Roosevelt Freeway (Oregon)

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The Roosevelt Freeway was a proposed freeway alignment of Oregon Highway 126 through Eugene, Oregon and its western suburbs, which was cancelled in 1972, largely due to the Oregon freeway revolts.

The freeway (according to a 1967 planning map) was proposed to go north of the current OR126 alignment along West 11th Avenue, along Roosevelt Boulevard (presently an arterial in Eugene), along the Willamette River near the Whitaker neighborhood, and connect to the current Interstate 105 just south of the Willamette River Bridge. (A proposed eastward extension of the project, the Skinner Butte Freeway, never made it off the drawing board).

The freeway was designed to solve a longstanding traffic issue in Eugene; namely, the inadequacy of West 11th Avenue (a neighborhood arterial) to handle long-haul and commuter traffic. Many commuters, as well as state transportation officials, strongly desired to build the freeway. Plans for the freeway were completed in the mid 1970s, and the state of Oregon had begun buying up property for the right-of-way. A ghost ramp currently exists on I-105, where the interchange with the Roosevelt Freeway would have been. [1][2]

This ghost ramp, as seen from the west side of Skinner Butte, was supposed to provde access to the cancelled Roosevelt Freeway from Interstate 105.

However, the freeway proved to be unpopular with Eugene city residents, due to its impact on existing neighborhoods (as well as its effect on waterfront access). 1978, the so-called "T-2000" transportation plan was adopted, which excluded the Roosevelt Freeway from its list of transportation projects, effectively killing it. The plan did call for an east-west corridor through west Eugene, but for a scaled-down version. The proposed West Eugene Parkway is seen (both by supporters and by critics) as an implementation of these plans.