{
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  "description": "A rare I-5 shutdown in Southwest Portland — for a bridge demolition project — offered an unusual chance to photograph a completely empty urban freeway, a sight that typically only appears during a global pandemic or a scene from The Walking Dead.",
  "path": "/an-empty-highway/",
  "publishedAt": "2024-07-01T00:42:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:z5efhtji4vfiutzqquvx3w7o/site.standard.publication/3mmwt7urfil2l",
  "tags": [
    "Personal Work"
  ],
  "textContent": "Remember those scenes of an empty road in The Walking Dead? Or the deserted streets of your city in the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic? These eerie settings rarely appear without a road closure permit or an unexpected global event.\n\nThe weekend of June 29th offered another rare chance to see this kind of quiet void: the Oregon Department of Transportation shut down both directions of Interstate 5 in Southwest Portland for a major bridge demolition and reconstruction project over Southwest 26th Avenue.\n\nA deserted Interstate 5 Freeway near South Portland on Sunday, June 30, 2024.\n\nThe Corbett Avenue overpass is among the few remaining bridges crossing Interstate 5 without tall safety fences, providing clear views of the road below. Since this section of highway wasn’t closed entirely, I waited patiently for the right moment to take a photo without any cars. I aimed my camera north toward the South Waterfront neighborhood, creating a beautiful backdrop for the empty freeway surface.\n\nStanding in the middle of Interstate 5 southbound lanes near Terwilliger Boulevard in Portland, Oregon.\n\nA few miles south on Terwilliger Boulevard, the road was now closed and guarded by construction workers, who kindly allowed me brief access to the empty stretch of highway. I stood in the middle of this normally busy road, low to the ground with my camera, capturing a rare and unusual shot.\n\nLanes are devoid of cars on Interstate 5 in Southwest Portland, curving through the city.\n\nAs I prepared to leave the deserted road, I took one last photo of the curves and lines while listening to the sounds of the city without the usual hum of engines. I look forward to my next rare photo opportunity.",
  "title": "An Empty Highway",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-29T08:08:52.000Z"
}