Portland - Narrow and Very Scary Freeways?

[Discovery1]

Originally Posted by thedownlow

Portland. The freeways built for the population 20 years ago.

Does it mean it's going to be a parking lot in the next 20 years ?

[Nell Plotts]

The high number of semis is the result of Hanjin leaving the Port of Portland recently. Traffic on I-5 has just gotten worse.

[thedownlow]

Originally Posted by Discovery1

Does it mean it's going to be a parking lot in the next 20 years ?

Its already a parking lot. And to top it all off people can't drive here.

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by thedownlow

Its already a parking lot. And to top it all off people can't drive here.

How can people not drive here? I drive all the time... Traffic is bad at rush hour on the freeways but if you're driving in Portland itself and know how to take the right surface streets than it's really not that bad here(especially if one has lived in a bigger city with worse traffic problems). The really bad traffic is for people who can only commute from Vancouver or into Washington County right at rush hour(leaving a little early can make all the difference). But I've driven to Hillsboro or Clark County in the middle of the day and it's often smooth sailing.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland

How can people not drive here?

I think thedownlow's point was that people are bad drivers. Which I think in many ways is just a sign of the times and also a function of the increasing congestion.

As conditions worsen the perceived rewards for breaking the law or being inconsiderate increase. I was stuck in I-5 traffic over the weekend, completely stop and go, and a pack of motorcycles come flying by along the breakdown lane. A stretch that took me 30 minutes to go 5 miles they probably got through in 8-10.

I see it coming down the hill on 26 fairly often - the middle lane is moving while the 405 merge lanes are stopped. Inevitably some driver will fly all the way down the hill and then, in the tunnel (where it's striped and signed for no lane changes) will want to get over having bypassed 1-2 miles of backup. Illegal? Yes. @ssholish? Yes. Are the cops going to do anything about it? No.

There's a perceived reward for driving like a jerk.

[ajams22]

Originally Posted by jjpop

I really dislike trying to get from northbound I-5 to I-84 on the top deck. One time a guy just started merging into my lane without even looking (no blinker, of course). I think we tapped fenders at 50 mph. And the height of the bridge walls is only like 4 feet. It feels like it's a launching pad into the Willamette.

That's probably one of my least favorite ways through Portland. I've been cutoff by semis so many times trying to get to the I-84 exit, and had to do the same my first couple times driving through Portland.

I-84 always felt small, at least in that small stretch after you get off I-5 and going by the Lloyd District. But maybe that's just the stimulation of going 60 by all the cars going the opposite directions and support columns for the overpasses

[pdxMIKEpdx]

How can people not drive here? I drive all the time... Traffic is bad at rush
hour on the freeways but if you're driving in Portland itself and know how to
take the right surface streets than it's really not that bad here(especially if
one has lived in a bigger city with worse traffic problems). The really bad
traffic is for people who can only commute from Vancouver or into Washington
County right at rush hour(leaving a little early can make all the difference).
But I've driven to Hillsboro or Clark County in the middle of the day and it's
often smooth sailing.

I think you're right.
I have the same experiences.
It's before 9 am and after 3:30 pm that the traffic is horrible.
During the middle of the day, it's not too bad.

But people commuting only see the bad stuff, and think it's like that all the time.

[PNW-type-gal]

Triple trailers don't help, particularly when the last trailer is lightly loaded and literally bouncing around in the lane.

[CanuckInPortland]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

I think you're right.
I have the same experiences.
It's before 9 am and after 3:30 pm that the traffic is horrible.
During the middle of the day, it's not too bad.

But people commuting only see the bad stuff, and think it's like that all the time.

I think traffic can be bad here and the infrastructure is fairly fragile. It just takes one accident or gridlock on I-84 or 205 to spill off into and back up NE Sandy Blvd near my house. And I think Portland could realistically use another freeway or two somewhere in the metro to handle all the growth throughout the whole region(and to reflect that areas like Washington County are a lot bigger in terms of jobs and population these days).

But I don't see new highways coming anytime soon(due to some reluctance, cost, and difficulty in where you could build) and you're always kind of going to have chokepoints like 26 going through the West Hills or the Columbia River. Though as bad as it is some time, I'd say that most of the time I need to get somewhere outside of rush hour, it's not usually that bad, I mean I drive to Beaverton on the weekend from NE Portland and it's usually fine. Though I always check I-84 or I-5 for traffic even on the weekends before I get on it for the possibility of an accident or other traffic.

[sloyd]

another transplant winning about Portland...