Southbound traffic congests Interstate 5, just north of the I-5 southbound closures through the Rose Quarter for five weeks, on the first full day of closures in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 12, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
The Portland metro’s area first commute during “carmageddon” went off largely without a hitch Monday, although drivers should still expect delays for the foreseeable future.
As the first part of a multi-year project, the Oregon Department of Transportation closed all southbound lanes of Interstate 5 through Portland’s Rose Quarter for the next five weeks. The project will replace the road’s concrete surface for the first time since 1985.
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Officials had warned the closure could lead to significant traffic delays for those commuting south into Portland. But apart from some congestion on the interstate, traffic levels remained mostly normal, ODOT spokesperson Rose Gerber said Monday morning.
“Day to day, it’ll depend on how people make those choices and what we see on the road will be reflective of that,” Gerber said. “I think we can hopefully continue to see traffic volume staying in a moderate place during the closure.”
Gerber said Monday’s morning commute is hopefully a sign that more drivers are working from home, taking public transit or carpooling to work.
But Gerber said drivers should not expect Monday’s traffic to be the norm during the closure. Traffic could easily spike on days when more hybrid workers head to the office.
“That’s where we want to just remind folks to not get too comfortable,” she said. “When you see the open road, it is tempting to just decide that the traffic might be not so bad. But it’s because folks have not been going about their business as normal.”
She said commutes during the closure could still possibly take three times longer, although that estimate represents a worst-case scenario.
There are no exact figures yet for the number of drivers that took I-5 on Monday. On Saturday, data showed a drop in volume of around 10% overall on I-405, I-205, I-84 and I-5, compared to the last four Saturdays.
“We know that that will not last through the week as we get back to our daily commutes and school trips, but we do know that we can see that messaging is working,” Gerber said.
Drivers can check real-time routing conditions via websites like TripCheck and www.i5RoseQuarter.org.
