Hi everyone-

Back with another update . . . we'll be continuing work on the Highway 219/52nd Avenue interchange.

We're now onto Part 3 of the Northern Crossing Project, which will mark a milestone in the project--the opening of the 52nd Avenue interchange.

As we left off last time, 52nd east of Highway 219 was closed off for overpass construction, and both Highway 219 and the open section of 52nd to the west were on temporary, narrowed alignments for construction staging. As you can see here, the overpass is nearly complete now, as well as the on and off ramps from 219 northbound to 52nd (facing north). The southbound onramp is also partially in place.

A short stretch of the new freeway-grade 219 is getting in place (facing north). For reference purposes, in case you're wondering, that road ending just before the railroad tracks is 44th Avenue NE. The stretch from here down to 33rd will continue to be 2 lanes until ORDOT begins work on the 39th Avenue intersection.

Here is the north end of the freeway-grade 219 (facing north). The cross street here is 59th Avenue NE, which is the northern bounds of the project. Construction on the freeway section north of here will not begin until funding has been acquired, and an alignment has been chosen.

Cranes are in place for work on the southbound offramp from 219 to 52nd (facing north). 219 has been "twinned" now through this segment, and the temporary alignment of 52nd is still in place while the overpass is completed.

The overpass and southbound onramp have been completed (facing north). Next up, the new overpass will be connected up to the bridges, temporarily using a ground-level alignment until much later in the project.

Eastbound 52nd has now been connected to the overpass (facing north). Westbound traffic still needs to use the access road.

The section of 52nd to the east is now open, with the Liberty Street intersection closed off (facing north).

The overpass has now been fully connected to the western portion of 52nd (facing north). The access road is still in place for the time being, though it will need to be removed to make way for the actual southbound offramp from 219 to 52nd.

The access road has been removed (facing north). This will temporarily leave no access from southbound 219 to 52nd until the proper offramp is constructed.

The offramp structure is now in place, and simply needs to be connected into 219 (facing north).

A look at 219 just south of the interchange (facing north). The ramps here have been given auxiliary lanes, though the actual configuration of the southbound side will be getting a bit more redesign before the project is complete.

The interchange is now officially open, though it is not complete yet (facing south).

To allow for fully-controlled access from 52nd eastbound to 219 southbound, a slip ramp is being constructed (facing north). The slip ramp will be reconfigured later in the project.

The southbound connection into 219 has been modified slightly with the completion of the slip ramp (facing north).

The full interchange with the slip ramp now in place (facing north).

Next up will be the fourth and final part of the Northern Crossing Project, which will complete the rest of the improvements west of the Willamette River, along 52nd up to Wallace Road. Then, we'll go back to the east side of the river to see the remainder of the first segment of the Chemeketa Parkway Project, with the improvements at 39th Avenue.

Hope you enjoyed this latest installment!

-Alex (Tarkus)