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Old 11-05-2012, 06:14 PM
 
892 posts, read 1,588,758 times
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Coos Bay actually is a deep water port. The Port of Coos Bay is looking to dredge it and upgrade shipping container facilities to take advantage of the upgraded rail route that they paid for. It's also a great location regarding distance to other deep water ports north and south. The problem is the lack of land side infrastructure. The rail line is great but without truck accessibility, it really is limited.
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Old 11-06-2012, 12:29 PM
 
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From the opposite perspective, I'm one who lives and works in Vancouver so I'm not currently adding to the commute congestion. One thing I've noticed in the last couple of years, however, is an increase in traffic from people crossing from WA into OR during evening rush hour. Most of my social activities take place in Portland and it's not uncommon for me to leave work at 4:00 (near SR-500/I-205) and have it take me an hour to get downtown. (Except on Friday. Friday takes 1/2 hour tops). The license plates are pretty evenly split between WA and OR. I stopped coordinating a volunteer project in part because more often than not, I was leaving Vancouver no later than 4:15 and barely making it to Beaverton by the 6:00 start time.

I also volunteer regularly in NE. For one organization, I take Airport Way; for the other I take Killingsworth off of I-205. I've noticed that after around 4:15, traffic really starts to back up where Airport Way merges on to I-205 S and stays congested to around Gateway.
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Old 11-06-2012, 05:30 PM
 
Location: Houston
1,257 posts, read 2,646,562 times
Reputation: 1236
NWGirl74, Bless you for volunteering and pointing out that some people in Vancouver actually work on the Washington side of the river.

The I-5 approach from the south has been horrid for years. I actually worked a late swing shift for a few years and would sneak across the river after work to a 24 hour grocery store. I would rarely attempt it during any daylight hour, too much traffic and aggressive mergers.
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Old 11-06-2012, 07:34 PM
 
Location: Tucson, AZ
1,588 posts, read 2,523,333 times
Reputation: 4188
Well, traffic was once again even worse that the last time I said it was "the worst I have ever seen it."

One thing I have noticed, is drivers are giving way too much room. We're only going 10mph. You don't have to keep a tremendous distance between cars at that speed. I have also noticed people are slow to accelerate . People SLOW DOWN to merge causing the person letting them in to slow down as well. People don't pay attention or are too timid to merge close together, once again we're only going 10mph.

I know why we get traffic jams, it's because people suck at driving and start.. I don't honestly know what they do. Look for a video called Shockwave traffic jam on Youtube. Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan told 22 cars to drive on an oval track and keep even spacing by driving at a constant 30kmh. They do it for about 20 minutes but then people stop paying attention some go slower and it starts a ripple effect. Literally a traffic jam is created out of nothing, a completely open road. Real life proof of this is when you are going on 5NB and you get the other side of the SR14 EXIT and everything opens up and then you can go 60mph. There aren't more lanes, there is still roughly the same amount of cars, so why does it happen?

I believe it happens because of one thing, 18 wheelers trying to pass 18 wheelers on the hump starts the whole chain reaction. 18 wheeler is going under the speed limit, the one behind tries to pass, but is pretty much only going 3-5 mph faster. Cars fly up at 65+mph, change lanes causing the left most lane to brake, then all subsequent traffic that brakes for the right lane 18 wheeler, try to change lanes only to get stuck behind another 18 wheeler. Then that traffic binds up and then the cars frantically try to get in the leftmost lane.

Anyway, driver education needs to be stricter in America and people need to treat driving like flying an airplane. I was stationed in Germany and I was told to drive there I would have to pass a rigorous drivers test. I'm smart, or so I think. I though no problem, I'm a great driver. I studied hard, memorized quite a bit of the book, even learned quite a few German words and road signs . Took the test (standard was 90% on a 100 question test) I got an 85%. The questions weren't American style, one word answer, a.b.c.d.. They were complex scenarios with matching and all sorts of crazy stuff and 40+ roadsigns, and they were the hard ones with long strings of German words. Then I took the practical, I FAILED by a few points and had to wait 2 weeks for a re-take. I mean, I was breaking rules I didn't even know existed.


