Standard route signage in Oregon
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Highway names | |
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Interstates: | Interstate X (I-X) |
US Highways: | U.S. Route X (US X) |
State: | Oregon Route X (OR X) |
System links | |
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The state highway system of the U.S. state of Oregon is a network of highways that are owned and maintained by the Highway Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).
The state highway system consists of about 8,000 miles (13,000 km) of state highways (roadways owned and maintained by ODOT), with about 7,400 miles (12,000 km) when minor connections and frontage roads are removed. This is about 9% of the total road mileage in the state, including Oregon's portion of the Interstate Highway System (729.57 mi/1,174.13 km) and many other highways ranging from statewide to local importance. Transfers of highways between the state and county or local maintenance require the approval of the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC), a five-member governor-appointed authority that meets monthly. These transfers often result in discontinuous highways, where a local government maintains part or all of a main road within its boundaries.
Two separate numbering systems are used; routes (e.g. Interstate 84, U.S. Route 26, and Oregon Route 140) are those used by the general public, and their shields are posted on guide signs and maps. These comprise the Interstate highways, U.S. Routes, and Oregon Routes (e.g. OR 201). Highways, on the other hand, are used internally by ODOT; they are named and numbered (e.g. Pacific Highway No. 1, Willamette Highway No. 18). The two systems, while largely overlapping, are not congruent. Many routes are signed on streets which are maintained by counties and cities, and thus are not part of the state highway system at all, eg. OR 8, whose eastern- and westernmost portions, Canyon Road and Gales Creek Road, are not actually state highways. On the other hand, some state highways are not signed as routes at all; Beaverton-Tualatin Highway No. 141 has an official route designation (OR 141), but remains entirely unsigned. Signed routes may comprise several highways; for instance, OR 47 is overlaid on Mist-Clatskanie Hwy No. 110, Nehalem Hwy No. 102, and Tualatin Valley Highway No. 29. Likewise, highways may consist of several routes; Tualatin Valley Hwy No. 29 comprises parts of OR 8 and OR 47. Every highway is fully state-maintained, and every route is at least partially state-maintained.