The Oregon Department of Transportation has selected as its preferred option a redesigned intersection of Highways 22 and 51 four miles west of Salem and on the way to the Oregon Coast that includes an overpass, roundabouts and access roads.
ODOT recently chose the Northwest Loop Interchange over three other options after feedback online and from in-person open houses. The preliminary cost estimate is $270 million.
The other options added traffic circles and a bridge over Highway 22.
The current intersection between Salem and Independence has an unsignaled left turn lane for westbound traffic.
The proposed interchange would make it easier for drivers traveling from Salem to Independence because they would not have turn south across two lanes of oncoming Highway 22 traffic. Instead, they would take an exit and go through two traffic circles to merge onto Highway 51 going south.
“This one is going to mirror the 99/22 interchange” four miles west, said Dallas mayor Ken Woods, who chairs the Mid-Willamette Area Commission on Transportation. “And what it does is the people going to Independence will not have to stop.”