ODOT is beginning a comprehensive update to the Oregon Highway Plan (OHP). The new OHP will not just be about highways, but rather about all that happens on roadways, how the modes interact, and how to prioritize investments and make decisions about the full system.
The new OHP will help implement the goals and strategies of the 2023 Oregon Transportation Plan (OTP) as they apply to the roadway system. Expect a system user-focused plan with an emphasis on climate, equity, and safety, and a major effort to meet current and anticipated needs of the OHP such as how to update the old mobility policy and how to reflect and support new initiatives such as Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities.
There will be a variety of opportunities to participate and help make sure the new OHP reflects your community's priorities too. The update project is just beginning. To follow the project, you can sign up for email updates and project announcements at the link on the right, but do not expect much news until after the project gets rolling later this year. See below for a very general project schedule.
The OHP has been amended many times but has not been updated since it was adopted in 1999. The OHP is now the oldest of the statewide transportation plans. It has good ideas and was ahead of its time. The OHP helped set the state on the path to a multimodal system considering sustainability, fairness, and relationships to land use. However, other high priorities of today are not reflected. For example, climate change is not discussed, equity is not a clear focus of the plan, and the mobility policy is too narrow. The new OHP will seek to address these issues.
The OHP is important because it lays out priorities and frameworks for decisions about what to invest in and where to improve our roadways for all modes. ODOT uses it as a guide to investing and managing the highway system. Cities and counties look at the OHP goals and policies when they update their local transportation plans and make their decisions about investments. Engineers and planners use it when they are figuring out how its guidance and targets applies to their local projects and priorities. All this means the OHP will help shape how your community continues to develop its transportation system.
ODOT will begin by looking at recent local plans and goals and how they are implementing other state goals related to transportation and will talk to many people to develop the OHP. The resulting plan must serve the whole state for up to 25 years.
Since the OHP is a technical reference for transportation professionals, expect there to be several knowledgeable topic work groups to flesh out some aspects of the plan. There will be a policy advisory committee to help integrate the work group ideas and public feedback into OHP contents. Public involvement is beginning with ODOT staff conducting selected interviews and talking to certain groups to hear about what they need from the new plan. One of the first project tasks later this year will be to develop a detailed public involvement plan; when more information is available it will be posted here.
Here is the anticipated general timeline for developing the new OHP:
View the timeline as an accessible PDF.![]()