The Oregon Department of Transportation announced Wednesday afternoon that a construction project that would close southbound Interstate 5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter would end early.
Crews will begin the process of reopening lanes and ramps around 10 p.m. Wednesday.
Construction on Interstate 5 on October 5, 2026, in Portland, Oregon.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Officials also said they will continue working and cleaning the area for up to 24 hours after the lanes reopen. During the cleanup, some lane and ramp openings will remain closed while crews recover equipment and redesign the roadway. The highway is expected to reopen to traffic on Thursday, October 8 at noon. ODOT said it will send out an alert when I-5 south and all on- and off-ramps are fully open.
“We’re asking people to bear with us a little longer while we wrap up this closure,” said Rose Gerber, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
The best thing travelers can do to help open the road is to stay away from the area a little longer until the highway is officially open.
Construction and repairs on I-5 began Friday, September 11 and are expected to last five weeks. The project ends about a week early. ODOT officials said mild weather and minimal construction disruptions allowed the project to finish about a week ahead of schedule.
Crews worked around the clock to replace old concrete and make the 3-kilometer stretch of road more earthquake-ready. Crews also repaired rebar, replaced bridge joints, upgraded barriers and guardrails, prepared space near the I-84 off-ramp at the Moda Center to extend the merge lane next year and moved a sign for the Morrision/OMSI exit for better visibility.
Traffic on Interstate 5 and nearby streets during the closure was not as bad as initially expected, as many people changed their travel habits during the closure.
Transportation officials expected travel times to double or triple if drivers continued to use the same routes, but traffic conditions stabilized after the first two weeks as people adapted.
ODOT said construction of I-5 will continue as earthquake resiliency improvements and rail replacements continue. Nighttime single-lane closures and occasional street closures in the Rose District will occur until next spring.
Soon, ODOT will announce plans for a similar closure of northbound I-5 through the Rose Quarter, expected to begin in summer 2027.
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