Hundreds of cars and trucks crowded the four lanes of Southwest Barbur Boulevard on Saturday as a total closure of 4 miles of Interstate 5 forced commuters onto detour routes.

By mid-afternoon, it took about 30 minutes to drive through the detour on Southwest Terwilliger and Barbur boulevards and back onto I-5 at the Capitol Highway overpass where the construction ended.

The closure, which started at 9 p.m Friday and will end at 5 a.m. Monday, is to allow the Oregon Department of Transportation to rebuild an overpass over Southwest 26th Avenue.

Denis Zetina, who was traveling home to California with his family after a weekslong stay in Bremerton, Washington, estimated that it took him 20 to 30 minutes to get from the Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard freeway exit to a gas station a mile away.

He said that he didn’t know about the closure until he saw the signs on the freeway but was otherwise unperturbed.

“It is what it is,” he said.

Tigard resident Trevor Looney was also impacted by the closure while trying to get gas for his car.

“I wish I would have done this yesterday,” he said at a gas station after a 25 minute long commute from an area that normally takes 15 minutes to get from. “I just need gas.”

Still, he doesn’t have any problems with how ODOT is handling the closure.

“What are their options?” he said. “If they’re gonna improve the road, it’s worth putting up with a weekend of this.”

ODOT is asking people who don’t need to travel to stay off the roads this weekend and encouraging north-south travelers to use other freeways, including interstates 205 and 84, OR 217 and U.S. 26 to get around the closure.

If you do need to travel in the area, you can go to TripCheck.com or use Waze to see live traffic conditions before you head out.

— Tanner Todd covers crime and public safety. Reach them at ttodd@oregonian.com, or 503-221-4313.