PORTLAND, Ore. — A five-mile stretch of Interstate 84 in Portland will close Saturday overnight into Sunday for 13 hours as crews tackle graffiti and trash clean up along the freeway corridor.
The closure starts at 11 p.m. on Saturday and goes through Sunday at noon. I-84 will be closed from I-5 all the way to I-205.
The graffiti and trash along the freeway corridor are hard to miss, and the closure is part of a multi-day cleanup effort involving several agencies including TriMet, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Union Pacific Railroad. Crews hope the closure will make a big difference.
“This has been a problem for the Portland area recently and for all of the graffiti, and all of the litter that we’re seeing in this area — so we’re working now to get this cleaned up,” said Don Hamilton with ODOT.
Hamilton added that crews will be doing some maintenance too, including working on storm drains and lighting issues.
As a detour around the closure, drivers should use I-205 or local roads, ODOT said.
The project will also disrupt TriMet commuters getting around because it will require clearing the tracks and de-energizing the overhead power lines in the corridor.
“During the project, the MAX Blue, Red and Green lines are going to be disrupted between Northeast 7th Avenue and Gateway Transit Center. That will allow us to power down the MAX system along that five-mile system," said Tyler Graf with TriMet.
Shuttle buses will serve closed stations during the disruption.
While the freeway closure ends Sunday at noon, TriMet said regular service won't start back up until Sunday at 6 p.m. as it takes time to restore power to the MAX lines.