| Interstate 84 | |
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Length: | 769.62 mi[1] (1,238.58 km) |
| Existed: | 1956 (as I-80N) – present |
| Major junctions | |
| West end: | I-5 / US 30 in Portland, OR |
|
I-82 near Hermiston, OR I-15 near Ogden, UT |
|
| East end: | I-80 in Echo, UT |
| Highway system | |
|
Main route of the Interstate Highway System |
|
Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Western United States that runs from Portland, Oregon, to a junction with Interstate 80 near Echo, Utah. The highway originally served as a fork of I-80 to serve the Pacific Northwest, and was originally numbered Interstate 80N.
The highway serves and connects Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho with Ogden, Utah. Seattle, Washington is indirectly served by I-84 via a connection with Interstate 82. With the connection to I-80, I-84 connects these cities to points east.
I-80N was generally built along the corridor of U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 30S; the U.S. Route 30S designation was decommissioned in the 1970s after the freeway replacement was mostly complete. The highway was signed with the I-84 designation in 1980, when a 1977 change in guidelines took effect that discouraged highway numbers with directional suffixes.[2] The renumbering resulted in two highways being numbered I-84, with the other residing in the Northeastern United States.
Contents |
| mi | km | |
|---|---|---|
| OR | 375.17[1] | 603.78 |
| ID | 275.74[1] | 443.76 |
| UT | 118.71[1] | 191.05 |
| Total | 769.62[1] | 1238.58 |
In the Portland metropolitan area, I-84 is sometimes referred to as the "Banfield Freeway" or simply "the Banfield", although the official name is the Banfield Expressway. This freeway is named after Thomas H. Banfield, the chairman of the Oregon Transportation Commission from 1943 to 1950.
East of Pendleton, I-84 climbs Emigrant Hill, a 6% grade, into the Blue Mountains. This grade is known for the fact that the westbound lanes switchback twice on its descent into Pendleton. Eastbound lanes feature what are the tightest curves allowed on the Interstate Highway system, even though those curves are on the uphill (eastbound) direction. This grade is also well known due to the fact that it features such a great distance between eastbound and westbound lanes, nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) between the opposite directions of travel at some points. The road summits at 4193 feet (1278 m) above sea level before descending to the Grand Ronde River and La Grande. It passes by North Powder and Baker City and through the Burnt River canyon. Around Huntington, it crosses into the Mountain Time Zone then briefly follows the Snake River (Brownlee Reservoir), then continues to Ontario to cross the Snake River into Idaho.
I-84 enters Idaho by crossing the Snake River at Ontario, Oregon. From there, it continues on to the major cities of the Treasure Valley, or Boise metropolitan area, including Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian, and Boise (where I-184 connects travelers to downtown). From Boise, I-84 continues southeast towards Twin Falls, after passing near several small cities (Mountain Home, Glenns Ferry, and Jerome).
Just east of Jerome, I-84 passes within 5 miles (8 km) of Twin Falls, but does not cross the Snake River Canyon or into Twin Falls County. Access to Twin Falls is afforded by an intersection with US 93 at Exit 173; US 93 southbound crosses the Snake River via the Perrine Bridge.
After Twin Falls, I-84 continues through Burley and Heyburn. Approximately 7 miles (11 km) east of Declo in rural Cassia County, I-84 meets I-86. I-84 heads southeast towards Utah and I-86 heads east, then northeast to American Falls and Pocatello, following the Oregon Trail.
From Idaho, I-84 enters Utah at a point approximately 7 miles (11.3 km) from Snowville in Box Elder County. It proceeds southeast towards Tremonton where I-84 joins I-15.
Just south, at Corinne, Utah, I-84 joins the route of the First Transcontinental Railroad which the highway follows to its terminus. I-15/I-84 pass to the west of Ogden where I-84 separates from I-15 and follows the Weber River. As the freeway passes through Weber Canyon it also passes through several small farming communities, including Morgan, where the Browning Arms Company headquarters can be seen from the freeway. Also visible in the canyon is Devil's Slide, an unusual rock formation just off the freeway.[3] Farther up the canyon is the Thousand Mile Tree, planted by Union Pacific Railroad workers to mark 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the railroad's origin in Omaha, Nebraska.[4] The freeway ends at Echo, a near ghost town that before served as a stopover for the railroad, at a junction with Interstate 80. Also near the junction is Echo Reservoir and Echo Dam.
The Utah sections of I-84 not concurrent with Interstate 15 are defined at Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-114(4).[5]
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials established guidelines recommending that "suffixed" highways, such as I-80N, be renumbered. In 1977, Idaho officials recommended that I-80N be renumbered to I-84. The motion was seconded by officials in Utah, but opposed by Oregon and Washington. The motion passed on July 7, 1977, and the states were given until July 1, 1980 to implement a co-ordinated renumbering strategy.[2]
After renumbering, I-84 violated the Interstate Highway Numbering Convention by being south of I-82. The Portland segment of then-I-80N was proposed to run on the Mount Hood Freeway. Plans for this were officially dropped in 1978 after a successful freeway revolt.
| OpenStreetMap has geographic data related to: Interstate 84 (west) |
|
Main Interstate Highways (major interstates highlighted) |
|||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 29 | 30 | |||
| 35 | 37 | 39 | 40 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 49 | 55 | 57 | 59 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 68 | 69 | ||||
| 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 (W) | 76 (E) | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | ||||||
| 83 | 84 (W) | 84 (E) | 85 | 86 (W) | 86 (E) | 87 | 88 (W) | 88 (E) | 89 | 90 | |||||||||
| 91 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 99 | H-1 | H-2 | H-3 | ||||||||||
| Unsigned | A-1 | A-2 | A-3 | A-4 | PRI-1 | PRI-2 | PRI-3 | ||||||||||||
| Lists | Primary | Main - Intrastate - Suffixed - Temporary - Future - Gaps | |||||||||||||||||
| Auxiliary | Main - Future - Unsigned | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other | Standards - Business - Bypassed - Tolled | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||