North end US 30 near Portland South end OR 8 in Hillsboro | Majorjunctions US 26 in Hillsboro | |
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Similar Bear Camp Road, Delta Highway, Rose City Freeway | ||
Cornelius Pass Road is an arterial road over Cornelius Pass in the Tualatin Mountains west of Portland, Oregon, United States. Running north–south, the road stretches between U.S. Route 30 on the north and Oregon Route 8 on the south. The road passes through Washington and Multnomah counties, crossing the Tualatin Mountains at Cornelius Pass at the 577-foot (176 m) elevation. Trimet's MAX Light Rail line (Blue Line or Westside Max) travels over the road on a bridge.
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History
The road was built by Thomas R. Cornelius in the 1800s. The interchange with the Sunset Highway (U.S. 26) was rebuilt and widened in 1989, and the road widened to five lanes from the freeway to Cornell Road the following year. In 1996, the road was extended southward when 216th and 219th avenues were renamed and became the southern section of the road, terminating at Tualatin Valley Highway. At that time the intersection with Baseline Road was re-aligned. The intersection with U.S. 26 was revised in 2005 with new on- and off-ramps extending from Cornelius Pass to the east, where a railroad overpass had previously been located. In 2008, the entire Multnomah County section was changed to a no-passing zone on the winding road over the Tualatin Mountains.
A one-mile section from Lois to Wilkins streets closed for eight months in 2010 in order to widen the road in that area to five lanes as well as add bike lanes and sidewalks. The $12 million project included a new 182-foot (55 m) bridge over Beaverton Creek. The county hoped to widen the remaining portion of the road to five lanes between Walbridge/Aloclek and Wilkins. Announced in 2011, the expected cost was $10.1 million and would include a new bridge over Rock Creek. Construction closed the section for six months, with the new bridge opening on December 31, 2012, while the remaining widening is expected to continue until the middle of 2013.
Hillsboro also began preliminary work in 2011 to extend Cornelius Pass south of Tualatin Valley Highway to prepare for the development of South Hillsboro. The Oregon Legislature approved $9.5 million in 2012 to fund safety improvements such as guardrails. Hillsboro also announced plans in 2012 to widen the road to seven lanes between Cornell and U.S. 26.
Details
Cornelius Pass is one of only two main north–south connecting roads in Hillsboro. The former country road handles 11,000 drivers each day and is an arterial route from the Tualatin Valley between Hillsboro to the Columbia River north of Portland. A mountainous road at points, 1,500 of the 11,000 vehicles each day are tractor-trailers on the road designed to handle up to 10,000 vehicles per day. A portion of the road, from US 26 to Cornell, is part of the National Highway System. As of 2010, the average daily traffic on the road in Washington County from north to south was 8,130 vehicles just north of Germantown Road, 11,003 just south of Germantown, 17,947 a little south of West Union Road, 38,860 just north of Imbrie Drive, 26,542 just north of Cornell Road, 18,863 a bit north of Quatama Road, 18,208 just north of Baseline Road, 21,156 a little south of Baseline, and 16,294 just north of the road's current terminus at Tualatin Valley Highway.