Astoria OR -Driving to Portland OR Airport - Highway 30 - how is the road? (Seaside: how much, construction)

[ilyabulyat]

Hi

I have a question about Highway 30 between Kelso/Longview WA and Astoria OR - how is the drive? How is the road?

My understanding is that Highway 30 has a divider in some areas (i mean a barrier between the two opposite lanes), but mostly it is an undivided highway.

How many miles of the highway has a barrier and how much of it is undivided?

I hate undivided highways because I consider them unsafe. I have seen many many idiot drivers try to pass people in these highways when it is not safe.

How is the visibility on this road during rain? Astoria seems to get rain most of the time.

I am asking this because I am considering a job where I would need to drive between Astoria, OR and Portland International Airport 2 to 3 times a week.

[PeaSoupFog]

You could also drive down to Seaside and take Sunset Hwy (26) to Portland, but either way, there is no avoiding the undivided highways.

Beautiful drive....beautiful scenery, though.

I would be interested in finding out from regular drivers in these routes (Hwy 30 or sunset Hwy 26) how many reckless drivers they encounter that are trying to pass people, making it unsafe for everyone. I personally encounter many such idiots while driving on ANY rural undivided road. This is the main reason why most head-ons happen in these rural undivided roads. Some @##$% think they can drive better than everybody else, and decide to pass (often when the dang yellow line is solid).

[figmalt]

I've only driven 30 a few times, and the divided/undivided issue never really stood out to me. I've driven 26 many, many times. It's true that it's mostly undivided, but there are many "passing" lanes, pull-outs for slow cars, etc. These features make the idiot, unsafe passers less of a problem.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I used to drive 26 to Seaside quite often.
You mainly run into the idiots Thursday evening through late Sunday night.
During the week, It's mostly people that have to drive 26 daily, so they know what they're doing.
That probably goes for 30 too.
Mostly undivided, but there are enough passing lanes that by the time someone gets irritated they can pass.
It can and will snow and/or get icy on 26 and 30 during the winter.
On a perfect, dry, no traffic day, you are looking at about 1.5 to 2.0 hours travel time from Astoria to PDX one way.
The road is actually well maintained.
There are several smaller towns that have speed zones.
You could always hop over the bridge at Longview and take I5 to 205 to PDX. That might be a little faster than following 30 all the way through Portland. That's pretty slow going.
It's seems to rain harder on 30 than in the Portland area, and the highway is not lighted well unless you are passing through one of the small towns.
When it's raining, count on an average speed of 50 mph.
Make sure you have good tires, brakes, defroster, wipers, and rainex on your windshield. That will make your trip a lot safer.
I don't mean to scare you, but 30 in the winter, at night, in the cold wet rain, ain't my idea of giggly fun.

[Mt-7]

watch out for the shady corners, ice will stay there all day.

[KATZ90609]

Is hwy 26 to portland open. I heard the tunnel was closed for repairs. I am planning a trip on monday via 26. Is it open?

[PNW-type-gal]

The Oregon driver's best friend:

TripCheck - Road Cams, Road & Weather Conditions in Oregon - ODOT

It shows construction but not closure. If there was a significant delay it would be over on the right-hand side of the page (for that quadrant). Sometimes Tripcheck takes a couple of hours to update (as in roads closed due to crash), but the info is pretty good. I have seen the delay estimates turn out to be wrong, but always in the direction of overstating the time delay, never understating.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

You could always hop over the bridge at Longview and take I5 to 205 to PDX. That might be a little faster than following 30 all the way through Portland.

I've heard from others that make this drive frequently that this is the best way to get to and from Astoria (from PDX).

[Oregon Trail]

[quote=ilyabulyat;13465713]Hi

I have a question about Highway 30 between Kelso/Longview WA and Astoria OR - how is the drive? How is the road?

The highway coming out of Astoria is crooked as a snake for about 6 miles and then its a divided highway with (no barriers) for another 8 or so miles then two lane for say 5 more miles then devided again with (no barriers) for 7 miles and then two lane again for 10 miles and then a passing lane for drivers heading to Portland for 6 miles and then two lane for 3 miles and then devide for a couple miles and with a concrete barrier ,, This is where you will cross the Lewis And Clark Bridge into Longview Wa and get onto I-5 and go 36 miles to Porland ,,

Now I am probably off some on my mileage but I do know this : Its 48 miles from Astoria to the Lewis and Clark Bridge ..

But ,,to use highway 26 to get to Portland you would have to travel to Seaside some 18 miles to get onto the 26 and then its up high by Mt. Hood and winter is very bad ..Lots of accidents on it for sure.
Neither way is good ,, and in summer ,,heavy traffic on both,, maybe 26 worse ,,imo..

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by Oregon Trail

Now I am probably off some on my mileage but I do know this : Its 48 miles from Astoria to the Lewis and Clark Bridge ..

But ,,to use highway 26 to get to Portland you would have to travel to Seaside some 18 miles to get onto the 26 and then its up high by Mt. Hood and winter is very bad ..Lots of accidents on it for sure.
Neither way is good ,, and in summer ,,heavy traffic on both,, maybe 26 worse ,,imo..

To come from the coast to Portland brings you nowhere even close to Mount Hood.
Portland sits pretty much in the middle of the coast and Mt Hood.
I doubt that you will pass 1500 feet in elevation going over the coast range.

There are three direct ways to drive from Astoria to Portland:
1. 26 from Seaside to Portland
2. 30 from Astoria to Portland
3. 30 to the Longview Bridge, across the river to I5, then to 205 to PDX, or continue on I5 to downtown.

All of them can get busy and/or dangerous at times depending on traffic, weather, or both.
Most professional drivers say the 30 route is safer than the 26 route.

BTW, Oregonians never preface a highway or freeway number with "The". That's a California thing.