Oregon Route 551 (OR 551) is an

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

that runs between the cities of Wilsonville and Hubbard. It is known as the Wilsonville-Hubbard Highway No. 51 (see

Oregon highways and routes 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). Highways and routes The state highway system consists of a ...

) and is also called the "Hubbard Cutoff." It is long, and is a two-lane

limited access A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

highway for its entire length. The designation as OR 551 is a recent addition; for a long time this route did not have a signed route number. In 2002, the

Oregon Department of Transportation The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the state government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for systems of transportation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway De ...

(ODOT) began assigning route numbers to

highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

that did not previously have route numbers. As the internal ODOT number assigned this route was already used by OR 51, the number 5 was prefixed to form 551.

Route description

OR 551 begins (at its southern terminus) at an interchange with

OR 99E Oregon Route 99E is an Oregon state highway that runs between Junction City, Oregon and an interchange with I-5 just south of the Oregon/Washington border, in Portland. It, along with OR 99W, makes up a split of OR 99 in the northern part of ...

just north of Hubbard. Whereas OR 99E continues northeast to the cities of

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

and Canby; OR 551 heads north towards Wilsonville. Its course is almost perfectly straight, and the route has few intersections. OR 551 terminates at an intersection with I-5 near the Charbonneau district just south of Wilsonville. The highway, when it was first constructed, was originally a part of

U.S. Route 99 U.S. Route 99 (US 99) was a main north–south United States Numbered Highway on the West Coast of the United States until 1964, running from Calexico, California, on the Mexican border to Blaine, Washington, on the Canadian border. It w ...

, connecting the Baldock Freeway (which contained US 99, now I-5) with US 99E, now OR 99E. This designation lasted until the freeway was completed between Wilsonville and

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem (B ...

, at which point the US 99 designation was removed. Boones Ferry Road, which runs parallel to OR 551 (and connects Woodburn with

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

), was at one time signed as OR 217; portions of this road from northern Wilsonville and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

are now

Oregon Route 141 Oregon Route 141, known as the Beaverton–Tualatin Highway No. 141 (see Oregon highways and routes), is an Oregon state highway which runs (contrary to its name) from the city of Wilsonville to the southern edge of Beaverton. The highway i ...

. This road (or the parallel stretch) was the predecessor of OR 551. The road crossed the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward ...

via

Boones Ferry Boones Ferry (also Boone's Ferry) was a cable ferry which crossed the Willamette River at present-day Wilsonville, Oregon, United States, from 1847 to 1954. It was part of a major land-based thoroughfare in pioneer times linking fledgling Portlan ...

near present-day Wilsonville; the ferry has since been replaced by the Boone Bridge, which is where I-5 crosses the river.

Major intersections

References

External links

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ORoads: Oregon Highway 551

551 __NOTOC__ Year 551 ( DLI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 551 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for ...

U.S. Route 99 Transportation in Marion County, Oregon Transportation in Wilsonville, Oregon 2002 establishments in Oregon