The Oregon Department of Transportation reports that a new auxiliary lane along southbound Interstate 5 recently opened in a project to reduce crashes and improve safety between OR 217 and Interstate 205.
The project completes an auxiliary lane along three miles of southbound I-5 from the OR 217 on-ramp to the I-205 off-ramp. The lane will also serve on-ramps and off-ramps at Carman Drive, Lower Boones Ferry Road and Nyberg Street.
The new lane will help reduce sideswipe and rear-end crashes.
The new lane is open with signs and permanent lane striping scheduled for installation in the weeks ahead.
Research shows that two-thirds of all southbound traffic entering I-5 from these on-ramps is bound for I-205. The new auxiliary lane allows this traffic to stay in the auxiliary lane and enter I-205 without merging onto the I-5 mainline.
Reducing the weaving from the on-ramps to the mainline of I-5 will reduce the number of rear-end and sideswipe crashes and reduce the number of days with delays on this section of I-5, one of the busiest freeway corridors in Oregon.
Studies show auxiliary lanes are an effective way to reduce bottleneck congestion. Typically, an auxiliary lane provides a direct connection from one interchange ramp to the next without requiring a weave into the freeway mainline.
A previous project built an auxiliary lane on southbound I-5 from the OR 217 on-ramp to the Lower Boones Ferry Road off-ramp. This project extends that auxiliary lane to I-205 to improve safety and traffic flow along I-5.
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