Oregon/Highway Classification
Functional class
Generally, road classifications in Oregon should follow the Federal Functional Class determined by ODOT with a few exceptions listed below.
Federal Functional Class | OSM Highway Classification |
---|---|
|
Motorway |
|
Trunk |
|
Trunk/Primary (see below) |
|
Primary |
|
Secondary |
|
Tertiary/Secondary |
|
Tertiary |
|
Residential/Unclassified |
Exceptions
Trunk roads
Oregon currently uses trunk roads sparingly. It might be helpful to distinguish primary roads that are more important to others and not just look at the physical characteristics of the road.
Regional centers
The following cities in and around Oregon are considered important regional centers:
- Portland, OR
- Boise, ID
- Eugene, OR
- Redding, CA
- Reno, NV
- Medford, OR
- Bend, OR
- Crescent City, CA
- Yakima, WA
- Walla Walla, WA
- Madras, OR
- Salem, OR
- Corvallis, OR
- Astoria, OR
- Klamath Falls, OR
- Lincoln City, OR
- Pendleton, OR
- Newport, OR
- Coos Bay, OR
- Florence, OR
- McMinnville, OR
- Newberg, OR
Proposed trunk routes
The following routings are the principal routes between pairs of important population centers, and not serviced by highway=motorway, and thus should be tagged highway=trunk. Other routes not listed here might be listed here.
Trunk routing | Destinations | Notes | Status | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Highways | From | To | |||
US 95 | NV state line | ID state line | Reno, NV ↔ Boise, ID | Completed in changeset 115537395 | completed |
US 101 | CA state line | WA state line | Crescent City, CA ↔ Coos Bay, OR ↔ Newport, OR ↔ Astoria, OR | Matches proposed trunk tagging in Washington and California.
Completed in changesets 115960374 (CA state line-Coos Bay), 115961165 (Coos Bay-Lincoln City), and 115961497 (Lincoln City-WA state line) |
completed |
US 97 | CA state line | WA state line | Redding, CA ↔ Klamath Falls, OR ↔ Bend, OR ↔ Yakima, WA | Matches proposed trunk tagging in Washington and California.
Completed in changeset 115985063 |
completed |
OR 18/OR 99W | US 101 | I 5 | Lincoln City, OR ↔ McMinnville, OR ↔ Newberg, OR ↔ Portland, OR | Alternative route through Tualatin-Sherwood to I 5
Completed in changeset 115961862 |
completed |
US 199/OR 99 | US 101 | I 5 Exits 55 and 58 | Crescent City, CA ↔ Medford, OR/Eugene, OR | Matches proposed trunk tagging in California. Completed in changeset 116129292 |
completed |
US 30 | Astoria-Megler Bridge | I 405 | Astoria, OR ↔ Portland, OR | Completed in changeset 116084749 | completed |
238th/242nd/Hogen/Burnside/
US 26 |
I 84 | US 97 | Portland, OR ↔ Bend, OR | Completed in changeset 115991854 | completed |
US 26 | US 101 | OR 6 | Ocean Beaches ↔ Portland, OR | Completed in changeset 115992117 | completed |
OR 22/US 20/OR 201 | OR 18 | US 20 | Lincoln City, OR ↔ Salem, OR ↔ Bend, OR ↔ Ontario, OR ↔ Boise, ID | Completed in changeset 116000390 | completed |
OR 58 | I 5 | US 97 | Eugene, OR ↔ Central Oregon | Includes the Crescent Cutoff Road as part of the Eugene-Bend corridor Completed in changeset 116030740 |
completed |
OR 62/OR 140/OR 39/CA 139/CA 299/US 395 | I 5 | I 80 | Medford, OR ↔ Klamath Falls, OR ↔ Reno, NV | Oregon section completed in changeset 116150261 | completed |
OR 126 | US 101 | OR 569 | Florence, OR ↔ Eugene, OR | Completed in changeset 116129325 | completed |
OR 126 | US 20 | US 26 | Salem, OR ↔ Redmond, OR ↔ Prineville, OR | Completed in changeset 116150406 | completed |
US 20/OR 34 | US 101 | I 5 | Newport, OR ↔ Corvallis, OR | Completed in changeset 116030580 | completed |
OR 331/OR 11 | I 84 | WA state line | Boise, ID ↔ Pendleton, OR ↔ Walla Walla, WA | Doesn't match proposed trunk tagging in Washington. Completed in changeset 116084787 |
completed |
US 730 | I 82 | WA state line | Portland, OR ↔ Walla Walla, WA | Completed in changeset 116184683 | completed |
OR 224/OR 212 | OR 99E | US 26 | Portland, OR | Completed in changeset 116184904 | completed |
OR 99/OR 99W | OR 569 | OR 18 | Eugene ↔ Corvallis ↔ McMinnville | Completed in changeset 117441969 | completed |
OR 219/McKay Road/Yergen Road/Ehlen Road | OR 18 | I-5 | Newberg ↔ Salem | Completed in changeset 117441552 | completed |
Glencoe Road/Zion Church Road/ Cornelius-Schefflin Road/Verboort Road/ Martin Road/OR 47/OR 99W |
US 26 | OR 18 | Portland ↔ Forest Grove ↔ McMinnville | Completed in 117615099 | completed |
When upgrading
- Tag your changesets with
#us-highway-classification
and a state-prefixed version (like#or-highway-classification
). This will allow tracking of this effort in other tools and let us get some ballpark numbers later on of what ended up going into this project on the editing side. - Make sure to also upgrade links
- Some routers make the assumption that pedestrians and bicycles are not allowed on
highway=trunk
. When upgrading ways tohighway=trunk
orhighway=trunk_link
be sure to add explicitbicycle=yes
andfoot=yes
access tags.
