Oregon Route 217

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Oregon Route 217

Length:

7.44 mi (11.97 km)

South end:

I-5 in Lake Oswego

Major
junctions:

OR 99W in Tigard

OR 141 in Tigard

OR 210 in Beaverton

OR 141 in Beaverton

OR 8 and OR 10 in Beaverton

North end:

US 26 in Beaverton

Oregon Routes
< OR 216		OR 218 >

Oregon Route 217 is an Oregon state highway which serves the western suburbs of Portland. OR 217 is a limited-access freeway which connects U.S. Route 26 with Interstate 5.

OR 217 is comprised of the Beaverton-Tigard Highway, which is Highway 144.

1 Route description
- 1.1 Cities and towns along the route
- 1.2 Intersections with other highways
2 Exit list
3 See also

[edit] Route description

For most of its length, OR 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 is an interchange with I-5.

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 until it reached Durham Road. There, it took a left onto Durham Road, following it for about 0.8 miles until the intersection with Boones Ferry Road. It remained on Boones Ferry Road through Durham, Tualatin, and Wilsonville for about 8 miles, crossing the Willamette River on a ferry and continuing south for another 5 miles until finally ending at U.S. Route 99E at Aurora, for a grand total of about 20 miles 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, which is Highway 141, and was recently given the route designation OR 141.

[edit] Cities and towns along the route

Cedar Hills
Beaverton
Progress
Tigard
Lake Oswego

[edit] Intersections with other highways

U.S. Route 26 north of Beaverton
OR 8 and OR 10 in Beaverton
OR 141 (Hall Boulevard) in Beaverton
OR 210 in Beaverton/Tigard
OR 99W in Tigard
Interstate 5 in Tigard/Lake Oswego

[edit] Exit list

Below is a list of exits on OR 217:

Exit Number	Destination	Municipality	Other
	U.S. Route 26 West - Tillamook/Astoria	Cedar Hills	Only for Northbound 217. Recently extended ramp.
	Barnes Road	Cedar Hills	Only for Northbound 217.
	U.S. Route 26 East - Cedar Hills/Portland	Cedar Hills	Only for Northbound 217.
1	Walker Road	Beaverton
2A	OR 8/OR 10 - Canyon Road/Beaverton	Beaverton
2B	Allen Boulevard	Beaverton
3	Denney Road	Beaverton
4	OR 210 - Scholls Ferry Road/Progress	Tigard	Only for Northbound 217.
4A	Progress	Beaverton	Only for Southbound 217.
4B	Oregon Route 210 - Scholls Ferry Road	Tigard	Only for Southbond 217.
5	Greenburg Road/Metzger	Tigard
6	OR 99W - Pacific Hwy/Tigard	Tigard
7	72nd Avenue	Tigard
	Interstate 5 North - Portland	Tigard	Only for Southbound 217.
	Kruse Way/Lake Oswego	Tigard	Only for Southbound 217.
	Interstate 5 South - Salem	Tigard	Only for Southbound 217.