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Old 03-10-2015, 10:07 AM
 
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The 105 I-5 Express gets you close
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Old 03-10-2015, 10:46 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nell Plotts View Post
Ultimately the only way to relieve congestion on I-5 through Portland is to have more commuters travel by light rail. Clark County residents are vehemently against this - even opposing providing for light rail on the I-205 bridge so, I guess, they will have to live with the backups.
The issue can't just be commuters - the bridge can backup to a near standstill on weekends as well (as can 26 and many of the other traffic hotspots) when workforce commuting is negligible.

Imo the real issue is that I-5 and 205 are the only two river crossings, so these are really the only 2 viable options for local, regional, and through-traffic, and the airport. It's not like local traffic can just cross the bridge at Portland St. to downtown Vancouver, or on the east side from say, Wood Village to Camas [since those bridges don't exist].

A trip up or down I-5 these days will highlight that just the thru-traffic load by itself can be pretty heavy. But cracking that nut is a challenge. Even a westside bypass (connecting 217 to 30 via the Cornelius Pass) would just shift congestion away from downtown to the westside, which has its own congestion issues in spots already, and at best buys you time at huge expense.

Locally, making a local bridge at least to Jantzen would help a bit, not just in the flat number of cars it takes off the road, but the impact that merging has on flow efficiency, but you'd likely have to make improvements in the local roads to make that work as well. Columbia has capacity, but a lot of the north-south routes to the river are either poorly designed and/or not particularly speedy.

I'd love to see an alternative to the 205 bridge on the east side, since that's at least "easier" and cheaper than dealing with the I-5 problem or a west side bypass, though it doesn't address the fact that the I-5 crossing is worse.
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