Harbor Drive is a short roadway in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, spanning a total length of , which primarily functions as a ramp to and from

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

. It was once much longer, running along the western edge of the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

in the downtown area. Originally constructed from 1942–43, the vast majority of the road was replaced with

Tom McCall Waterfront Park Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 19 ...

in the 1970s. Signed as U.S. Route 99W, it had been the major route through the city and its removal is often cited as the first instance of

freeway removal Freeway removal is a public policy of urban planning policy to demolish freeways and create mixed-use urban areas, parks, residential, commercial, or other land uses. Such highway removal is often part of a policy to promote smart growth, transit ...

in the U.S. and as a milestone in

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

; the original road is remembered as the first

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

built in the city.

History

Construction

Harbor Drive opened in stages in 1942–43, with a formal dedication on November 20, 1942, and completion of the last work in 1943. Seventy-nine buildings and houses were demolished, mostly along Front Avenue, to make room for Harbor Drive. Although the project was criticized for the removal of some historic buildings and for the fact that the new roadway would impede the public's access to the waterfront, most civic organizations supported it, and a majority of the public also indicated its support by approving in 1940 a $1.25 million bond measure (65,000 to 35,000 votes) to help fund the project, which included the city's acquisition of all property between Front Avenue and the river along the stretch from Glisan to Columbia streets. The roadway was the original route of US 99W (locally called "Highway 99W") into downtown Portland from the south.Lloyd, Mike (May 23, 1974). "Asphalt strip to disappear from Portland riverfront". ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

'', p. 29. The highway came from Barbur Boulevard and ran through the downtown area via a couplet on 4th and 6th avenues. US 99W then crossed the

on the Broadway Bridge towards Interstate Avenue, where it headed north to the

Interstate Bridge The Interstate Bridge (also Columbia River Interstate Bridge, I-5 Bridge, Portland-Vancouver Interstate Bridge, Vancouver-Portland Bridge) is a pair of nearly identical steel vertical-lift, Parker through-truss bridges that carry Interstate 5 ...

and the city of

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

. In 1950, a controlled-access highway, though crude by modern standards, opened and was at least partly known as Harbor Drive. It started with an interchange with Barbur Boulevard, joined the Willamette shore near an interchange with Clay and Market streets, and then ran along the shore to the

Steel Bridge The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries r ...

. US 99W then crossed the Steel Bridge, and turned north on a controlled-access extension to Interstate Avenue, until it resumed its old routing at an interchange with the Broadway Bridge. It was the first freeway to be completed in Portland, and the only north–south freeway for over a decade. One block west of Harbor Drive was Front Avenue, then a minor street, and one block west of that was 1st Avenue. Many industrial and commercial buildings, including the

Portland Public Market The Portland Public Market was a public market in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1933 at a widely advertised cost of $1 million ($ million in ). Controversial and ambitious, it was intended to replace the Carroll Public Market, c ...

building, were located between Harbor and Front. Harbor Drive connected to the downtown streets, the

Hawthorne Bridge The Hawthorne Bridge is a truss bridge with a vertical lift that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, joining Hawthorne Boulevard and Madison Street. It is the oldest vertical-lift bridge in operation in the United States and the o ...

and the

Morrison Bridge The Morrison Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Completed in 1958, it is the third bridge at approximately the same site to carry that name. It is one of the most heavily used bridges in Portland. It ...

via a series of interchanges. In 1961, a new freeway (which at the time extended from Eugene to Tigard) was completed to the existing Harbor Drive in downtown Portland, and signed as

and (temporarily) as U.S. Route 99. In 1966, the

Marquam Bridge The Marquam Bridge is a double-deck, steel-truss cantilever bridge that carries Interstate 5 traffic across the Willamette River from south of downtown Portland, Oregon, on the west side to the industrial area of inner Southeast on the east. ...

and the Minnesota Street Freeway were completed, thus making I-5 a contiguous freeway from the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

borders, and making Harbor Drive obsolete as a long-haul thoroughfare. During this period, there was growing resistance to the construction of additional proposed freeways both in Portland and elsewhere in the United States.

Removal

The Olmsted Report (1903) and also the Bennett Plan (1912) had proposed an urban greenway to preserve the Willamette riverfront; however, the Harbor Drive Freeway restricted pedestrian access to the riverfront in 1943 and the

Oregon State Highway Department The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Depa ...

had proposals to extend Harbor Drive. Oregon Governor

Tom McCall Thomas Lawson McCall (March 22, 1913 January 8, 1983) was an American statesman, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon. A Republican, he was the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A native of Massachusetts, McCall grew up t ...

halted expansion and created a task force to study options for replacing Harbor Drive with a

public place A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...

