U.S. Route 26 (US 26) is a major cross-state United States highway with its western terminus in the U.S. state of Oregon, connecting

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

on the Oregon Coast near Seaside with the Idaho state line east of Nyssa. Local highway names (see Oregon highways and routes) include the Sunset Highway No. 47, Mount Hood Highway No. 26, and

John Day Highway No. 5 John Day Highway No. 5 is a highway in eastern Oregon. It comprises Oregon Route 19 (OR 19) and U.S. Route 26 (US 26), as well as short segments of OR 206, OR 207, and US 395. Route description The John Day Highway b ...

before continuing into Idaho and beyond.

Route description

Quartz Creek Bridge, Clatsop County, Oregon

The western terminus of the highway (and of US 26) is at an interchange with

between Seaside and Cannon Beach. The highway heads east from there through the Oregon Coast Range, providing access to Saddle Mountain and passing through the valleys of the Necanicum and Nehalem rivers. It then crosses over the Oregon Coast Range, where it passes through the

Dennis L. Edwards Tunnel The Dennis L. Edwards Tunnel is a highway tunnel in northwestern Oregon that carries the Sunset Highway (U.S. Route 26) through the Northern Oregon Coast Range mountains near the unincorporated community of Manning, west of Portland. The tu ...

, descending into the Tualatin Valley, into the community of Banks. East of Banks, the highway merges with Oregon Route 6 and becomes a freeway, which passes through the high-tech regions of Washington County. The freeway enters the Portland metropolitan area in the northeast corner of Hillsboro, then passes through the northern part of the city of Beaverton and the communities of Cedar Hills and Cedar Mill near the intersection with the northern terminus of Oregon Route 217. Also at this point, MAX Light Rail is adjacent on the north side of the highway for nearly two miles until it submerges into Robertson Tunnel. The highway enters the Portland city limits near the Sylvan neighborhood, where it is also joined by Oregon Route 8; east of here the highway descends a steep grade through a canyon which penetrates Portland's West Hills; this stretch of the Sunset is coincident with

Canyon Road Canyon Road (formerly known as Great Plank Road) is a major road and partial state highway, which serves as a connector between Beaverton and Portland, Oregon, United States. It was the first major road constructed between the Tualatin Valle ...

. The highway skirts the southern edge of Portland's Washington Park, providing access to the Oregon Zoo and other attractions. At the bottom of the grade, the highway passes through the Vista Ridge Tunnel into downtown Portland. Immediately east of the tunnel is an interchange with I-405; this interchange is the end of the Sunset Highway. In Portland, the route overlaps Interstate 405 (

Stadium Freeway No. 61 Interstate 405 (I-405), also known as the Stadium Freeway No. 61, is a short north–south Interstate Highway in Portland, Oregon. It forms a loop that travels around the west side of Downtown Portland, between two junctions with I-5 on the Wi ...

) for a short distance before exiting onto city streets, including Arthur Street, to reach the Ross Island Bridge. (Prior to 2005, US 26 ran through downtown Portland on the one-way couplet of Market and Clay Streets, which carry the Sunset Highway to its end at Naito Parkway ( Pacific Highway West No. 1W), turning south there to reach the bridge.) US 26 leaves the bridge, which is at the beginning of the Mount Hood Highway No. 26, and follows Powell Boulevard, a surface street, to Gresham. There were plans to construct a freeway alignment of US 26—the Mount Hood Freeway—to bypass Powell Boulevard; however this project was canceled as a result of the freeway revolts in the 1970s. A few ramp stubs from Interstate 5 (on the Marquam Bridge) stand as evidence of this project. Roadway connections between the Portland freeway network and

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 Portlan ...

remain a big problem, as there is no good direct highway connection. An expressway begins near Gresham and carries US 26 southeast to near

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

. From Sandy to 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 ...

and Bennett Pass, where US 26 intersects Oregon Route 35, it closely follows the historic Barlow Road through the Mount Hood Corridor, and is part of the

Mount Hood Scenic Byway Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

. The Mount Hood Highway branches off to the north along OR 35, and the Warm Springs Highway No. 53 carries US 26 southeast through Wapinitia Pass (where it crosses the Pacific Crest Trail), Blue Box Pass, the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, and Agency Plains to

