In the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

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 ...

, a major east–west U.S. Highway, runs from its western terminus in Astoria to the

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

border east of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. West of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, US 30 generally follows the southern shore of the Columbia River; east of Portland the highway has largely been replaced with Interstate 84, though it is signed all the way across the state, and diverges from the I-84 mainline in several towns, as a ''de facto'' business route. (The state of Oregon does not sign Interstate business routes; instead it uses the designations US 30 and

Oregon Route 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 also ...

(along the

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 ...

corridor) for this purpose.) Out of all the states U.S. Route 30 traverses, it spends the most time in Oregon. At 477 miles, it is also the longest road in the state.

Route description

Astoria to Portland

US 30 begins in Astoria, at an intersection with U.S. Route 101. US 101 southbound from the intersection goes down the length of the Oregon Coast, northbound US 101 crosses the Astoria-Megler Bridge 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 ...

state. US 30 proceeds east through the intersection, through downtown Astoria, and then along the southern bank of the Columbia. East of Astoria, US 30 is known as the Lower Columbia River Highway No. 2W (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 ...

), a designation which it carries until Portland. Between Astoria and Portland, the highway passes through (or by) numerous Columbia River towns, such as Svensen, Knappa, Wauna, and Westport. In Westport, one can use the Wahkiakum County Ferry to cross the Columbia to

Puget Island Puget Island is a 7.5 sq mi(4,785 acre; 19.365 km) island and Census-designated place (CDP) in the Columbia River in Wahkiakum County, Washington, United States. The Julia Butler Hansen Bridge (built in 1938) carries State Route 409 acros ...

and

Cathlamet, Washington Cathlamet is a town located along the Ocean Beach Highway in Wahkiakum County, Washington, United States, where it is the county seat. The population was 532 at the 2010 census, though it has an additional rural population outside of the town ...

. Continuing east, the highway passes through the communities of Woodson and Clatskanie. East of Clatskanie, the highway runs inland from the river a bit, approaching the town of

Rainier, Oregon Rainier is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. The city's population was 1,895 at the 2010 census. Rainier is on the south bank of the Columbia River across from Kelso and Longview, Washington. History Rainier was founded in 1851 ...

. Just before Rainier is an interchange providing access to the Lewis and Clark Bridge, which crosses the Columbia to

Longview, Washington Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longview's population was 37,818 at the time of the 2 ...

. After Rainier, the highway turns south, following a bend in the river, and runs parallel to

(which is across the river on the Washington side). Towns along the way include Goble, Deer Island, Columbia City, and St. Helens. South of Deer Island, US 30 becomes an expressway, known locally as St. Helens Road. The highway proceeds through the towns of

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

, Scappoose, and

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

(as well as passing by the access road to

Sauvie Island Sauvie Island, in the U.S. state of Oregon, originally Wapato Island or Wappatoo Island, is the largest island along the Columbia River, at , and one of the largest river islands in the United States. It lies approximately ten miles northwest o ...

) before entering Portland. East of Scappoose is the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.

Portland area

In northwest Portland, US 30 is sandwiched between Forest Park to the west and 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 ...

to the east. South of the Linnton area, US 30 Bypass (

Northeast Portland Highway The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

No. 123) heads east across the St. Johns Bridge. US 30 continues south along St. Helens Road, then later on Yeon Avenue through an industrial area as it approaches

Downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...

. On the edge of Downtown Portland, US 30 briefly becomes a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

, utilizing part of the route of the cancelled I-505, until its interchange with I-405 at the western end 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 ...

. US 30 crosses the Fremont Bridge (along with I-405), on the Stadium Freeway No. 61; at the eastern end of the bridge it joins

south for approximately one mile on the Pacific Highway No. 1 and then joins the Banfield Expressway (

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...

), where it becomes the

Columbia River Highway No. 2 Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

. For the remainder of its route in the Portland area, US 30 shares an alignment with I-84. I-84 passes through the eastern Portland suburbs of Fairview, Wood Village, Gresham, and Troutdale in this fashion. US 30 Bypass rejoins US 30 in Wood Village. U.S. Route 30 Business was a spur from US 30 Byp. northeast of Downtown Portland, across I-84/US 30 to

Oregon Route 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 of ...

east of Downtown, just east of the

Burnside Bridge The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register of ...

. It has not rejoined US 30 on its west end since US 30 was moved onto I-405 and I-5 around Downtown.

East of Portland

US 30 runs mostly along I-84 in Oregon east of Portland, diverting to short segments of the old surface route to act as a business route or

scenic route A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoint ...

for I-84: *

Historic Columbia River Highway The Historic Columbia River Highway is an approximately scenic highway in the U.S. state of Oregon between Troutdale and The Dalles, built through the Columbia River Gorge between 1913 and 1922. As the first planned scenic roadway in the United ...

