How is the Commute to and From Vancouver, WA? (Portland: construction, living in)

[soarswitheagles]

I agree that Google is wrong about the Vancouver to Portland drive. It's taken us all day to drive from Bellingham to Portland with no border crossing involved. Usually once past Portland it's a quick two hours to Eugene.

[Steve Pickering]

Bing is wrong too. Nobody makes a six hour commute even if you were right. Childish questions and refusing to accept the answers.

[ImMovingVerySoon]

Maybe Bing and Google are calculating it with low traffic and you guys are basing your reasoning off of times you've gone where there was heavy traffic or bad weather...maybe a combination of the two.

[Steve Pickering]

No, they are just plan wrong. You can't average over 50mph on that trip under the best of conditions and as I, and others said, even if you could, it is not a commute.

I sure hope we are not confusing someone who is challanged, because it is starting to sound that way.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

No, they are just plan wrong. You can't average over 50mph on that trip under the best of conditions and as I, and others said, even if you could, it is not a commute.

I sure hope we are not confusing someone who is challanged, because it is starting to sound that way.

It was possible 15-20 years ago. Now I can't fathom doing it in under 7 (and I'd be pretty stoked with 7) unless you were talking about an overnight drive.

The I-5 traffic is too prone to snarling and it can be anywhere (or multiple places) along that corridor from Tacoma to Marysville, even outside of rush or on weekends.

[oldtintype]

Does it put you at the border crossing or downtown Vancouver? The distance itself during non rush hour times is about 6 hours in optimal conditions. But the border takes a while and then driving IN to Vancouver is really slow. To get to downtown Vancouver from the Portland area is a good 7-8 hours unless you have no one at the border and zero traffic. And if you manage to hit Portland, Seattle or Vancouver traffic then all bets are off.

[Steve Pickering]

I don't think they get it.

[NWGirl74]

What's the train ride from Portland to Vancouver, B.C. like? Other than about 10 hours long. Is it worth it to go that route instead of driving?

[Nell Plotts]

The Talgo between Portland and Seattle is fantastic. Seattle north is problematic because of track issues, often they have a bus meet the train in Seattle.

[EnricoV]

Not sure what the current schedule is, but it used to be that you couldn't go straight through. You'd have to overnight in Seattle, or go by bus.

But it's a very pretty ride to Seattle, just be sure to sit on the west side of the train (left going up, right going down). I've never gone beyond by train. Actually, any direction out of Portland is very nice. East follows the Columbia, south follows the Willamette, and north follows the Columbia/Puget Sound.