Wrapping up the I-5 southbound closure

Construction progress: It's opening time!

We’ve made it to the finish line, about a week ahead of schedule! Thanks to weather on our side, our wonderful crews and extensive planning, the southbound I-5 closure is wrapping up just four weeks in. The structural repairs and concrete replacement are finished, but re-opening takes time to complete. Crews will begin the process of re-opening I-5 tonight around 10 p.m.

Thank you to everyone who planned ahead, shifted their trip and dealt with travel delays during the last four weeks.

A bird’s eye view over I-5 of the work zone early in the closure.

Late Wednesday night, Oct. 7, crews will start removing equipment and temporary signage from the work area and re-striping the road. Until that’s finished, some lanes and entrance ramps will remain closed or will close temporarily. Throughout the night, you may notice these short-term closures at the following ramps and interchanges:

I-405 southbound interchange
Some lanes of the I-84 westbound/ I-5 southbound interchange
NE Broadway exit ramp
N Going Street entrance ramp
N Alberta Street entrance ramp

Bear with us a little longer as we wrap up this closure. The best thing you can do to help the road open is stay out of the area until the highway is officially open. We encourage you to continue using caution while driving through the area and to give crews the space they need to safely finish the work. TripCheck.com will still be your friend while route planning over the next few days, and ODOT will send out an alert when I-5 southbound is completely reopened between NE Killingsworth Street and OMSI.

Four weeks of work in the Rose Quarter – here’s what got done

Construction crews adding protective material to the bridge’s expansion joints.

A lot of credit goes to the construction team from Hamilton-Sundt Joint Venture in association with Raimore, who had up to 90 people working around the clock with a mechanic and extra equipment to minimize unforeseen delays to the schedule. We are grateful for the hard work of the crews and partners in various trades that helped with specialized work during this closure. Here are some of the stats from the last four weeks:

A hydrodemolition machine used 20,000 PSI (“pounds per square inch”) of water pressure to clean and prep the deck for new concrete, which is the force of 50 firehoses
Crews placed 982 cubic yards of deck overlay concrete, which equates to almost four million pounds (300 elephants!)
Crews also installed almost 3,000 linear feet of carbon reinforced bar, the length of 10 football fields

The I-5 southbound structural repairs and concrete replacement may have been the star of the show, but ODOT maintenance crews took advantage of the closed freeway to do extra work in the area. Over the duration of the closure, this maintenance team accomplished a variety of additional tasks that otherwise would have required separate closures, including:

Bridge inspections of I-5 Marquam Bridge and I-405 Fremont Bridge ramp
Graffiti cleanup and removal throughout the closure area
Repair and/or replacement of some lighting and beacons throughout the closure area, including ramp signal elements at N Greeley Avenue and N Williams Avenue
Vegetation and stormwater system maintenance
Re-alignment of safety barriers

Thank you so much for your patience during this major closure!

Visit our Construction Travel Impacts page or sign up for text alerts to stay up to date with the latest news on traffic impacts and active closures.

Traffic Summary: Slowdowns, yes. Gridlock avoided

While travel times did increase at points during the closure, the worst-case scenario for traffic didn’t happen (phew!). Drivers’ willingness to adjust their trips played a big role in this. Thank you!

Traffic tended to be heaviest on I-5, I-405, I-84 and I-205 between Tuesday and Friday with travel times reaching up to 2.5 times longer in some instances during peak hours. I-84 and I-205 saw noticeable additional hours of congestion compared to historical averages. In some instances, midday travel times on freeways were as long as rush hour travel times before the closure. However, travel times became more predictable after the first week, with weeks 2 and 3 having very similar congestion durations on major freeways.

Though traffic increased, it didn’t get nearly as bad as it could have thanks to extensive planning and collaboration between ODOT, its partners, and local communities who took preparation for the closure seriously. Partnerships with local agencies, businesses and organizations helped get the word out early enough for travelers to plan for the closure months in advance. Local agency partners from City of Portland, TriMet and C-TRAN were also key to helping travelers move through the area over the last four weeks.

TriMet ridership on the MAX Yellow Line increased by up to 18,000 more trips per week compared to last year. The Parkrose/Sumner Transit Center, which connects the MAX Red Line, C-TRAN, and multiple TriMet lines along I-205 in northeast Portland also saw a 16 percent increase in activity. Additionally, the Portland Bureau of Transportation partnered with the I-5 Rose Quarter team to optimize traffic signals on local streets that experienced increases during the closure.

Finally, we applied what we learned from past closures with shorter durations. By staging tow trucks in strategic locations, the crews were able to quickly clear disabled vehicles when they happened near the work zone, which prevented large back-ups. Over the duration of the closure, more than 25 tows took place. We look forward to taking these best practices into future closures of this magnitude.

Did you get the information you needed?

We want to hear from you survey graphic.

How was your closure experience? We are looking for feedback on the communications and outreach that was done to prepare the community for the closure. Your input will help us plan for a closure of I-5 northbound in summer 2027.

If you have thoughts on what went well or what we could do better, please complete the survey by Friday Oct. 23. Let us know how we did!

What’s next for the project?

This I-5 southbound closure is over, but work on the I-5 Rose Quarter project isn’t! Single-lane overnight closures will continue in the area for things like safety barriers and earthquake-readiness improvements. Crews will be out there through 2029—give them a wave and a “thank you!” when you see them!

The northbound lanes in the Rose Quarter need the same work. You can expect a similar closure for I-5 northbound in summer 2027. More information about that closure, including maps and additional details, will be available in the spring. In the meantime, we will continue to analyze this closure and apply any lessons learned to our planning for the work next year. Please tell us how it went for you.

Funded construction on the Rose Quarter project will continue through 2029 on elements of work that preserve our existing infrastructure and prepare the project area for future construction. We are continuing to seek funding for the remainder of the project.

Translation/Interpretation Accommodations

For ADA Title II or Civil Rights Title VI accommodations, translation/interpretation services or for additional information call 503-731-4128, TTY (800) 735-2900 or use the statewide Oregon Relay Service: 7-1-1.

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For 24/7 road conditions and traffic alerts visit tripcheck.com or call 5-1-1.

Visit the Portland Area Construction Information website for more information about projects in construction.

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