Mount Hood Freeway - Revolt and Aftermath

Revolt and Aftermath

By the time planners began to think seriously about building the Mount Hood Freeway in the 1970s, the neighborhoods in and near its path mobilized grass-roots efforts against the freeway. The movements gained city-wide and local support which changed the political landscape in local elections. Soon, it seemed as if the Federal government and some in the Oregon State Highway Department (now the Oregon Department of Transportation) were the only ones who wanted the freeway.

The freeway's promoted virtue of a speedy commute was debunked by the freeway's opponents. On one hand, it was seen as benefiting only suburban Gresham and East Multnomah County at the expense of Portland's neighborhoods. On the other hand, many opponents stated that the freeway would be obsolete the minute it opened, jamming with traffic volumes that the freeway was not designed for.

Efforts to make the freeway more acceptable made their way into the later proposals. Among the proposals were increased landscaping and bike paths along the route as well as parks and community centers built over the freeway's "air rights" and a "transitway" with three-level stations (separate levels for local buses and express buses) for an express busway. These efforts, however, were not enough to sell the project.

When the project was finally canceled in 1974, local transportation planners began to look at completing I-205. Disputes with the new freeway-adverse Multnomah County Commission had left a huge gap between the two completed sections. I-205 ended in the south just across the Clackamas County line and stopped at the Columbia River in the north. After the successful battle over the Mount Hood, activists were pushing for I-205's cancellation, while some neighborhoods and businesses wanted it further east or west (depending on the proposal).

After some negotiation, I-205's Multnomah County segment was finalized, reducing interchanges, eliminating a possible provision for a Mount Hood Freeway interchange, and resulting in the alignment of today's I-205. An unfinished, grade-separated transitway and a bike path were added to I-205, part of the Mount Hood Freeway ideas that actually influenced another freeway. The transitway is now being used as the route for the TriMet MAX Red Line and the new MAX Green Line.

Since the completion of I-205, no major freeways have been built in the Portland metropolitan area.

Some believe the Mount Hood Freeway is one of the things most recognizable as a reason for the development and promotion of alternative forms of transportation in Portland. Natural progression is another reason. The MAX light rail system, the Portland Transit Mall, and the city's notable bicycle-friendly policies are said by some Portlanders to have stemmed from the freeway revolt.