Questions about St Helens, Oregon (Portland, Beaverton: home, schools, live)

[Scarletjubilee]

The hubby and kids and I will be moving from out of state to St Helens this upcoming summer.

I have three quick questions:

#1: How is the traffic on the thirty? Is it reasonable to think it will take about 45 minutes to get to/from Portland?

#2: How bad (how often do the winds blow it over the entire town) is the smell from the paper mill? Are there sections of town where the smell is worse/better?

#3: Is it horse-friendly?

[pdxMIKEpdx]

#1: How is the traffic on the thirty? Is it reasonable to think it will take about 45 minutes to get to/from Portland?

About right, more or less.
30 goes through several small towns where the speed limit is lowered, plus it's the most direct route from Portland to Astoria, so you have to deal with that traffic.
And when it gets to Portland, it goes through the industrial part of town, with a lot of truck traffic.

#2: How bad (how often do the winds blow it over the entire town) is the smell from the paper mill? Are there sections of town where the smell is worse/better?

It used to be really bad, but the last few times I've been through there I didn't smell much.
Either the winds were right or they've cleaned it up a bit.
I suppose with a strong west wind, it might carry the Longview mill smells that far upriver.
You get used to it though.
(Pulp mills always smell like bad brocolli to me.)

#3: Is it horse-friendly?

I would say yes--if you live on the outskirts of town.
But I'm not a horse person, so I don't really know what "horse friendly" means.

[hamellr]

Also it's called Highway 30. We don't use "the <insert highway name>" around here

Keep in mind that traffic will be worse on weekends in the summer, especially around Scappoose when the traffic gets bunched up from lower speeds.

There is plenty of horse property around St. Helens, but little to nothing directly in town due to land use laws.

Something you may want to look at though is how good the schools are. Also St. Helens is a small Oregon town, with not a lot for kids to do which leads to drug problems and underage drinking.

[alexxiz]

Originally Posted by Scarletjubilee

The hubby and kids and I will be moving from out of state to St Helens this upcoming summer.

I have three quick questions:

#1: How is the traffic on the thirty? Is it reasonable to think it will take about 45 minutes to get to/from Portland?

#2: How bad (how often do the winds blow it over the entire town) is the smell from the paper mill? Are there sections of town where the smell is worse/better?

#3: Is it horse-friendly?

I guess you will find out when you arrive, since you appear to have decided upon the move already. If any of these things are deal-breakers, you should visit before finalizing the move and see for yourself.

[Scarletjubilee]

This may seem dorky, but now that I live here I thought I would come back and answer my own questions for anyone who searches this in the future.

#1: How is the traffic on the thirty?

---- It takes forty minutes from St Helens to downtown, going the speed limits in the towns and about 60 mph on the highway portion (speed limit of 55, and most traffic going about 65). The hubby works downtown right on the river, and it takes him an hour to get home every evening--- this includes his 15 minute walk from his office building to the parking garage. There is rarely any traffic - from what we hear there are a couple of days in the winter when it is backed up because everyone is driving carefully because of ice, but still. For the most part, it takes less time to drive from downtown Portland to St Helens than it does from downtown Portland to Beaverton - simply because of the lack of traffic.

#2: How bad (how often do the winds blow it over the entire town) is the smell from the paper mill? Are there sections of town where the smell is worse/better?

----In the two plus months we've been here, there has been one evening where we smelled something, and it was for about two hours. It wasn't that bad - like a really mild natural gas leak (but different.)

#3: Is it horse-friendly?

--- The town itself does not have horses, but there are plenty of places within a 10 minute (or less) drive. I also see several places with horses in pastures, less than a mile out of town.

*** I know I'm just repeating some of the great advice people gave me already, but I just wanted to confirm it with first-hand experience.

[Minervah]

Not dorky at all!

It is greatly appreciated when someone returns to tell us how things turned out. Even though I didn't give you advice on St Helen's because I am not familiar with the area, even I say "Thank you" for the update. It's always good to know the results of someone's relocation. I wish more people would do this.

[Caver Girl]

Agreed! Glad you updated - as we are researching now and I found your old post! Although I don't think we'll end up in your area.