. The task force recommended closure and conversion to a park. The opening of the

Fremont Bridge Fremont Bridge may refer to: * Fremont Bridge (Portland, Oregon) * Fremont Bridge (Seattle) The Fremont Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge that spans the Fremont Cut in Seattle, Washington. The bridge, which connects Fremont Avenue North an ...

in 1973, which completed the Interstate 405 resulted in a ''second'' Interstate through the downtown area, but accomplished a reduction in traffic levels on Harbor Drive. Harbor Drive was permanently closed north of Market Street in May 1974. Construction soon began on a new park, Waterfront Park. In addition, the buildings between Front Avenue and Harbor Drive were demolished, and Front Avenue (since renamed

Naito Parkway Naito Parkway is a major thoroughfare of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was formerly known as Front Avenue and Front Street and was renamed in 1996 to honor Bill Naito. It runs between SW Barbur Boulevard and NW Front Avenue, and adjac ...

after Bill Naito, a local businessman and philanthropist) was widened to a

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

Harbor Drive today

The southernmost segment of Harbor Drive still exists, connecting to I-5 southbound and from I-5 northbound, and has two intermediate intersections with

traffic signals Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic light ...

that provide access to the

RiverPlace RiverPlace is a mixed-use district of Downtown Portland, Oregon. Although not an officially recognized neighborhood, its borders can be considered to be Naito Parkway to the west, the Willamette River to the east, and the Marquam Bridge (whic ...

district. As all ramps to/from the continuation of I-5 as well as I-405 exit and enter from the right, it can be thought of as the default route for those traveling on I-5. Few signs identify it as such; the exit signs on the freeway indicate the route leads to Naito Parkway, and directional signs heading south all say "To I-5". One other remnant of Harbor Drive is a small portion of a ramp stub from the

; the majority of which has been removed due to construction of the new county courthouse. Waterfront Park opened on the land formerly occupied by the highway in 1978 and is a popular destination for sightseers, picnickers, homeless campers and off-street path users, as well as a site for civic events such as the Rose Festival fun center.

Legacy

In addition to creating a major recreation facility for the city of Portland, the closure of Harbor Drive is widely considered a significant event in

– the first time a freeway had ever been removed without being replaced. It (along with the subsequent cancellation of Interstate 505 and the

Mount Hood Freeway The Mount Hood Freeway is a partially constructed but never to be completed freeway alignment of U.S. Route 26 and Interstate 80N (now Interstate 84), which would have run through southeast Portland, Oregon. Related projects would have contin ...

) cemented Portland's reputation as a model of pedestrian- and transit-friendly design. Since the completion of

Interstate 205 Interstate 205 may refer to either of two unconnected Interstate Highways in the United States, both of which are related to Interstate 5 * Interstate 205 (California), a connector in the San Francisco Bay Area * Interstate 205 (Oregon–Washing ...

in the mid 1980s, no new freeways have been built in the city other than a short realignment of

U.S. Route 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of , it is the third longest ...

near the

. Many other cities in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

have since demolished freeways.

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

is well known for the earthquake-assisted demolition of the

Embarcadero Freeway Embarcadero, the Spanish word for wharf, may also refer specifically to: Places * Embarcadero (Oakland), California * Embarcadero (San Diego), California ** Embarcadero Circle, waterfront re-development project in San Diego * Embarcadero (San F ...

;

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

demolished the elevated portion of Interstate 93 as part of the massive

Big Dig The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4&n ...

project; and

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

removed the

Park East Freeway In Milwaukee, freeways were constructed in response to an 8.5% increase in population during the 1940s. Road plans were drawn up in the 1950s through the 1970s and several freeways were built. A lack of foresight resulted in several communities ...

. In addition,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

removed the

Alaskan Way Viaduct The Alaskan Way Viaduct ("the viaduct" for short) was an elevated freeway in Seattle, Washington, United States, that carried a section of State Route 99 (SR 99). The double-decked freeway ran north–south along the city's waterfront for ...

along the downtown waterfront in favor of a new freeway tunnel.

References

External links

Tom McCall Waterfront Park

Image of Harbor Drive, viewed from above Hawthorne Bridge

View of Harbor Drive, looking south

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2_yNrP0hCY The Forgotten Story of Harbor Drive: Portland's Demolished Freewaydocumentary by Peter Dibble, 2021 * {{Coord, 45.516, -122.6726, type:landmark_region:US-OR_source:googlemaps, display=title 1942 establishments in Oregon Demolished highways in the United States History of transportation in Oregon Roads in Oregon Transportation in Portland, Oregon U.S. Route 99 Streets in Portland, Oregon Tom McCall Waterfront Park