NEWBERG, Ore. — The intersection of North Main Street and East Illinois Street reopened to vehicle traffic Tuesday after the Newberg City Council voted to end a trial closure that had been in place since September 2025.
City of Newberg Public Works staff removed the traffic bollards that closed the intersection to vehicles Tuesday afternoon, and the intersection is open now. Reader boards and dead-end signage installed during the closure period will also come down, and navigation apps including Google Maps, Waze, and Apple Maps will be updated to reflect the change, though the city said updates to those third-party services may take time to appear.
The intersection, where North Main Street, East Illinois Street and West Illinois Street/Highway 240 converge, has drawn community complaints over traffic flow for years. Highway 240, maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation, creates a near-blind corner where vehicles merge onto Main Street, contributing to multiple near-miss incidents over the years, according to the city.
Concerns about the intersection date back to at least 2023, and the city considered a full traffic engineering study before opting instead for the trial closure. City Manager Will Worthey said last year that widening the intersection would have required purchasing and demolishing at least two nearby homes, at an estimated cost of $1.1 million, and that a traffic light or roundabout would have required a lengthy coordination process with ODOT.
“The intersection should have never been built like this,” Worthey said in August 2025, when the closure was first announced. “There is just not enough space for this many roadways to connect, especially coming off a highway.”
A city-run open house in January 2025 found 78% of survey respondents favored closing the intersection, and the Newberg City Council approved the closure on April 7, 2025. The trial closure took effect Sept. 15, 2025, cutting through access to E Illinois Street from N Main Street.
According to the July 7 news release, the city opted for the lower-cost trial closure rather than commit nearly $250,000 to a full traffic engineering study. After reviewing feedback collected during the roughly 10-month trial period, the council determined the closure had not led to a significant improvement in the overall traffic situation and voted to reopen the intersection to vehicle traffic.
The council has directed the city’s Traffic Safety Commission to explore other traffic calming measures for the intersection. Residents interested in weighing in may submit public comment or attend the commission’s next meeting, set for July 13 at 6 p.m. at the Newberg Public Safety Building. Location, agenda and virtual attendance details are available at newbergoregon.gov.
