Oregon Route 173 is an

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

state highway running from

Timberline Lodge Timberline Lodge is a mountain lodge on the south side of Mount Hood in Clackamas County, Oregon, about east of Portland. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, it was built and furnished by local artisans during th ...

Clackamas County Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Native ...

to U.S. Route 26 near

Government Camp Government Camp is an unincorporated community and census-designated place located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, on the base of Mount Hood and north of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. It is the only town within of Mount Hood and therefo ...

. OR 173 is known as the Timberline Highway No. 173 (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 ab ...

). It is long and runs in a northeast to southwest "L" pattern, entirely within Clackamas County. OR 173 was established in 2002 as part of Oregon's project to assign route numbers to

highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

that previously were not assigned, and, as of September 2010, was unsigned.

Route description

OR 173 begins at an intersection with

US 26 U.S. Route 26 (US 26) is an east–west United States highway that runs from Seaside, Oregon to Ogallala, Nebraska. When the U.S. highway system was first defined, it was limited to Nebraska and Wyoming; by the 1950s, it continued into Idaho and ...

east of

. It travels east and north as it ascends the slopes of

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portl ...

, passing through several turns. The highway splits into a pair of

one-way roads One-way traffic (or uni-directional traffic) is traffic that moves in a single direction. A one-way street is a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction. One-way streets typic ...

around the parking lot of the

Timberline Lodge ski area Timberline Lodge ski area is the ski and snowboarding area of Timberline Lodge, a National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is one of a few ski areas in the United States with most of the skiable terrain below the main lodge. I ...

and ends at the namesake lodge.

History

The Timberline Highway was opened on November 18, 1949, to serve the lodge and ski area alongside the Mt. Hood Aerial Skiway, an aerial bus system. It replaced an earlier road to the lodge from the west that was narrower and steeper. The new route was paved a year after it opened and was added to the state highway system by the

Oregon Highway Commission 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 Depa ...

on September 28, 1950. OR 173 was assigned to the Timberline Highway in 2002.

Major intersections

References

{{reflist

173 Year 173 ( CLXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Pompeianus (or, less frequently, year 926 ''Ab urbe ...

Transportation in Clackamas County, Oregon Mount Hood National Forest