Oregon Route 99W is a

state-numbered route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

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, that runs from

OR 99 Oregon Route 99 is a state highway that runs between the southern border of Oregon, and the city of Junction City. Oregon Route 99 was formed from parts of the former U.S. Route 99; it shares much of its route with I-5, but much of it is als ...

and

OR 99E Oregon Route 99E is an Oregon state highway that runs between Junction City, Oregon and an interchange with I-5 just south of the Oregon/Washington border, in Portland. It, along with OR 99W, makes up a split of OR 99 in the northern part o ...

in Junction City north to

I-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 ...

in southwestern Portland. Some signage continues it north to US 26 near downtown, but most signage agrees with the

Oregon Department of Transportation 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 Depart ...

's (ODOT) description, ending it at I-5. OR 99W is known by ODOT as the Pacific Highway West No. 1W (see

Oregon highways and routes The state highway system of the U.S. state of Oregon is a network of highways that are owned and maintained by the Highway Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). Highways and routes The state highway system consists of abo ...

); that highway continues north through downtown (along a former extension of OR 99W) to the Pacific Highway No. 1 (I-5) in northern Portland, as well as south on OR 99 to the Pacific Highway (I-5) in Eugene. Until around 1972, OR 99W was U.S. Route 99W, rejoining OR 99E (formerly US 99E) in northern Portland. US 99 then continued north along present I-5 into

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 ...

; the next segment still numbered 99 is WA 99 south of

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 region o ...

Route description

The Pacific Highway West begins at the interchange with I-5 (Pacific Highway) and OR 126 Business (

McKenzie Highway Mackenzie, Mckenzie, MacKenzie, or McKenzie may refer to: People * Mackenzie (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Mackenzie (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Clan Mackenzie, a Sco ...

No. 15) in eastern Eugene. It heads west through downtown Eugene along

and OR 126 Business, and then northwest and north to Junction City on OR 99. At Junction City, OR 99 ends and OR 99W begins along the Pacific Highway West, while OR 99E heads northeast on the

Albany-Junction City Highway Oregon Route 99E is an Oregon state highway that runs between Junction City, Oregon and an interchange with I-5 just south of the Oregon/Washington border, in Portland. It, along with OR 99W, makes up a split of OR 99 in the northern part o ...

No. 58. While OR 99E quickly crosses 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 ...

, OR 99W stays on its west side through the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

, passing through towns such as Monroe, Corvallis,

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, Rickreall, Amity, McMinnville and Lafayette.

Oregon Route 18 Oregon Route 18 is a state highway that runs between the Oregon Coast, near Lincoln City, and Newberg. OR 18 traverses the Salmon River Highway No. 39 of the Oregon state highway system, named after the river alongside its westernmo ...

provides a bypass for OR 99W around downtown McMinnville and Lafayette. At McMinnville, OR 99W turns northeast. It passes through the

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towns of

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and Newberg before entering the Portland

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...

Sherwood Sherwood may refer to: Places Australia *Sherwood, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane * Sherwood, South Australia, a locality *Shire of Sherwood, a former local government area of Queensland * Electoral district of Sherwood, an electoral district fr ...

. OR 18 provides a partial bypass for OR 99W around downtown Dundee and Newberg. The bypass currently ends at OR 219, but is proposed to extend northeast to OR 99W northeast of Newberg. OR 99W then skirts the city of Tualatin and passes through Tigard before entering Portland and immediately ending at I-5. The Pacific Highway West, however, continues northeast and north, paralleling I-5 on Barbur Boulevard.

OR 10 Oregon Route 10 is an Oregon state highway which serves Portland and some of its western suburbs. Route description OR 10 begins as Naito Parkway in Downtown Portland starting where Naito Parkway interchanges with U.S. Route 26. It heads south ...

joins at Capitol Highway, which is not a state highway. South of the

Ross Island Bridge The Ross Island Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It carries U.S. Route 26 (Mount Hood Highway) across the river between southwest and southeast Portland. The bridge opened in 1926 and w ...

approach, Oregon Highway 99W and OR 10 split from Barbur Boulevard onto Naito Parkway, an arterial that once connected directly to Harbor Drive. OR 10 ends at the west end of the Ross Island Bridge, which carries US 26, the Mt. Hood Highway No. 26. Until around 2005, US 26 came off the bridge onto the Pacific Highway West north into downtown Portland, but it now heads west on the locally maintained Arthur Street to reach I-405. At the overpass over I-405 is the former split with Harbor Drive, which was replaced by

