2023 News Articles

Remarkable progress has been made this year as crews work toward the 2025 completion of ODOT’s largest highway construction project in over 45 years.

November 13-19 is National Apprenticeship Week, and this edition focuses on the skilled apprentices who play a pivotal role in the I-205 Abernethy Bridge Project.

From Saturday, Nov. 11 at 9 p.m. until Sunday, Nov. 12 at noon, southbound I-205 will experience lane reductions and ramp closures in Oregon City and West Linn. Drivers should plan for delays because only one travel lane will be open across Abernethy Bridge.

The I-205 Abernethy Bridge Project is protecting the natural environment while making progress on ODOT’s largest construction project in over four decades.

The new roundabout connecting OR 43 to northbound I-205 opened this month in a major step forward for the region's transportation infrastructure.

To support continued work on the I-205 Abernethy Bridge and its adjacent on- and off-ramps, several closures are happening in West Linn between now and the end of August. After this round of closures, we will be opening the new roundabout, which will serve as an improved interchange onto I-205.

Tonight at 10 p.m. the Oregon Department of Transportation begins the West Linn I-205 northbound ramp detour from OR 43 northbound through Monday, August 28. This detour route has been used multiple times in the past and we encourage drivers to use caution in the area, slow down, and follow the detour signs.

In July, the Oregon Department of Transportation is celebrating one year of construction on the I-205 Improvements Project.

June is National Safety Month, and ODOT is celebrating by highlighting the safety improvements on the Abernethy Bridge construction project.

The loop on-ramp connecting southbound OR 43 to I-205 northbound in West Linn will close completely for 23 days in June, with a detour available. The closure begins on Friday, June 2 at 10 p.m., and ends on Monday, June 26 at 5 a.m.

If you've recently driven your car across the Abernethy Bridge or floated your boat beneath it, you may have noticed our most recent project milestone: the bridge's new support columns emerging from the water. These columns will make the bridge earthquake ready. These seismically-upgraded supports will rise into the air alongside the bridge in the coming months—and help make the Abernathy Bridge the first earthquake ready freeway bridge to span the Willamette River in the Portland area.

With Earth Day just around the corner and the days becoming warmer and sunnier, it seems only fitting to focus on the Willamette River that passes under the first phase’s signature project—a widened and seismically upgraded Abernethy Bridge. Although construction does not limit river access, river users must exercise caution near the Abernethy Bridge, where construction is ongoing. Learn more about the river here.

Widening and seismically improving the Abernethy Bridge is a challenging engineering feat for a number of reasons—for example, the nature of certain tasks requires crews to perform work under the Willamette River on the bedrock.

Just a few miles south of Portland, the Abernethy Bridge is a critical link across the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn on I-205. Learn how our engineers have designed the Abernethy Bridge improvements to withstand a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake.

As we enter a new year, we want to take a moment of gratitude to pause and reflect on the accomplishments from 2022 and share exciting milestones to look for in 2023.