Forgotten old Oregon 99W sign in downtown Portland

[sp_redelectric]

I've noticed this sign in the past but today happened to have my camera and took a picture of it.  Here's an 1970s era ODOT sign in downtown Portland, on S.W. Columbia Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues (across from the KOIN Tower).  The "Oregon 99W" route is covered up, as 99W was quasi-decommissioned north of Tigard in the 1980s (and then brought back to life, and then decommissioned again).


DSCF1766 by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

[NE2]

Nice. Best type of greenout: what's underneath is visible.

[nexus73]

Cool find!  Thanks for posting it up.

Rick

[OCGuy81]

That's really cool.  Thanks for posting.

Are there still US 26 signs along Market and Clay in downtown Portland?  I swear I saw some when I was there last fall, but didn't have the opportunity to snap a picture.  This post got me thinking about it.

[sp_redelectric]

Are there still US 26 signs along Market and Clay in downtown Portland?  I swear I saw some when I was there last fall, but didn't have the opportunity to snap a picture.  This post got me thinking about it.

Why, yes there is!  In fact there is one PRECISELY one block away from the above photographed sign, on the OTHER side of the KOIN Tower.  If I remember tomorrow I can get a picture of it - I just checked Google Maps streetview and the sign was temporarily located on a temporary lightpost for a City of Portland streetlight replacement project.  And the BGS at the intersection of Harbor Drive and Naito Parkway still has the US 26 on it.

However in the eastbound direction...it looks like all of the U.S. 26 signs have been removed, even at Naito Parkway - so if you accidently take the exit and keep going straight, you'll be really screwed being dumped onto I-5 and with no ability to turn around until Terwilliger - unless you know to turn onto Moody Avenue, River Parkway, and then come back up Macadam to get to the Ross Island Bridge.

[sp_redelectric]

Here's another old sign (this image I took from Google) - this sign is from the 1970s/1980s as well in McMinnville on Oregon 99W, using series E lettering.  I'm surprised ODOT has let it stay since all of the other signs in the area have been updated to more current specification signs (ODOT even went so far as to replace the street blades up and down Adams and Baker with ODOT spec signs replacing the McMinnville city signs.)


mcminnville sign by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

[sp_redelectric]

Another "oldie but goodie" still standing, this one on the old Canby-Marquam Highway in Canby.


canby170sign by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

[sp_redelectric]

In the "Whose Highway Is This" department: an old ODOT distance sign for Farmington, with a fairly updated trailblazer for Oregon 10.  Mounted on a wood post.  Still a few old ODOT stragglers on Oregon 10 and 210 (Scholls Ferry Road) but not many still left.

This stretch of Farmington Road is supposed to be county-maintained...however the western mile of Farmington Road (at the intersection with Oregon 219) looks more like a state highway after a recent intersection project (which was funded by ODOT) - state spec signs, state spec signposts, state spec shoulders...


farmington by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

[sp_redelectric]

Here's a series of old Oregon 219 signs in Salem and Keizer; however some of the signs are City/County signs (the ones that look cheap):

Downtown Salem, on Marion and Broadway:

219atMarion by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

Broadway, at Liberty (City sign):

219atLiberty by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

Broadway, at Hood (City sign):

219atHood by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

This sign is on Cherry Street in Keizer, unfortunately the tree was in bloom so this is the best picture I could find.  Note, the Oregon 219 herald is NOT covered up:

219atCherry by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

Finally, North River Road at Wheatland Road, another city/county sign still indicating this is Oregon 219 (when it hasn't been for at least two decades):

219atWheatland by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

[agentsteel53]

as of 2007, there was a US-99W shield at its intersection with Business OR-34.

Google Maps shows it still being around.

http://goo.gl/maps/lxl4h

(don't ask me why they're blurring shields now.  license plates is understandable, but route markers??)

[NE2]

(don't ask me why they're blurring shields now.  license plates is understandable, but route markers??)

Facial recognition bugs. Or this dude:

[sp_redelectric]

as of 2007, there was a US-99W shield at its intersection with Business OR-34.

Business 34?  (grin)

Yes, I'm aware of that one in Corvallis, but that's a sign goof.  That sign was installed in the 1990s, I believe.  Maybe late 1980s.  But definitely not a sign that dates from when 99W was a U.S. highway.

When I was living in Corvallis in the mid-1990s there was a vintage cut-out U.S. 99W sign located in front of the Dari-Mart on Western Avenue.  I think it was the last original U.S. 99W sign still in existence.  I always wanted to...ahem...steal it, but I am not that kind of person.  I bet it's in the possession of some ODOT employee right now as the sign was replaced a number of years back.

[agentsteel53]

Business 34?  (grin)

Google Maps shows two alignments of 34... one heads into the city and takes a 90 degree turn; the other one is a bypass on the other side of the river.

http://goo.gl/maps/bO2WX

is one not signed as BUSINESS?

