page_title: Oregon Route 18
section_title: Route description
hierarchical_section_title: Oregon Route 18 / Route description
caption_attribution_description: English: Oregon Route 18 near McMinnville, Oregon, USA.
context_page_description: Oregon Route 18 is a state highway that runs between the Oregon Coast, near Lincoln City and Newberg. OR 18 traverses the Salmon River Highway No. 39 of the Oregon state highway system, named after the river alongside its westernmost segments.
context_section_description: OR 18 begins (at its western terminus) at a junction with U.S. Route 101, a few miles north of Lincoln City near Otis Junction.  From there it winds eastward though the coast range along the Salmon River, past Rose Lodge and through a stand of timber known as the Van Duzer Corridor.  Emerging from the coast range, it enters the fringes of the Willamette Valley in the community of Grand Ronde.  It is briefly joined by Oregon Route 22 at a location known as Valley Junction, and overlaps OR 22 in a four-mile (6 km) stretch between Grand Ronde and Willamina, at which point OR 22 heads southeast towards Salem and OR 18 continues northeast towards the Portland area.  Also in Willamina, a business route veers off to the north to serve the cities of Willamina and Sheridan; east of Sheridan the business route rejoins the mainline.  This business loop was the former route and highway until 1957, when the current Oregon Route 18 was built as a bypass.
  The highway continues northeast on a straight and level course through Willamette Valley farmland, including the community of Bellevue which intersects with Oregon Route 153, until it intersects with Oregon Route 99W just south of McMinnville.  In the McMinnville area, OR 99W serves as the primary business route (entering the downtown core) whereas OR 18 is a bypass route.  Two interchanges along OR 18 provide access to McMinnville, including Three-Mile Lane, a spur of the highway.  Oregon Route 18 provides direct access to the McMinnville Airport and the Evergreen Aviation Museum, home of the Spruce Goose.  East of McMinnville, Oregon Route 18 intersects Oregon Route 233, with which it overlaps until its eastern terminus, and Oregon Route 221; the latter near the city of Dayton. It then crosses over the Yamhill River to a second junction with OR 99W. OR 18 then follows OR 99W to Dundee, and follows the Newberg-Dundee bypass and terminates at a junction with OR 219. Typically, commuters continue north on OR 99W into the Portland area.
  The highway is rather variant in its configuration.  For most of its length, the highway is a two-lane undivided highway, with intersections and cross traffic.  There are some limited-access stretches in the "bypass" sections (around the Willamina/Sheridan area, and near McMinnville and Dayton), and the occasional interchange in these stretches.  In addition, there is a stretch between Willamina and Sheridan where the highway becomes a 4-lane divided expressway.
  For several years, Route 18 has had a rather notorious reputation among motorists in Oregon, with a relatively high number of fatal accidents.  The opening of two casinos, one in Grand Ronde and one in Lincoln City, have greatly increased traffic on OR 18. (In addition, the stretch of Oregon Route 99W immediately north of Dayton, through Dundee and Newberg, is a notorious traffic bottleneck.)  Portions of Oregon Route 18 have been designated a safety corridor.
  There are two proposed expansions to the highway.  One is a project which would widen Oregon Route 18 to a four-lane expressway in the stretch between Grand Ronde and Willamina; an area where increased volume (largely due to the casino) has caused significant delays. This project is now completed with an overpass that closed down and blocked off a very fatal intersection.
  The second project, also now completed, is a new bypass around the Newberg-Dundee area intended to alleviate severe congestion that occurred along 99W. The Newberg-Dundee bypass is an expressway, numbered Oregon Route 18. Construction on the first 4-mile (6.4 km) phase began in June 2013, and the section opened at 5am on January 6, 2018. This section connects Oregon 219 south of Newberg to 99W west of Dundee. The entire 11-mile (18 km) bypass was expected to cost $262 million. It has four lanes and reconnects to 99W east of Newberg.
caption: Oregon 18 approaching McMinnville
exif: {"Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX K200D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "K200D Ver 1.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:27 15:35:56", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "598", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 33, 0, 1, 0, 22, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "54408", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6029", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/2000", "EXIF FNumber": "11", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:08:27 15:35:56", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:08:27 15:35:56", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "3063/100", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "54284", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "46", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Hard", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}