Located along Interstate 5 (I-5) in northern Oregon, the Aurora-Donald interchange serves as a key stop for truckers traveling toward Portland. The interchange handles substantial commercial traffic, but its outdated design contributes to congestion and safety concerns. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and general contractor HP Civil are reconfiguring the Aurora-Donald interchange to improve traffic flow and increase safety.
The Aurora-Donald interchange phase two project is taking place at Exit 278 off of I-5. Two truck stops surround the interchange, along with a residential trailer park and businesses that serve both populations.
“This interchange is one of the busiest truck stop interchanges on I-5, and it’s the busiest truck stop interchange in Oregon,” ODOT Resident Engineer AJ Jacobson said. “The interchange was designed 40 years ago and now handles traffic volumes far beyond what it was designed for.”
According to ODOT’s website, around 32,000 vehicles use Exit 278 at Aurora-Donald or travel past the ramps entering and exiting I-5.
Jacobson estimates that trucks account for 40 to 50 percent of the vehicles exiting at the interchange. It is the last stop for trucks to get fuel and stay overnight before they get to Portland.
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Currently, the interchange includes a stop-controlled intersection. Trucks have to make a tight turn, and they do not accelerate quickly if they are coming out of a complete stop.
“Because of the current design, there's no free flow of traffic, so everybody that comes up to Ehlen Road at the base of the off-ramp has to stop,” said Tristan Wood, Construction Project Manager at David Evans and Associates. The company is representing ODOT on the project.
“Therefore, the southbound builds up during these peak periods and backs up into I-5 to where the right-hand lane would actually slow to a stop,” Wood added. “There were lots of accidents occurring on I-5 southbound because of that.”
The impetus of this project was to improve traffic flow for large vehicles traveling on the interstate.
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During the first phase of the project, the David Evans and Associates design team worked with ODOT to develop longer off-ramps and improve truck access from I-5 without disrupting commuter traffic during peak hours. More work is taking place in phase two to further improve traffic flow.
The team is installing a diverging diamond interchange (DDI) at the Aurora-Donald interchange. The DDI will allow vehicles to make a free left turn to enter I-5 and a free right turn, depending on the direction of travel.
“Traffic will only have to pass through one signalized intersection to be able to get onto I-5 instead of the previous arrangement, where they had to go under the highway, stop at both intersections, and potentially be stopped at both signalized intersections,” Wood said.
According to ODOT, the following steps are being taken so the DDI can be installed:
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- Replace the I-5 bridges over Ehlen Road Northeast with one new bridge. Previously, there were two bridges, one in each direction. The new monolithic bridge will have wider lanes and a wider shoulder.
- Reconstruct the I-5 travel lanes to match the new I-5 bridge. The bridge needs to be replaced to accommodate the new sections on Ehlen Road.
- Change the section of Ehlen Road Northeast under the I-5 bridge to have two lanes of traffic in both directions and new access to the I-5 on- and off-ramps.
- Lengthen and widen the southbound off-ramp, the southbound on-ramp, and the northbound on-ramp — completely upgrading all freeway ramps.
- Relocate the Dolores Way and Ehlen Road Northeast intersection to the east.
The intersection of Dolores Way and Ehlen Road presents safety concerns for turning traffic. There is a gas station, convenience store, and trailer home park in the vicinity.
“There’s quite a bit of traffic coming up on Dolores, so we moved it about 100 yards away from the interchange,” Jacobson said.
Finally, the project scope includes pedestrian improvements on Ehlen Road, as the team is installing sidewalks in the middle of the road.
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“In that location, there will be the least amount of conflict,” Wood said. “Pedestrians won’t have to cross multiple locations. They'll be able to pass through in the middle between the lanes passing through in the diamond areas.”
The project team has worked to be a good neighbor and minimize disruptions to local businesses throughout construction.
“We want to do everything we can to keep truck and local traffic flowing during all stages of the project,” Jacobson said.
The team staged the construction to minimize impact on I-5 and Ehlen Road users.
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“Contractors often have great ideas about how to most efficiently build a project when they take it on,” Jacobson added. “We made minimizing impact a priority and worked in tandem with them. ... And they worked with our designers to propose some measures to expedite construction and be least impactful.”
One idea was to demolish a bridge on a weeknight rather than over a weekend, with closures as originally planned.
“We received feedback before construction that it was really hard for the local businesses to recover in previous phases when we did weekend shutdowns of the off-ramps,” Wood said. “They said when we shut down the ramps on the weekends, they lose those people who stop there on their summer trips or who are passing through, and it takes them months to recover that business again.”
The project required significant earthwork. The team ran into some softer soil but ultimately found better soil conditions.
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“We worked with the design team and contractor to come up with a different cross-section design that allowed them to move quicker in areas,” Wood said. “Instead of just cement treating it because that’s what it called for, we looked at other quicker construction methods like adding geogrid when we started subgrading the soil.”
To accelerate concrete roadway demolition, the contractor used a truck-mounted, guillotine-style breaker that fractures the concrete into manageable pieces.
Based just outside of Salem, Oregon, HP Civil is a heavy civil general contractor. The firm works with ODOT regularly, and Jacobson noted he has worked on 10 projects with the company.
“They’re a good teammate and help us resolve issues as they come up,” Jacobson said. “I'm very pleased with their work.”
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The construction budget for the second phase of the project is $65 million. The project is receiving 90 percent of its funding from the federal government, with the state paying the remainder.
The project remains on budget, which Jacobson attributes to the team’s ability to collaborate effectively, negotiate positively on project changes, and work with local businesses. They identified efficiencies expected to shorten road closures for truck traffic and reduce disruptions to local businesses.
“The contractor was willing to work with us that much because we made some accommodations for them to save time on some other things,” Jacobson said.
Construction on the project began in spring 2024 and is scheduled to conclude on time in winter 2027. Wood and Jacobson attribute this to finding ways to keep things moving forward and to strong partnerships with local businesses and county leadership.
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After the project is complete, drivers around the interchange will have safer movements, traffic will flow more easily to the businesses, and backups will be minimized. The project is also driving commercial development through the expansion of two truck stops.
- Owner: Oregon Department of Transportation
- General Contractor: HP Civil, Salem, Oregon