Yes, I'm aware of that one in Corvallis, but that's a sign goof.  That sign was installed in the 1990s, I believe.  Maybe late 1980s.  But definitely not a sign that dates from when 99W was a U.S. highway.

got it.  I have seen the sign in person and it uses honeycomb sheeting, which was invented in 1971.  I am not 100% sure when US-99W became OR-99W.  I have heard both 1969 and 1972, so I really wasn't sure if it was an error or an old sign.

interesting how one sign has both types of shield on it.  one OR-99W, one US-99W.

[sp_redelectric]

Business 34?  (grin)

Google Maps shows two alignments of 34... is one not signed as BUSINESS?

There is no such thing as Business 34.  It is not signed as such and I can't find any reference to it at ODOT's website.

There's no real need for it, given that it would exist for only 1/4 mile on its own, and then overlap 12 blocks of U.S. 20 (and 11 blocks of Oregon 99W).  Frankly, the Oregon 34 designation should go away and U.S. 20 should be routed on 34, and the current U.S. 20 should be "Business 20" or "Alternate 20" (Oregon does not currently use "Alternate" routes, and doesn't use "Business" very often), but that's a whole other topic for discussion.  And Oregon does not see the need to post route numbers for short spurs - many state highways still remain unsigned to this day, although they finally have official route numbers.

[xonhulu]

Yes, I'm aware of that one in Corvallis, but that's a sign goof.  That sign was installed in the 1990s, I believe.  Maybe late 1980s.  But definitely not a sign that dates from when 99W was a U.S. highway.

It probably is a sign goof, but it's been there quite awhile, at least as long as I can remember.  Admittedly, that's only back to about 1988.  The reason I've always wondered if it's older is because the sign was corrected at some point: if you look carefully at the upper section, you can make out a plate bearing the route shields covering something on the original sign:



For some reason, the US 99W shield on the bottom is not covered; either it fell off (which I doubt, the sign shows no indication of it), or no one considered it worth fixing.  But that's all speculation, so if you remember it being more recent, I'll defer to your expertise.

On the other topic: yes, there is no BUS OR 34.  But the old routing through downtown is still signed as OR 34.  I'm sure they only left the old signage to direct traffic back to OR 34.

I completely agree with you that OR 34 should end in Philomath, and US 20 should take over its Corvallis-Lebanon routing, but they would have to improve its eastern end in Lebanon.  ALT US 20 would be the best option for the current Albany routing, unless they wanted to give it a state route or two.  Albany-Corvallis Hwy is hwy #31, and Central Oregon Hwy is hwy #7; as both numbers are existing state routes, I guess they'd have to be OR 507 and OR 531, instead.

[Road Hog]

Still there as of June 2012, although your picture could've been taken today:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Corvallis,+OR&hl=en&ll=44.567294,-123.259411&spn=0.000365,0.000652&sll=31.168934,-100.076842&sspn=10.087071,21.357422&oq=Corv&t=h&hnear=Corvallis,+Benton,+Oregon&z=21&layer=c&cbll=44.567294,-123.259414&panoid=tBdZkQe57DZJGx-iW7YxmQ&cbp=12,329.37,,2,-1.43

[nexus73]

Some years back there was mention by ODOT about modernizing 34 from where the 4-lane ends west of Lebanon to it's junction with US 20.  What happened to that?

Rick

[Sd_fan2119]

Another "oldie but goodie" still standing, this one on the old Canby-Marquam Highway in Canby.


canby170sign by sp_redelectric, on Flickr

I lived in Canby for 18 years and am very familiar with this sign. Kinda neat that it's still standing.

[xonhulu]

Some years back there was mention by ODOT about modernizing 34 from where the 4-lane ends west of Lebanon to it's junction with US 20.  What happened to that?

Rick

I think they did improve it a little a couple years back, but not a lot.  It's still two lanes, still drops down to 25 mph, and still has to jog around the former school site (now some kind of community center, I think) right before its junction with US 20.  Worst for me, it drops you onto US 20 north of the downtown, so if you're heading east you have to navigate Lebanon's slow, conjested downtown core.  Whenever I head that way, I take the southern truck route instead, which takes you to US 20 south of the main downtown with only a couple more signals to negotiate before you're out of the city.  I'd say that would be a better routing for US 20 if it were ever to take over the Lebanon-Corvallis Highway, but it would need to be improved and re-routed a bit -- that and the opposition of the residents living on that road would probably doom any such project.

[sp_redelectric]

I completely agree with you that OR 34 should end in Philomath, and US 20 should take over its Corvallis-Lebanon routing, but they would have to improve its eastern end in Lebanon.  ALT US 20 would be the best option for the current Albany routing, unless they wanted to give it a state route or two.  Albany-Corvallis Hwy is hwy #31, and Central Oregon Hwy is hwy #7; as both numbers are existing state routes, I guess they'd have to be OR 507 and OR 531, instead.

Or, retire highway 210 (the current Oregon 34 from downtown Corvallis to Lebanon), re-route Highway 31 onto what is now Oregon 34, and then give the route 210 over to the current U.S. 20 (and retire the current Oregon 210 in the Portland area, since it's not a state highway, save for the 1/2 mile or so over Oregon 217) - OR assign a new 22X highway number (since 21X is actually Lincoln County)...  I'm thinking Alternate U.S. 20 would be easier, since it's just a matter of adding a new banner to the existing signs.