Draft:Capitol Highway

Capitol Highway is a highway in Portland, Oregon, that starts at the interchange of Oregon Route 10 (OR 10) and Barbur Boulevard and ends near OR 99W in Metzger. Part of the route was a previous alignment of OR 99W (then called US Highway 99W).

History
Capitol Highway was originally opened on October 22, 1916, as a main thoroughfare between Portland and the State Capitol in Salem. It followed the route of Taylor’s Ferry Road, from the present-day Capitol Hill branch of the Multnomah County Library to the Tualatin River in Portland.

In March 1912 the first mile and a half of the Capitol Highway from Salem had been constructed by forty-eight convicts, supervised by George F. Rogers, chairman of the Capitol Highway Commission. Thirty of the convicts secured rock from a quarry south of Salem, and the other eighteen convicts constructed the roadway on top of a gravel foundation, "with a first course of tough rock, a second course of finer stone and a top course ot screenings, sprinkled and rolled down hard. The cost of the rock, counting labor and material, is 60 cents a yard at the quarry."

A 1914 news photo featured "...Goodrich road signs near Bertha, along the Capitol Highway, between Portland and Salem on the west side of the Willamette river", under the banner, "Well-marked Highways as Big Assets to State as Roads Themselves".

Route description
Capitol Highway begins at an interchange with Barbur Boulevard and OR 10. Capitol Highway continues signed as OR 10 until an interchange with Bertha Boulevard and Beaverton Hillsdale Highway, where it splits and continues west. Capitol Highway then continues south until it intersects with I-5 and Barbur Boulevard, after which it turns southwest, then west. After intersecting with Lesser Road, Capitol Highway continues for a short distance until it intersects with 60th and 61st Avenues, where the route ends.