No. 100 1 mile (2 km) through

Cascade Locks Cascade Locks is a city in Hood River County, Oregon, United States. The city took its name from a set of locks built to improve navigation past the Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River. The U.S. federal government approved the plan for the l ...

(also designated the Cascade Locks Highway) *

Mount Hood Highway The Mount Hood Highway No. 26 (see Oregon highways and routes) is the Oregon Department of Transportation's designation for a highway from Portland east around the south side of Mount Hood and north via Bennett Pass to Hood River. It is marked ...

No. 26 3 miles (4 km) through Hood River *Historic Columbia River Highway No. 100 and Mosier-The Dalles Highway No. 292 20 miles (32 km) from Mosier to

The Dalles The Dalles is the largest city of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Hermiston ...

*Pendleton Highway No. 67 7 miles (11 km) through Pendleton *La Grande-Baker Highway No. 66 5 miles (9 km) through La Grande *La Grande-Baker Highway No. 66, 22 miles (36 km) from North Powder to

Baker City Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census. History Pla ...

*Huntington Highway No. 449 8 miles (13 km) through Huntington *Ontario Spur No. 493, 1 mile (1 km) from

to the

state line The sections concurrent with I-84 are part of the

west of

U.S. Route 730 U.S. Route 730 (US 730) is an east–west United States Highway, of which all but 6.08 miles of its 41.78 miles (9.78 of 67.24 km) are within the state of Oregon. The highway starts in rural Morrow County in Eastern Or ...

at Boardman and part of the Old Oregon Trail No. 6 east of

. There is also a U.S. Route 30 Business signed in the Ontario area. This is part of the Olds Ferry-Ontario Highway No. 455.

History

Sections of the highway between The Dalles and Ontario generally follow the route of the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

, which was used in the 19th century by American settlers to reach 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 ...

. US 30 was created as part of the initial

United States Numbered Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials on November 11, 1926. The number was assigned in place of US 20, which had originally been planned for the corridor in Oregon, after objections from the state government. The new national highway incorporated portions of existing state roads, including the Columbia River Highway, which was constructed between 1913 and 1922 through the Columbia River Gorge. Before the Banfield Expressway was built, the Portland section of US 30 ran on St Helens Road to the Willamette Heights section of Portland, then on Wardway Street, then Vaughn Street, then NW 18th & 19th Avenues, then Burnside Street, and then Sandy Boulevard towards Troutdale. Several sections of the old highway use brown road markers with "Historic US 30" that were installed in the 21st century. The

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

, approved by the federal government in 1956, included construction of a freeway in Oregon along the US 30 corridor between Portland and Ontario; it was later numbered I-80N (now I-84). The Oregon state government unsuccessfully proposed an extension to cover the rest of US 30 between Astoria and Portland in the 1950s and 1960s, which was two lanes wide and in need of funding for improvements. The Astoria–Portland section had been rebuilt with fewer curves by the 1960s, but remained congested due to its use as a tourist route as well as a bypass of US 99 (and I-5) upon the removal of tolls from the Lewis and Clark Bridge near

. In 1969, the state government announced plans to widen the highway between

and the Columbia County border, but declined to fund further projects in favor of improvements in the Portland area. The state later withdrew its proposals to upgrade the entire section to an expressway, stating that US 30 was meant to serve local traffic and could be improved to a four-lane highway instead. A project to widen US 30 near Scappoose and Warren in the 1970s was delayed by a decade due to disagreements between the state and local governments over its routing and an attempt to build a full bypass. The highway remained slightly more accident-prone than others in Oregon; from 1987 to 1992, a total of 22 crashes on of US 30 in Columbia County resulted in 26 deaths and 769 injuries. In 1988, US 30 was realigned along NW Yeon Avenue in Portland to alleviate residential congestion. The new route utilized an interchange with I-405 that was intended for a proposed I-505. The proposed Interstate was intended to be a freeway spur in northwest Portland that would have connected I-405 to St. Helens Road, the latter being the original route for US 30. Funding for the freeway was withdrawn by the city government in November 1978, as it would have required condemnation and rerouting streets on a swath of land through the Northwest Industrial neighborhood. The federal government formally approved the project's cancellation in December 1979 and reallocated funds to other transportation improvements in the area. In the 2010s, the city of Scappoose proposed the construction of a bypass to carry US 30 around the city. A similar proposal was defeated in 1971 following protests from residents over its disruption to future potential development. The $5.5 million allocation for the bypass project was redistributed by the state to improve other sections of US 30 in Columbia County.

Major intersections

References