Pendleton Seeks Answers To 395/I-84 Traffic

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By Kyle Trompeter

Summary

Slow Traffic and Long Lights Need to be Fixed at Exit 209

Story Published: Dec 10, 2009 at 6:38 PM PST

PENDLETON - "We have issues with this intersection. We are dealing with issues right now during peak hour traffic where we are backing up at this intersection multiple blocks down to the train," said Public Works Director Bob Patterson.

That backup is right here on Emigrant. It's even busy during the early afternoon. The location is right next to the I-84 and 395 exchange where driving can be a bit dicey.

"We have a lot of conflict points. You have one, two, three, four, five actual streets and got a whole bunch of driveways between there and who knows what else," said City Planner Evan MacKenzie.

The main problem areas are the on and off ramps at exit 209.

"This is the eastbound off ramp into town. To make a left turn to go downtown, we've had problems in the past with vehicles stacking," said Patterson.

So we've identified the issues. What are the solutions? The city has a couple they are thinking about. One is to move the on and off ramps a couple of hundred yards west on 84 - away from 395.

"We could also look at some of the streets here and some of the major conflict points with the local streets. We might relocate those are change where they cross the other streets," said MacKenzie.

That would mean Emigrant and Frazier might not intersect so close to the exchange and free up this bottleneck for drivers.