Valley and intersects OR 201 (co-signed with US 30 Business) in the northern outskirts of Ontario. The freeway continues along the Snake River, bypassing downtown Ontario to the north, and reaches an interchange with Idaho Avenue, where US 30 splits to cross into Fruitland, Idaho. I-84 travels south and passes Ontario's northbound welcome center, which receives up to 55,000 visitors annually, before crossing the Snake River into Idaho west of Fruitland. Within Idaho, I-84 travels east into the Treasure Valley (including Boise) and Magic Valley before continuing on towards Salt Lake City, Utah. History The Columbia River Gorge and overland crossing between The Dalles and Idaho were originally part of the Oregon Trail during the 19th century. The gorge itself was traversed via boat until the construction of a wagon road in the 1870s that was upgraded to a water-level route that opened in 1882. The wagon roads were replaced by the Columbia River Highway, built from 1913 to 1922 and paved with asphaltic concrete. The gorge road was incorporated into a longer highway from Astoria to Pendleton designated as Columbia River Highway No. 2 in 1917 as part of Oregon's first state highway system. The new system also included Old Oregon Trail Highway No. 6, which followed the historic Oregon Trail from Pendleton to Ontario on the Idaho state border, passing through La Grande and Baker City. The two highways were signed as US 30 under the national numbered highway system, approved in 1926 by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). Improvements to the Columbia River Highway and Old Oregon Trail Highway had been planned since the early 1930s, primarily centered on a straighter alignment along the river, but World War II delayed further development until 1948. After the state legislature authorized construction of controlled-access highways in 1947, the Columbia River Highway was targeted for major rebuilding to grade-separated standards. The Oregon State Highway Division started rebuilding parts of the highway segment by segment beginning in 1948 as bond funding became available, and completed the "water level" route in 1954. One of the segments completed in the early 1950s was the Banfield Expressway in Portland. After the passing of the Federal Interstate and Defense Highways Act in 1956, US 30 was scheduled to be superseded by a new freeway, on an alignment closer to the river on flat terrain. The segment between Portland and The Dalles was