• REVIEW POTENTIAL CONCEPTS FOR THE HIGHWAY COVERS!

    There’s more time to make your voice heard! The online open house will now be open through May 10.

    Tell us how to best create economic and community development opportunities that knit the Albina community together. The Independent Cover Assessment team is seeking your input through several upcoming engagement opportunities now through this summer. The second in a series of three online open houses launched April 16. Join us to envision what the highway covers can become.

    Visit the website

  • HISTORIC ALBINA ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS SELECTED

    ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office announced a new advisory board to influence the project design, advance the project’s values, and elevate the voices of the historic Albina community. The 13 members include leaders and volunteers representing a wide array of civic and community interests who work with and serve the Black community in Portland and have strong ties to historic Albina.

    Meet the Board

  • Learn About the Planned Improvements

    The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and our partners are continuing to study and design improvements to I-5 between I-84 and I-405 and local streets in the Rose Quarter area of Portland.

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  • A Safer, More Reliable I-5

    With high traffic volumes, closely spaced interchanges, and no shoulders, I-5 at the Rose Quarter is the biggest traffic bottleneck in Oregon. With this project, we can reduce frequent crashes, improving safety and reliability for travelers.

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  • Connecting Albina

    The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project creates new connections across I-5 and more space for people walking and biking, so everyone can travel more safely and conveniently through the Rose Quarter area.

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  • Creating Community & Economic Benefits

    The project is an opportunity to create the local street connections that will help Lower Albina share in the prosperity that the rest of the downtown area has seen.

    Learn More
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PROJECT STATUS

Design work for the project continues and the independent highway cover assessment is currently underway. We also released an updated design package this spring that reflects comments we heard from project partners and community input from the Environmental Assessment. This design update will inform the work of the construction team. It will also allow us to continue to work together to address design issues, challenges and opportunities moving forward. The Executive Summary includes more information about the 2021 design update. Additionally, project findings of compatibility with local land use plans were adopted on April 5, 2021.

Project Description

The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project adds auxiliary lanes and shoulders to reduce congestion and improve safety on the main north-south freeway on the west coast and redesigns the multimodal local street network. The project will smooth traffic flow on I-5 between I-84 and I-405 where three interstates intersect and feature the biggest traffic bottleneck in Oregon. The project also will improve community connections by redesigning overpasses and reconnecting neighborhood streets, enhancing public spaces, and promoting economic development opportunities. The project’s transportation improvements allow the City to implement the development goals for the N/NE area and realize the City’s Central City 2035 Plan.

Visit the FAQ or news pages for more information and project updates.

History in Albina and Looking to the Future

In the 1950s and 1960s, construction of I-5, the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Emanuel Legacy Hospital, Portland Public School Blanchard site, and urban renewal divided and displaced communities in North and Northeast Portland, impacting communities of color, especially African American communities, in the historic Albina neighborhood.

With the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, ODOT has the opportunity to design a process to actively engage affected communities to find design solutions that reduce some of the barriers created by the construction of these historic projects. ODOT anticipates the project will generate more opportunities for economic development and redevelopment in the Albina neighborhood.

For the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, ODOT is changing the way it does business by setting goals and working to achieve values-based outcomes on how the project will contract with minority-owned Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) and engage with the community.