Status
Completed: Route has been upgraded
Approved: Route has been approved and is in progress of being upgraded
Confirmed: Route has been confirmed by another person
Proposed: Route might be a trunk
What about existing trunk roads?
Existing trunk roads in Oregon based off physical characteristics had an expressway=yes tag added to them. Trunk stubs, except for a few exceptions listed below, should be downgraded to the class it is after the expressway ends.
Exceptions
- OR 126 provides access to Prineville
Primary roads
Primary roads are an intermediate class between trunk and secondary roads. They provide important connections between smaller cities or large towns, or some of the most important local routes through areas of high or moderate population, but may not have as much traffic or be as important to the road network overall as trunk roads.
Proposed primary routes
Roads that only serve as loops off an interstate into small cities or large towns are not included in this list, as they are more reminiscent of urban roads (e.g. US 30 in The Dalles).
Rural primary outside of Willamette Valley
Corridor | Endpoints | Notes |
---|---|---|
North/South | ||
OR 52 | ID to OR 201 | I could see the justification for downgrading to secondary considering how closely it parallels US 95. |
OR 201/US 95S | I-84 to ID | |
US 20 | ID to OR 201 | |
OR 203 | OR 237 to I-84 | Should OR 237 between OR 203 and I-84 south of here also be primary? I think it shouldn't, because the vast majority of people are going to be going to La Grande from Union. But I could see the justification, to avoid having a spur primary road. |
OR 11 | I-84 to OR 331 | |
OR 207 | I-84 to US 730 | |
US 395 | I-84 to US 730 | |
US 395 | US 26 to I-84 | |
US 395 | US 20 to US 26 | |
US 395 | OR 31 to US 20 | Based on significance to Oregon alone this would probably be secondary. However, it forms part of possibly the best route from Redding, CA to Boise, ID, bringing it up to primary. |
US 395/OR 31 | CA to US 97 | |
US 197 | US 97 to WA | |
OR 35/Hood River Bridge | US 26 to WA | |
OR 282/281 | OR 35 to US 30 | OR 35 bypasses the main part of the Hood River Valley. It's instead his route that serves all the population in the valley so I believe it should be primary. |
US 30/Bridge of the Gods | I-84 to WA | |
OR 62/230 | OR 140 to OR 138 | |
OR 66/99 | I-5 Exit 14 to I-5 Exit 35 | Closely parallels I-5, but connects a large number of decent-sized communities. |
OR 138 | I-5 to OR 38 | |
OR 47 | US 26 to US 30 | |
East/West | ||
OR 6 | US 101 to US 26 | |
OR 22 | US 101 to OR 18 | |
OR 38/OR 99 | US 101 to I-5 Exit 162 | |
OR 42 | US 101 to I-5 | |
OR 42S | US 101 to OR 42 | |
OR 238 | US 199 to I-5 | Doesn't provide the fastest route between any two cities, but gives access to a large number of areas between Grants Pass and Medford. It also has higher traffic than other secondary routes in the area. I think it's just enough to be primary. |
OR 34/US 20 | I-5 to OR 22 | |
OR 126 | OR 126B to US 20 | I could see the justification for upgrading to trunk, It is clearly a less-important route than the other trunk routes over the Oregon Cascades (US 26, OR 22, OR 58, OR 140), but it is clearly also a more-important route than the other primary routes (OR 35, US 20, OR 138, OR 62/230). To get to Bend from Eugene it's quicker to take OR 58 to the Crescent Cutoff Road, which I think pushes it just into primary territory over trunk. |
OR 138 | I-5 to US 97 | |
US 26/OR 7 | US 97 to I-84 | Most traffic will take OR 7 to Baker City rather than continue on US 26 east of the junction. I see no justification for keeping that part of US 26 primary; it serves no important connections at all. |
OR 370 | US 97 to OR 126 | A borderline primary or secondary route; wouldn't complain either way. It's the best route from northern Redmond to Prineville, but it closely parallels the trunk OR 126 coridor. I think it just squeaks over the line into primary territory. |
OR 140 | OR 39 to US 395 | |
OR 78 | US 20 to US 95 | |
US 730 | I-84 to I-82 | |
OR 82 | I-84 to OR 350 | Routes like this are why a rule of having no primary spur routes would be stupid. It's a blatant primary connecting multiple decent-sized communities, and it's the only feasible route into those communities. |
US 30 | I-84 Exit 376 to ID |
Rural primary in Willamette Valley
As of 16 February 2022, I have classified all rural Willamette Valley roads as primary that I think should be. These are mostly roads that form the best route between any large towns in the valley that don't meet the trunk criteria. Any feedback is welcome.