Will the real Oregon 223, please identify yourself?

[sp_redelectric]

Normally I don't see such a blatant disregard for signage in Oregon, but ODOT seems to give Oregon 223 two distinct arms at its northern end.

Officially, from Dallas it heads straight north to Oregon 22 where it intersects 22 at Smithfield Road.

However, the sign crews tend to believe it runs from Dallas west to Rickreall, where it then possesses two fingers - one that runs northeast to 22:


223at22b by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

223at22 by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

And one that runs due east to 99W:


223at99W by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

The last series, seems to copy WSDOT's treatment of U.S. 101 in giving it whichever cardinal direction it sees fit.

I would think that ODOT should clean this up - refer to the Dallas-Rickreall Highway and the northern end of the Kings Valley Highway as Business 22, and replace the "WEST" banners on Rickreall Road with "TO" banners...

[xonhulu]

Then you'll love the signage in Dallas, where the two branches meet -- more unclear signage:



The only signage on SPUR 223 itself is at the intersection of it and the Rickreall connector, and it is signed with a "TO" banner:



I definitely agree with you that ODOT should clean this up.  Dallas-Rickreall Highway is Hwy #189; maybe it's time for an OR 189 as a state route?

[sp_redelectric]

Then you'll love the signage in Dallas, where the two branches meet -- more unclear signage:

Egh!!!!!!!  I'm at the intersection of 223 and...223???

[xonhulu]

Egh!!!!!!!  I'm at the intersection of 223 and...223???

I did my student teaching in Dallas years ago -- trust me, this might be the least weird thing in that town!

[Dougtone]

My mother lives in Dallas, OR, so I've come across this intersection myself a few times.  Best as I can tell, the spur route is treated as a spur route on the road itself, and you come across the confusion on the highways that intersect it.  Adding some "TO" banners may be appropriate, but ODOT may think that the people who are using the spur route of OR 223 are considered to be local traffic, or that they want to shoehorn people onto the main road (the spur route), as opposed to OR 223 north of Dallas, which seems to be a little more wide open.

I was trying to see if this phenomenon existed prior to the interchange reconstruction for OR 22/OR 99W/Spur OR 223 in Rickreall that took place around 2006, but that's not included in my photo arsenal.

[xonhulu]

I was trying to see if this phenomenon existed prior to the interchange reconstruction for OR 22/OR 99W/Spur OR 223 in Rickreall that took place around 2006, but that's not included in my photo arsenal.

I don't have any photos of it, but I'm pretty sure the previous at-grade junction between OR 22 and OR 223 SPUR was just signed "Dallas," with no mention of OR 223. 

BTW, when the interchange was first finished, the overhead at the exit for 223 SPUR gave its direction as WEST:



But that was shortly changed to SOUTH, as it is today:



I'm pretty sure the advance sign for the exit always read SOUTH 223.  And the 223 signs at the junction of the Rickreall connector and 99W have always given the direction as WEST.  So it's definitely an odd situation.

[NE2]

[xonhulu]

I stand humbly corrected.  Thanks for clarifying that.  Looks like they had it right before.

Frankly, if you want to go from westbound 22 to 223, you might as well stay on 22 and take the actual 223 up ahead.  While 223 SPUR is slightly shorter mileage-wise, it passes through a lengthy light-business district on the east side of Dallas with reduce speeds and some signals.  Mainline 223 only encounters reduced speeds about 3-4 blocks before the junction with 223 SPUR.  The only disadvantage to 223 proper is that you might have to wait awhile to turn off/on 22 when traffic's heavy on summer weekends.

[Lytton]

It feels like ODOT has just goofed off and decided to play a joke on us roadgeeks. By naming two Route 223s.

[JasonOfORoads]

It feels like ODOT has just goofed off and decided to play a joke on us roadgeeks. By naming two Route 223s.

How about the two OR-39s in K-Falls? 

[KEK Inc.]

503 does something similar in Washington.  There's even a SPUR 503 that branches out when 503 changes from N/S to E/W.

[Bickendan]

At least with 503, the spur is marked as such, making the mainline one continuous route from Orchards to Woodland.

WA 501, however... it's justification was it was meant to be a single continuous route swinging around the west side of Lake Vancouver. It never got built, leaving to distinct segments. Both terminating at I-5.

[xonhulu]

It feels like ODOT has just goofed off and decided to play a joke on us roadgeeks. By naming two Route 223s.

How about the two OR-39s in K-Falls? 

Until recently, US 199 also had signed split termini in Grants Pass; along the Grants Pass Parkway, and also co-signed with OR 99 through downtown:



But US 199 signage was removed last year.