Then, when my car a 5 yr old BMW 3 series at the time, I figured my car would ace the ADAC 200 point insp, I thought my car was a perfect 10. IT FAILED BY 20 points! Over 1,600 EURO in repairs to get it to German standards. To top it all off, I paid $300 a month for insurance even with a perfect driving record. Then to rub salt in the wound I paid 1.11 EUR per liter for gas (80 liter tank). 1.11X80. 88 EUR or 110 USD. They made sure you really wanted to drive a car over there.

Oh well, I decided to work in the east and live in the south, I'm part of the problem... Until, I get a job close to home, which may happen soon.
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Old 11-06-2012, 10:15 PM
 
Location: Pacific NW
6,413 posts, read 12,114,326 times
Reputation: 5860
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squidlo View Post
NWGirl74, Bless you for volunteering and pointing out that some people in Vancouver actually work on the Washington side of the river.
What?

Pretty much the accepted advice here has always been that if you're working in Vancouver, living there is a great choice. If not, they'll have to deal with Oregon taxes and the commute.
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Old 11-07-2012, 12:35 PM
 
4,380 posts, read 4,441,169 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EnricoV View Post
What?

Pretty much the accepted advice here has always been that if you're working in Vancouver, living there is a great choice. If not, they'll have to deal with Oregon taxes and the commute.
I originally lived and worked in Portland when I moved to the area in 1996. Moved to Vancouver when I got together with my late hubby in 2000, and I did commute to Portland on the 205 side for about 3 years before we left the area. When we moved back in late 2005, I did the I-5 commute to the NW industrial area for about 8 months before I was fortunate enough to find a decent senior level accounting job in Vancouver so I've been on both sides of the traffic coin. When I left my job in NW, my 17 mile commute took me 35 minutes in the morning and no less than an hour fifteen in the afternoon-and that was leaving there at 4:00. I can't imagine how long it would take now.

And you are absolutely correct-as long as I stay at my current job, it would be incredibly stupid for me to move back across the river from a financial standpoint.
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Old 11-07-2012, 05:27 PM
 
Location: Houston
1,257 posts, read 2,646,562 times
Reputation: 1236
Quote:
Originally Posted by EnricoV View Post
What?

Pretty much the accepted advice here has always been that if you're working in Vancouver, living there is a great choice. If not, they'll have to deal with Oregon taxes and the commute.
Meaning that for some reason a fair amount of people seem to think that Vancouver, Washington is some sort of parasite community sneaking over to work and running home to the burbs at night.
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Old 11-07-2012, 05:45 PM
 
Location: Pacific NW
6,413 posts, read 12,114,326 times
Reputation: 5860
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squidlo View Post
Meaning that for some reason a fair amount of people seem to think that Vancouver, Washington is some sort of parasite community sneaking over to work and running home to the burbs at night.
No, that was not my meaning. As I think I pretty clearly stated, if you're working in Vancouver it's absolutely a great place to live. If you're working in Oregon, it has its challenges. That doesn't make it a bad place, or make them parasites.

But I'll admit ... I only know a few people among my family, friends and acquaintances who live in Vancouver ... but they all work in Oregon. They like it. I wouldn't want to add that level of complication to my life.
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Old 11-09-2012, 12:35 PM
 
Location: Minnesota
5,147 posts, read 7,457,200 times
Reputation: 1578
Could be that people found what they wanted in a house in Vancouver and saw no need to switch jobs. After all, people probably commute to downtown Portland from other nearby municipalities. Vancouver just happens to be across the river.
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Old 11-09-2012, 09:21 PM
 
Location: Pacific NW
6,413 posts, read 12,114,326 times
Reputation: 5860
Oh, it's very definitely a good consideration. I think your dollar will go further there. But like I said, I wouldn't want to add that commute across one of only two bridges, plus having to file extra tax information. Both are complications I don't want ... but, many are willing to live with it.

I think the commute is easier if you're not working a 9 to 5 job.
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