This 60th ave on-ramp is definetely a speed trap. I got a ticket there in June 2011. I saw the lights flash taking my picture. I was going on the freeway so couldn't stop. got off at 68th and returned, pulled up behind the van and said to the cop, "That's pretty slick, with a photo radar on the onramp" He pointed to the right and said what do you see? I said "houses", he said "this is a residential neighborhood". But it was still the freeway on-ramp. Freeway on-ramp speed limits are 40 mph but the residential street is 25 mph. There is not a speed limit sign on the freeway from the on-ramp until you see the overpass at 68th then it says 55 mph. What are you supposed to do, drive 25 until you hit 68th st.? You have to speed up to get on the freeway so they know this and ticket you. Real sneaky,

It is more than a trap IT IS ILLEGAL The 25 mph speed limit is illegally posted but I do not know if the City of Portland is aware of this. Here are the facts: The average daily traffic volume on Willow just east of 60th is appx. 6000 vehicles. About 5750 of these vehicles enter the on-ramp. The definition of an arterial according to the Oregon Vehicle Code is "a highway that is used primarily by through traffic" The definition of a highway is "every public way, road, street, thoroughfare and place, including bridges, viaducts and other structures within the boundaries of this state, open, used or intended for use of the general public for vehicles or vehicular traffic as a matter of right" THEREFORE, Willow between 60th and the on-ramp is an "arterial" (95% of the traffic on Willow is through traffic) regardless of what the City wants to call it. It functions as an arterial and should be classified as an arterial. Having said that, the vehicle code also says that the statutory speed limit in a residential district is 25 mph if the highway is not an arterial highway. And, since this road is an arterial based on the vehicle code's own definition of an arterial, then the City may not legally enforce the posted 25 mph speed limit without an engineering investigation which they do not have because they quote the statutory speed limit law of a residence district when justifying the posted 25 mph limit. By the way the Oregon Transportation Map that shows functional classification of the roads does not even show the on ramp at Willow. Bottom line, this road quacks like an arterial, walks like an arterial, and functions like an arterial, therefore it must be an arterial. Shame on Portland for not following the Laws printed in the Oregon Vehicle Code. The argument of the on-ramp alone is not enough in this case. I hope that everyone will use this argument when they challenge these tickets in court.

Article on this site published in the Portland Oregonian submitted by Joel Lillengreen Freeway entrance or neighborhood street? Published: Friday, October 21, 2011 By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian In the past year, Portland police have issued 4,906 photo radar tickets on the strip of pavement connecting Northeast 60th Avenue to I-84 eastbound. Many motorists mistake the poorly designed residential street as all on-ramp. It's not. Suffer from tunnel vision and heavy-foot-pedal-to-metal-it is? Here's some auspicious advice for the road: Avoid turning off Northeast Portland's 60th Avenue to get onto Interstate 84. You'll be chum in the water for the Great White photo-radar van that police like to park there. In the past year, 21 percent of Portland's 23,269 photo-radar citations were born in a flash on the strip of pavement leading directly from 60th to the eastbound freeway. That's no typo: 12 months. 4,906 tickets [at about $200 a ticket that's about $1 Million a year!!, comment mine]. One freakish spot. Judy Kovaric, 64-year-old Vancouver woman who insists she never "goes speeding through neighborhoods," was surprised when one of those tickets arrived in the mail. "I couldn't even figure out where it was taken." After a closer look at the accompanying photos, Kovaric realized she was clocked going 41 mph on an I-84 on-ramp. Or at least she thought it was a freeway ramp at the time. Actually, it's a residential street -- Willow Street -- for one block before it turns into a highway ramp. Speed limit: 25 mph. Turning off 60th Avenue, where big blue signs point the way to the Banfield, motorists find themselves on what appears to be a one-way launching pad to the highway. A concrete wall on the left leads to 84. Kovaric was looking ahead, "accelerating to prepare to merge at near-highway speed." But like many motorists, she didn't notice the houses with big front porches on the right side of the street. Or the "Speed 25" signs. Or the large white 25's on the blacktop. Willow Street -- or at least this odd, blurry block -- is a testament to how sloppy traffic engineering can haunt motorists and neighborhoods for eons. Residents call it a "drag strip." One woman carving pumpkins on her porch this week said the grassy front yard is off limits to her young kids. It's as if some 1950's bureaucrat in Salem realized at the last minute that he forgot to add a proper on-ramp to the I-84 blueprints. So, he simply sacrificed part of Willow, turned off his desk lamp and called it a day. When it comes to parking the city's photo-radar van, said Portland police Lt. Eric Schober, "we pick spots based on citizen complaints. We constantly hear from people at this location about people flying past their homes." Kovaric's speeding ticket claimed that the citations aren't a revenue generator. She's skeptical. "If the goal is to slow down unsuspecting drivers," she said, "this would be an ideal location for speed bumps." She's right. It certainly meets the city's criteria. Traffic studies show about 33 percent of the 6,100 vehicles a day headed to the mid-block freeway entrance are speeding. But it's also a designated fire truck route, where the city doesn't allow traditional speed bumps. Sure, the city has successfully tested modified "fire safe" speed bumps with wide tire slots on Northwest Cornell Road. Citing the city's shrinking transportation budget, however, officials will only say they "might reopen" a traffic-calming study of Willow Street. They insist there's ample distance to accelerate and merge onto I-84 from a stopped position at the ramp meter at the freeway entrance. So, for now, they'll just keep sending out tickets. A solution worthy of the theme from "Jaws." -- Joseph Rose I'm going to court on 1/25/2012 to challenge my citation. There's a lot of people quite upset about this Willow Street senario. jl