The tragedy that is highway 217

Highway 217 (217) seems to be undergoing a never-ending self-improvement journey, with orange cones spread far and a middle lane that moves faster than the left lane. 217 is a 7-mile long highway connecting Kruse Way to Barnes Road with 8 exits between, which many Catlin students drive frequently.

217 has been under construction since December 2021, with major improvements having been made since. The goal of the construction project is to add auxiliary lanes, ramp to ramp co between the Allen Blvd. and Denny Rd. exits and widen the entire road to three lanes.

The project began because traffic coordinators wanted to reduce bottlenecks, a smaller section of a road that impedes traffic, and improve flow, a result that will hopefully occur with the completion of the construction. In addition to auxiliary lanes, coordinators want to improve the overpasses that flow across the road and walls on either side to accommodate new space. However, in the meantime, the highway is undergoing significant changes, hindering driving and increasing drive times.

Many students at Catlin Gabel School (CGS) have to drive on 217 to arrive in the morning, and with the long drive times and difficult merges, it can be quite perilous. Senior Paul Maslen was once driving on 217 with family and saw a car driving in the opposite direction down his side of the road.

Luna Flores ‘26, when asked about the craziest experience she has had on the highway, said, “I think my crazy story would just be my… everyday experience on 217.” She explains how every day there is traffic in new spots or longer drive times than the day before, making the entire ordeal quite unpleasant.

To find out more, I sent out a survey to students at CGS asking questions about the highway and drive times. From the responses, students who use the highway, in general, drive it anywhere between 1 - 7 times a week, with 6 -7 times per week being the most common.

When asked how long the drive to school normally takes if the student drove down 217, the most common answer, with 23.5% of the votes, was over 40 minutes. Flores, who lives in Lake Oswego, gave an average drive time of 30-35 minutes, which seems to be the average time it would take to drive the length of the highway, instead of getting on at different exits.

Maslen drives on 217 about 10 times a week, twice a day as he goes to and from school, and the drive normally takes him 15-20 minutes. He mentions the first merge when going from Barnes Road to 217 is the worst because “my vision is obscured by the pillars under the bridge, and people don't tend to be going slow enough to allow for easy merging.” Other cars speed up so much making it difficult to merge between them, and people get cut off fairly frequently.

*Graph of survey data from the CGS community*

Junior Tia Bailey ‘26 drives on Highway 217 to school most days, and, for a math project, recorded her drive times from her house to school for 12 consecutive days. Over those days, the average drive time was 33.25 minutes, with the highest being 44 minutes and the lowest being 21 minutes. With no traffic, the drive to school should be much shorter, but Bailey’s average demonstrates how consistent blockages are on the road.

When driving the highway from Kruse to Barnes with no traffic, the drive should only take about 10-15 minutes. In addition to the number of cars, the construction, and constant lane changes also do not help the flow, as many times there are sharp lane cut-offs or orange cones blocking exit ramps, causing forced zipper merges, which inhibit the flow.

Flores drives on 217 about 5 times a week and has many complaints about the constant construction. She said the construction is “the cause for most of the traffic” as there are only 2 lanes and “they decide to start doing the construction at very interesting times usually when there's already like a heavy flow of traffic.”

The construction of 217 is supposed to be completed by the end of 2025, a deadline that has been moved back multiple times and is now slowly approaching. Students at Catlin are consistently meeting their deadlines, so why can’t Highway 217? Hopefully, this construction deadline will come to a close soon, leaving the road free of orange cones and confusing lane changes, leaving shorter drive times and a more relaxed driving experience.