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 1974. The road now runs into Naito Parkway (formerly Front Avenue), and is state-maintained until Market Street, the eastbound half of the

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descript ...

of the Sunset Highway (US 26 left the Pacific Highway West here prior to ca. 2005). Portland July 2017 07 (N Interstate Avenue)

The Pacific Highway West continues north through downtown, locally maintained along Naito Parkway, to the state-maintained Steel Bridge. There is a direct ramp for northbound traffic onto the bridge, but the former southbound ramp is now used by the MAX Light Rail system, and so southbound traffic must head west to 3rd Avenue, three blocks west of Naito Parkway. At the northeast end of the Steel Bridge, the Pacific Highway West again becomes locally maintained, and heads north on Interstate Avenue all the way to I-5 (the Pacific Highway) near 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 ...

. It is again state-maintained north of Argyle Street.

History

The first highway in the corridor was the Capitol Highway (Highway 3), from Portland to Salem via Dayton (roughly present OR 99W and OR 221). In 1927 it was merged with the West Side Highway, which ran from Dayton to Junction City, to form the West Side Pacific Highway, still numbered 3, and a western loop of the Pacific Highway (Highway 1/U.S. Route 99). (The former Capitol Highway south of Dayton was removed from the system, but was later taken over as the Salem-Dayton Highway.) The section north of Portland was initially named Multnomah Boulevard until Interstate Avenue was adopted in 1916; the street was paved in the late 1920s amid several minor realignments to provide for a wide highway. In 1930, Highway 3 was assigned the U.S. Route 99W number, and Highway 1 (old US 99) between the ends of Highway 3 became US 99E. Highway 1 was similarly split in 1938, forming the Pacific Highway West - Highway 1W - and the

Pacific Highway East Oregon Route 99E is an Oregon state highway that runs between Junction City, Oregon and an interchange with I-5 just south of the Oregon/Washington border, in Portland. It, along with OR 99W, makes up a split of OR 99 in the northern part of t ...

, Highway 1E. Highway 1W was formed from Highway 3, and extended north on Interstate Avenue to just south of the

. In 1957, with the assignment of I-5, the Pacific Highway (Highway 1) was moved to its planned alignment, resulting in an extension of Highway 1W south to Eugene. US 99W however continued to terminate at Junction City; the new I-5 was designated US 99 when it opened in 1961. (US 99W from south of downtown Portland north to its end was temporarily part of US 99 from 1961 to 1963, when I-5 opened north of downtown.) US 99 became OR 99 in 1972, resulting in the renumbering of US 99W to OR 99W. It was truncated in 1979 to I-5 just north of the Tigard/Portland line. It was again re-extended to south of downtown in 1996, with various signs identifying it as 99W placed sporadically between downtown and Tigard.

Old alignments

The original alignment in southern Portland, bypassed in the 1930s by Barbur Boulevard, is still called Capitol Highway. It begins at the present north end of OR 99W and runs first east, then west, of Highway 1W, eventually merging with

(formerly the

Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway Oregon Route 10 is an Oregon state highway which serves Portland and some of its western suburbs. Route description OR 10 begins as Naito Parkway in Downtown Portland starting where Naito Parkway interchanges with U.S. Route 26. It heads s ...

) before ending at Highway 1W south of downtown. Through downtown Portland, the original alignment took US 99W across the Broadway Bridge, reaching it via 4th Avenue, Burnside Street, and Broadway northbound, and Broadway, Pine Street, and 6th Avenue southbound. In 1950 it was realigned along Harbor Drive, the Steel Bridge and a realigned Interstate Avenue. Harbor Drive was removed in 1974, resulting in OR 99W moving west one block to Front Street (now Naito Parkway) downtown.

Major intersections

:''Note: mileposts do not reflect actual mileage due to realignments.''

References

External links

Oregon Highways - Pacific Highway West #1W
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oregon Route 099w 099W U.S. Route 99 Transportation in Washington County, Oregon Transportation in Yamhill County, Oregon Transportation in Lane County, Oregon Transportation in Multnomah County, Oregon Monmouth, Oregon Tigard, Oregon Transportation in Polk County, Oregon Transportation in Benton County, Oregon 1972 establishments in Oregon