Interstate 84 - Oregon Travel Information

Interstate 84 Oregon - Highway Guide

Interstate 84 Westbound: Troutdale to Interstate 5

Interstate 84 West
	As in the gorge, I-84 and U.S. 30 are co-signed in the Portland metro area. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Interstate 84 westbound reaches the exit 16 diamond interchange. 238th Drive leads south to Gresham via Wood Village. Though it is not mentioned on signs here, this is technically the eastern terminus of the U.S. 30 Bypass Route: northbound 238th Drive leads to Sandy Boulevard (US 30 Bypass). Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Interstate 84 passes quickly through Wood Village and enters Fairview (pop. 9,327 according to a 2005 estimate), where it runs above grade and crosses over 223rd Avenue (Fairview Avenue). Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).

	Fairview can be accessed by taking exit 14, as this one-half mile advance sign shows. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Sandy Boulevard is officially announced on an advance sign on the approach to exit 14. Note that no reference is made to the US 30 Bypass Route. A folded diamond interchange at exit 14 connects the freeway with 207th Avenue in Fairview, a recently constructed street that intersects with Sandy Boulevard to the north and Halsey Street to the south. Blue Lake Park, popular with anglers and swimmers alike, can be reached by heading east on Sandy to Fairview Avenue/Blue Lake Road. Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).

Site Navigation

	The next exit for westbound Interstate 84 will be exit 13, 181st Avenue and Airport Way. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	The speed limit here is still 60, but it will soon change to 55 for all vehicles not long after the freeway enters Portland. Interstate 84 now moves into the city of Gresham (2005 estimated pop. 96,072). Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Once again, Interstate 84 travels above grade, meeting 181st Avenue at exit 13. 181st Avenue, though technically part of the Portland street grid system, became a Gresham city street when that city pushed its boundary westward into unincorporated Multnomah County during the 1980s. Northbound 181st Avenue crosses Sandy Boulevard and then turns west, defaulting to Airport Way. Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06) and AA Roads (09/02/06).

	West of 181st Avenue, westbound I-84 enters a stretch with precious few exits. In fact, the next direct access to a city surface street won't come until exit 2/ 43rd Avenue. The only interchange available until then will be at exit 9/ Jct. Interstate 205 in east Portland. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Interstate 84 westbound enters the Rose City just before crossing over 162nd Avenue. With 533,427 residents (2005 estimate), Portland is roughly the size of Seattle, though the greater metro area is quite a bit smaller than that of Seattle-Tacoma. Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06) and AA Roads (09/02/06).

	Motorists encounter the first of two diagrammatic signs for exit 9/ Jct. I-205 at the 148th Avenue overpass. As at 162nd Avenue, there is no interchange here. Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).

	Other than the fact that the "S" is missing in "Salem," the one-mile advance sign for exit 9 is pretty much a rerun of the 2-mile advance sign. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Westbound I-84 crosses over another east Portland arterial, this time 122nd Avenue. Half of a folded-diamond interchange provides access for eastbound I-84, but there is no access for westbound traffic. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	This somewhat cryptic sign advises drivers to keep left for east Portland and the Portland airport. If you want to hit the surface streets of east Portland, exit 9/ I-205 is your only chance before exit 2. Traveling north or south on Interstate 205 provides exits into the city. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Westbound Interstate 84 meets Interstate 205 at exit 9, and the interchange set up at the junction is somewhat complicated. Exit 9 is a left-hand exit, and the main flow of I-84 westbound veers right and is routed on a flyover ramp that passes above lanes carrying traffic to and from Interstate 205. Drivers taking exit 9 will continue more or less straight, passing under the I-84 westbound flyover. After that, the exit lanes diverge with the right lane heading for northbound I-205 and the Portland Airport. The left lane heads through a tunnel underneath I-205 after the split and then merges with the southbound lanes. Photos taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).

	Continuing on I-84, westbound traffic crosses over the exit 9 lanes. Photos taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).

	Westbound Interstate 84 bends south after the exit 9 interchange. Photo taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).
	The freeway passes under the Fremont Street overpass. Note the ramp merging from Fremont on the right. Photo taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).
	For about a mile, I-84 and I-205 run parallel to each other in a north-south orientation, with I-84 on the east. An I-84 shield seen along this stretch lacks a U.S. 30 companion, though the two routes are sharing the same roadbed. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	The southern end of the I-84/ I-205 junction boasts another complicated tangle of ramps. I-84 westbound passes under the Halsey Street overpass (first image), and then under I-205 and the Airport light rail (second image). Finally, the freeway passes under the flyover ramps carrying the downtown light rail and traffic from northbound I-205 (third image). Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).


