Design selected for major interchange between Salem and Oregon Coast

Bill Poehler, Salem Statesman Journal
·4 min read
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The preferred option that Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen for the Highway 51 and Highway 22 interchange.
The preferred option that Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen for the Highway 51 and Highway 22 interchange.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has selected as its preferred option a redesigned intersection of Highways 22 and 51 four miles west of Salem and on the way to the Oregon Coast that includes an overpass, roundabouts and access roads.

ODOT recently chose the Northwest Loop Interchange over three other options after feedback online and from in-person open houses. The preliminary cost estimate is $270 million.

The other options added traffic circles and a bridge over Highway 22.

The current intersection between Salem and Independence has an unsignaled left turn lane for westbound traffic.

The proposed interchange would make it easier for drivers traveling from Salem to Independence because they would not have turn south across two lanes of oncoming Highway 22 traffic. Instead, they would take an exit and go through two traffic circles to merge onto Highway 51 going south.

“This one is going to mirror the 99/22 interchange” four miles west, said Dallas mayor Ken Woods, who chairs the Mid-Willamette Area Commission on Transportation. “And what it does is the people going to Independence will not have to stop.”

Woods said the project is the priority for the Mid-Willamette Area Commission on Transportation, which includes Marion, Polk and Yamhill Counties.

ODOT doesn’t have an estimate for how much the project will cost or the money to pay for it. The agency has budgeted about $11 million for preconstruction costs, including design and purchasing right of way, said spokesperson David House.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen its preferred design for the interchange between Highway 51 and Highway 22 and named it the Northwest Loop Interchange.
The Oregon Department of Transportation has chosen its preferred design for the interchange between Highway 51 and Highway 22 and named it the Northwest Loop Interchange.

Other changes for interchange at Highways 22 and 51 in Polk County

The selected interchange will:

  • Add an overpass over Highway 22

  • Straighten out Highway 22 where it connects with Highway 51

  • Add on and off ramps from Highway 22

  • Add roundabouts on either side of the highway.

  • Adds new frontage roods on both sides of Highway 22

Access to Oak Grove Ave. on the north and south sides of Highway 22 also would change for improved safety.

The new frontage roads would connect with Highway 22 before and after the intersection with Highway 51. That means Oak Grove would no longer connect with Highway 22 from the north or south and instead connect with the frontage roads.

“Reducing the number of access points increases safety because it reduces the points where vehicles enter and exit a highway, reducing the chances of crashes," House said.

"The frontage road concept also saves local traffic from needing to go on and off the highway,” he said.

The concept also is intended to make it easier for cars turning from 55th Avenue east onto Highway 22 toward Salem.

“Whoever designed that did not account for the increased traffic on 55th,” Woods said.

Most dangerous eight-mile stretch of Highway 22

Highway 22 hadan average of 43,055 vehicles driving just east of the intersection per day in 2022, while there are 28,015 just west of the interchange, according to ODOT data. It means an average of about 15,000 vehicles use the intersection to reach Independence each day.

Much of the work is being done to make the eight-mile stretch of Highway 22 between Salem and the Oregon Coast safer.

According to ODOT, there were 154 crashes between 2016 and 2022 between Rickreall Road and Doaks Ferry Road, including 10 fatal crashes.

Of the 154 crashes, 55 were turning related.

“I’ve known a couple families that have lost loved ones there, too,” Woods said.

The proposed project also adds and enhances current multi-use paths for bicycles and pedestrians on the north side of Highway 22 through the interchange.

What happens now that ODOT has selected a design for the interchange

ODOT's current estimated timeline for the interchange has environmental and design review taking place through 2025.

"It is not yet funded, meaning we don’t know when construction can start," House said.

Once funding is identified, final design and purchasing property will occur through 2028 and construction will run through 2032, according to ODOT's estimated schedule.

ODOT worked for years on another interchange redesign before a final design was selected in 2019 for the Donald-Aurora interchange.

The first phase of construction on that interchange took place in 2022 and 2023. The second phase is scheduled to start this year and be completed in 2027 at a total cost of $62.5 million.

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Design selected for major interchange between Salem and Oregon Coast