Question about commuting... (Portland, Eugene, Salem: sales, renting, insurance) - Oregon (OR) - City-Data Forum

jennzoe · 10-26-2009, 07:24 PM

I'm interested in moving to the Portland area but my job will be in Salem. I really don't want to live in Salem-would prefer to live in SW Portland so I was wondering if there are people who commute from Portland to Salem for work and if so what traffic will be like, etc.

any advice would be great

HonuMan · 10-27-2009, 02:56 PM

One of my coworkers did this for a year at her previous job, and said that the commute was long but tolerable, but only because the job was a one-year contract. She wouldn't have wanted to do it indefinitely. Another friend of mine who got a long-term job in Salem but who owned a house in Portland, with a husband who worked in Portland, eventually ended up renting a room in Salem where she stayed during the week because the commute had become too much for her. She did that for a few years and eventually found a job in Portland.

I-5 is the main corridor between Portland and Salem, and you're often at the mercy of a wreck, a stall, or normal rush-hour traffic. If it were me, I'd live in Salem and come into Portland on the weekends for fun, because I'd be too tired after work and two long commnutes to want to do anything in Portland during the week other than crash on my couch. Then of course there would be cost of all that gasoline.

If none of that bothers you, though, I'd recommend seeing if the job offers flexible hours, and arrange a shift like 7:00 - 4:00 or even 6:00 - 3:00 so you can beat the rush-hour traffic in both directions. I live only 13 miles from my job in downtown Portland, and switching to an earlier shift cut my commute time from 45 to 30 minutes.

Leisesturm · 10-27-2009, 03:09 PM

I've lived in both places. Salem first, now Portland. I obviously have an opinion on which is the better city (for moi) in which to live. However, I am not commuting from one to the other nor could I, in good conscience, recommend doing so, for any reason. Traffic is the least of it. I know from traffic having spent most of my life in NYC. The average NY'er has a commute that is not wildly outside of the 60+ minutes that a run from PDX down to Salem would need. But! The distance being covered is in most cases ~5mi. and in a large percentage of cases being done on mass transit. Monthly cost: ~$100 - $200. Most drivers only factor in gas consumption and mileage when they compute the cost of a commute. Google has an interesting feature that I as a confirmed mass transit user find informative: any destination, say, Hillsboro to Portland computed using the mass transit calculator will give you the relative costs between automobile transit and public transit. For the Hillsboro to PDX trip public transit for one adult is $2.30 round trip (if completed in 2hrs, or each way). For auto it can run $10 - $20 each way. That of course factors in distance, car depreciation, insurance, and fuel. Google will not compute auto cost for the PDX to Salem run (I tried) but if Hillsboro to PDX is running over $10 I have to figure PDX to Salem at 3x+ that. Fine if you are going to make 50K but less so if you are going to make 30K... IMO. BTW I have made that trip many times and traffic was... traffic. Steady, but you aren't going to set any speed records so the ~50mi from PDX to Salem aren't going to be done at 1mi/min or 60mph but something less than that. And you have to steel yourself to do that 2x per workday. Don't do it. Salem, when all is said and done is liveable. Especially if there is a job for you. I have a very good friend who lives there now and has lived there for years. 'Silverfall' who posts here also lives there. Either or both of them may turn out to be a source of further info for you.

H

malachai23 · 10-27-2009, 03:49 PM

Hi there. Where in the Salem area is your job? That will make a HUGE difference in your commute time. I used to regularly drive between SW Portland (West Hills, specifically) and the north part of Keizer and it only took me 45 minutes. But of course that was not during peak traffic hours. I still make a commute every so often between Keizer and the airport and I make that in under an hour (but shhhhhhh, there is a chance I might not do the speed limit the whole way....). I used to commute daily for a job between NE Portland and Newberg and that only took me 25 minutes.

But like the other poster stated - you are at the mercy of I-5. If there is an accident or some sort of back-up (football game in Eugene or sales at the factory outlet stores in Woodburn, for example), you really don't have many other options. No direct options, anyhow. And yes, for real, I have been stuck in Civil War game traffic and holiday shopping traffic where it took me THREE HOURS to get between I-205/I-5 merge and the Salem area. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen.

That being said, I currently have two relatives who live in Salem and commute to Portland (Beaverton, actually) and they don't mind the commute at all. They work flex hours - so they don't have to be on the road with all the other commuters.

jennzoe · 10-27-2009, 04:30 PM

Thank you for all of the replies. My job would be on 27th Court SE in Salem. Not familiar with Salem so I don't know any particulars about this area. Where I live right now I travel 30 min twice a day so I''m used to driving. I prefer to work early hours and in this particular job it wouldn't be hard to start at 6:00am so would hopefully be able to beat rush hour traffic.

My main concern is the weather. How is this drive in the wintertime? Is it safe snow wise?

malachai23 · 10-27-2009, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jennzoe

Thank you for all of the replies. My job would be on 27th Court SE in Salem. Not familiar with Salem so I don't know any particulars about this area. Where I live right now I travel 30 min twice a day so I''m used to driving. I prefer to work early hours and in this particular job it wouldn't be hard to start at 6:00am so would hopefully be able to beat rush hour traffic.

My main concern is the weather. How is this drive in the wintertime? Is it safe snow wise?

ewwww - that is WAY down there. That address is about as far south as you can get before you are not in Salem anymore. That is going to add about another 1/2 hour to your commute. So, it took me 45 min from the SW Portland (West Hills) to the north part of Keizer - it would take you about another 1/2 hour from there to your job. So probably somewhere just shy of an hour and a half.

The weather would be the least of my concerns. Most of your commutes will range from overcast to drizzly to rainy. You will probably have one snowstorm per winter, which will only last for a day or two (last winter was not the norm for the Portland area!). Your work address is right off I-5, so I'm assuming you wouldn't have any trouble accessing your work parking lot, even in the snow. And of course I-5 is the very first thing they get cleared if necessary. I would be most concerned about getting down to the freeway from your home in SW Portland, as that area tends to be steep. I don't know how familiar you are with driving in the snow - but if you are at all familiar with it you should be fine. I used to live at the very tip top of the West Hills and I drove a little rear wheel drive beater car and I never had any problems driving up and down the hills, even though the roads never got plowed. But like I said - that is a scenario you will most likely only have to deal with for a day or two each year. And if I were commuting as far as you will be commuting, I would just take those two days as vacation days, kick back, make some hot chocolate, and watch the snow fall!