering I-5 from these
on-ramps is bound for I-205. The new auxiliary lane allows this traffic to stay
in the auxiliary lane and enter I-205 without merging onto the I-5 mainline.
Reducing
the weaving from the on-ramps to the mainline of I-5 will reduce the number of
rear-end and sideswipe crashes and reduce the number of days with delays on
this section of I-5, one
of the busiest freeway corridors in Oregon.
Studies
show auxiliary lanes are an effective way to reduce bottleneck congestion. Typically,
an auxiliary lane provides a direct connection from one interchange ramp to the
next without requiring a weave into the freeway mainline.
A
previous project built an auxiliary lane on southbound I-5 from the OR 217 on-ramp
to the Lower Boones Ferry Road off-ramp. This project extends that auxiliary
lane to I-205 to improve safety and traffic flow along I-5.
For
more information about this project and auxiliary lanes go to tinyurl.com/I5ODOTProjectork zone.
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