Historic US Highway ends
in Eugene/Springfield OR
Highway
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Approx. time period
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US
28
|
1937-1952
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US
126
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1952-1972
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Photos and map scans on this page are courtesy of Chris
Elbert and Mike
Wiley. Originally US 28 extended all the way west to US 101 at
Florence. For some reason it was truncated to Eugene in 1937. At that
point, its west end was at the intersection shown below:
Elbert
That's looking west on Main Street Springfield (also known as the
McKenzie Highway, which today is signed as a business loop for Oregon
hwy. 126). Originally southbound US 99 was left on Franklin Boulevard
south, and ahead on Franklin west was northbound US 99 - so US 28
ended here. In 1952, US 28 was replaced by an extended US 26 and a
then-new US 126. So this junction also served as the west end of US
126 - but for only a couple years. In 1954 a new freeway was built
through here - it would later become a segment of I-5. It runs on the
far side of the U-Haul building shown above, and essentially
functions as a cut-off to this corner of Franklin. So when US 99
traffic was routed onto the freeway, the US 126 designation was
extended ahead about a mile, to its new junction with US 99. That
point is shown below:
Wiley
This is looking west on Franklin, just past where I-5 crosses.
Coming in from the right is traffic exiting from northbound I-5 (via
exit 192). That also used to be northbound US 99, which continued
straight ahead, so US 126 ended at this merge. Interestingly -
because this interchange provided only partial access to the freeway
- US 126 also had to be extended south along former US 99 (Franklin
Blvd. south) to exit 189. In other words, it had a split terminus.
More on that below... but first, heading the opposite direction
(east) on Franklin:
Wiley
That's heading out of Eugene towards Springfield on Franklin.
Traffic following US 99 (today's OR hwy. 99) was routed south from
here on I-5, to the right. The photo below shows the actual
split:
Elbert
The left fork is now Business OR 126 - but, from 1954 to 1972,
that used to be the west beginning of US 126. Prior to 1954, there
was no freeway here, so US 99 traffic was directed further along the
left fork (Franklin) for another mile, to the point shown below:
Elbert
Here, Franklin goes right, and southbound US 99 used to go right
as well. Ahead (via the cool old bridge over the Willamette River)
was the west beginning of US 28 from 1937-1952, and the west
beginning of US 126 from 1952-1954. The signage at right is shown
close-up below:
Elbert
As I've said: after the freeway was built in 1954, Franklin Blvd.
south became a spur of US 126, in order to provide a connection from
westbound US 126 to southbound US 99, and from northbound 99 to
eastbound 126. The 1970 Gousha/Texaco map below illustrates that
situation:
Wiley
If you head south on Franklin about 1.5 miles, you come to this
signage near interchange 189:
Elbert
That would've marked the south end of the US 126 spur. Here's a
view heading the opposite direction:
Elbert
That's looking north on what is now I-5, but used to be US 99.
Spur 126 exited here and went north via Franklin (old 99). Here's
what you see after exiting:
South Eugene is to the left via 30th Street; Franklin is straight
ahead. That was originally US 99, and later Spur 126. In about 1.5
miles that reaches the "T" junction with Main:
Elbert
The sign pointing left (in the background) says "Franklin Blvd /
Eugene downtown". Originally this was northbound US 99, which turned
left here. Right was the beginning of US 28, and later the beginning
of US 126. After 1954, this was the north end of Spur 126; mainline
126 continued left for another mile to the new US 99. That remained
the case until 1972, when US 126 was decommissioned. Now this segment
of Franklin is unsigned OR 225.
Page created 17 September 2004; last updated 30
December 2004.
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