	Traffic from northbound I-205 and Glisan Street merges with westbound I-84. The downtown light rail line now runs parallel with the north shoulder of the freeway. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	This stretch of Interstate 84 is known locally as the "Banfield Freeway" or simply "The Banfield." Though westbound Banfield traffic passes beneath Oregon 213/ 82nd Avenue, no exit is provided (however, eastbound travelers get one!). Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).

	Halsey Street crosses over the Banfield Freeway a second time just past 82nd Avenue. Halsey isn't the one changing course; the freeway follows a back-and-forth curving path for the rest of the way downtown, cutting under the path of Halsey Street several times along the way. Photos taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).
	Interstate 84 continues its westward course toward I-5, passing under 74th Avenue (first image) and, for a third time, Halsey Street (second image). There are no exits for these streets. Shields mounted on the Halsey Street overpass correctly display both Intestate 84 and U.S. 30. Photos taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).


	At long last, westbound I-84 approaches an interchange with Portland surface streets. The 60th Avenue overpass carries a 3/4-mile advance sign for exit 2/ 43rd Avenue. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	The freeway passes under 53rd Avenue where an overpass sign announces Portland's Hollywood District is at the next exit. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Although it is six lanes wide with decent shoulders, the Banfield Freeway feels hemmed in by the city. Photo taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).
	After an eleven-mile stretch with only one interchange, westbound traffic on I-84 finally gets an exit into Portland at exit 2/ 43rd Avenue. Though the sign says "43rd Avenue," Halsey Street and the Hollywood District are the real destinations. The exit 2 ramp (third image) rises to pass over the light rail tracks, curves 90 degrees, and then lowers to become 43rd Avenue. 43rd itself ends quickly at a "T" intersection with Halsey Street. (Exit 2 for eastbound Banfield traffic occurs at the 39th Avenue half-diamond interchange.) Photos taken by AA Roads (09/02/06) and Matt Strieby (06/18/06).


	The Banfield freeway continues west to exit 1/ Lloyd Center, which is noted on this one-and-a-half-mile advance sign. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Closing in on the western terminus of I-84, signs announce the Rose Quarter, home of the Rose Garden Arena, and the Eastside Industrial District, both accessible by taking exit 1. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).

	The Banfield Freeway follows the a route through "Sullivan's Gulch" as it approaches exit 1. This broad gulch has long been a right-of-way in Portland: first for the Union Pacific, then for the Banfield Expressway (U.S. 30), and finally for I-80N/I-84 and the downtown light rail. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	An auxiliary lane directs traffic toward exit 1/ Lloyd Center. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	This one-mile advance sign on the 21st Avenue overpass prepares drivers for the approaching junction with Interstate 5. The "Convention Center" mentioned on the right hand sign is the Oregon Convention Center which sits just north of I-84, on the east shore of the Willamette River. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Westbound I-84 meets its final exit, exit 1, Lloyd Center. After exiting, a ramp carries traffic over the Union Pacific tracks and Lloyd Boulevard. A split at the end of the off ramp allows drivers to choose northbound 13th Avenue to Lloyd Center, or to continue straight and merge with westbound Lloyd Boulevard. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Approaching I-5, signs begin to segregate lanes to their various destinations. Note that the Convention Center is mentioned again on the far right sign. Though the sign says "exit only," it actually refers to an exit from I-5 northbound. At the upcoming split, this auxiliary lane will join the lane bound for northbound I-5, but will then become an auxiliary exit-only lane at I-5 exit 302A. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	A second diagrammatic sign announces the upcoming split for northbound and southbound Interstate 5. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Interstate 5 may be the end of westbound I-84, but it isn't the end for westbound U.S. 30. To continue on U.S. 30, take I-5 north to exit 302B. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).
	Westbound Interstate 84 is almost at an end as it passes underneath the Grand Avenue/ MLK Jr. Boulevard one-way couplet. Photo taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).
	This is it...the terminus for westbound lanes of Interstate 84. Head south on I-5 (left lanes) for downtown Portland, and the city's western and southern suburbs. Head north on I-5 for north Portland and the state of Washington. Photo taken by AA Roads (09/02/06).
	The right hand lanes carry I-84 traffic to northbound I-5. The Steel Bridge, mentioned on the right sign, is visible on the horizon. Photo taken by Matt Strieby (06/18/06).

Page Updated October 22, 2006.