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. After a short overlap with US 97 ( The Dalles-California Highway No. 4), the short Madras-Prineville Highway No. 360 continues southeast to a junction with

OR 126 Oregon OR 126 (OR 126) is a state highway that connects coastal, western, and central parts of the U.S. state of Oregon. A short freeway section of OR 126 in Eugene and Springfield is concurrent with Interstate 105 (I-105). Route d ...

in Prineville. At that junction, US 26 picks up the Ochoco Highway No. 41, which also follows OR 126 west to US 97 in Redmond. The Ochoco Highway ends at

OR 19 John Day Highway No. 5 is a highway in eastern Oregon. It comprises Oregon Route 19 (OR 19) and U.S. Route 26 (US 26), as well as short segments of OR 206, OR 207, and US 395. Route description The John Day Highway b ...

near Dayville, from which US 26 follows the

through John Day to US 20 in

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

. The remainder of US 26 in Oregon overlaps US 20 on the

Central Oregon Highway No. 7 U.S. Route 20 (US 20) is a major west–east cross-state highway in the northern part of the U.S. state of Oregon, especially east of the Cascade Mountains. It connects U.S. Route 101 in Newport on the central Oregon Coast to the Idaho st ...

to the Idaho state line.

History

An ancient trail passed through the section of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation as part of an extensive Indian trade network linking peoples of the northern

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

and Columbia Plateau to those living west of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

Obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

bear grass ''Xerophyllum tenax'' is a North American species of plants in the corn lily family. It is known by several common names, including bear grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass. Ecology ''Xerophyllum tenax'' has flowers with si ...

, and slaves were transported over these trails to major trading locations along the Columbia River in exchange for dried

salmon Salmon () is the common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...

smelt Smelt may refer to: * Smelting, chemical process * The common name of various fish: ** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae ** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni'' ** Big-scale sand smelt ''A ...

, sturgeon, and decorative sea shells. The long established route was later used by

Peter Skene Ogden Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene, Skein, or Skeen; baptised 12 February 1790 – 27 September 1854) was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States. During his many expedi ...

's fur trapping expeditions in 1825 and 1826. Fur trader Nathaniel Wyeth was here in the 1830s. Captain John C. Frémont followed this route on his 1843 explorations for the United States and Lieutenant Henry Larcom Abbot headed a

Pacific Railroad The Pacific Railroad (not to be confused with Union Pacific Railroad) was a railroad based in Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The Pacific was chartered by Missouri in 1849 ...

survey party along it in 1855. The Sunset Highway portion was under construction by January 1933.Alexander, Paul. Highways, roads played vital role. '' The Hillsboro Argus'', October 19, 1976. Both the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...

and the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part o ...

participated in the construction during the Great Depression. Portions of highway officially opened to the public on September 19, 1941. In 1949, the highway was completed. The highway was originally named the Wolf Creek Highway after a nearby creek of the same name. The Oregon State Highway Commission renamed it the Sunset Highway at their January 17, 1946 meeting by a unanimous vote. The name is drawn from both the nickname and insignia of the 41st Infantry Division, which was largely drawn from Oregon, and because the highway leads towards the setting sun. In the 1960s, Powell Boulevard in Portland was proposed as the corridor of the Mount Hood Freeway, which would have replaced US 26. It was cancelled in 1974 following a highway revolt. The state and county government later considered moving US 26 to Division Street between I-205 and Gresham to improve freeway access. The cancelled freeway included plans to bypass Sandy, which were later revived in the 2000s and 2010s to address congestion issues in the area. US 26 formerly terminated at a junction with US 30 in Astoria, sharing an alignment with US 101 north of Cannon Beach. The highway was truncated by the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction throughout the United ...

in 2005 following a request from the Oregon Department of Transportation. In 2020, US 26 was designated POW/MIA Memorial Highway by the state legislature following a request from the

Bend Heroes Foundation Bend may refer to: Materials * Bend, a curvature in a pipe, tube, or pipeline (see Bend radius) * Bend knot, a knot used to tie two ropes together; see List of bend knots * Bending, the deformation of an object due to an applied load Music Mu ...

and Oregon Veterans Motorcycle Association.

Major intersections

References

External links