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Despite a decade
of rising traffic congestion, the average commute in Portland takes about
as long as in San Francisco or Los Angeles 20 years ago.
Average Commute is 24 Minutes
New 2000 U.S.A. census figures show Portland-area residents
typically commute 24 minutes to work − a three-minute
increase since 1990 but still a shorter journey than in 30 of the nation's
50 top metropolitan areas, including Denver (26 minutes), Seattle (28 minutes)
and Atlanta (31 minutes).
Experts say the fact that the numbers don't look worse
reflects a natural coping mechanism: Frustrated by traffic, commuters have
moved closer to their jobs.
2000 Census Data
The 2000 Census figures are part of the most detailed portrait
ever of how people get to work in greater Portland - a region consisting
of Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill, Columbia, Marion and Polk
counties in Oregon, and Clark County in Washington.
In addition to basic information on race and gender asked
of all U.S. residents in April 2000, a 53-question-long form was sent to
one in six households. Workers 16 or older were asked their employers' addresses,
how they got to work and what time they began their journey. No questions
were asked about other trips, such as for shopping or school.
Their answers reveal that:
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Portland stood out among a handful of regions where
automobiles declined in importance. Bus commuting grew 41 percent, while
the numbers of bicycle riders and people working at home each grew 54
percent - well ahead of the 27 percent growth in people driving alone.
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Despite that, the region remains as car-dependent
as Puget Sound and Southern California. Roughly 73 percent of Portland-area
residents drove alone by car or motorcycle - the same
as in Los Angeles and one percentage point more than in Seattle.
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Walking lost popularity. Metro areas walkers grew
by a sluggish 13 percent, with big declines in small towns and outlying
areas. The most popular place to walk was Yamhill County where 6.3 percent
of commuters hit the sidewalk. The least popular was Clark County with
1.4 percent.
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Most Portland residents work in Portland; most suburbanites
do not. Consider the major suburbs of Tualatin, Wilsonville and West
Linn, where 20 percent to 30 percent of commuters head downtown. By
contrast, 74 percent of Portlanders work within the city.
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Less than a third of Clark County residents cross
the Columbia River to work in Oregon each day. About 2 percent of Multnomah,
Clackamas and Washington counties residents went in the other direction.
In Washington County, an economic engine for the region
in the 1990s with 61 percent job growth, the population ballooned 43 percent.
Yet residents of the Silicon Forest also had the smallest rise in commuting
time.
A key reason: Just 25 percent of Washington County residents
work in Portland. The vast majority - more than two-thirds
- work in Washington County.
A boom in apartment construction helped. As new rental
units outpaced new homes in Hillsboro, rents stayed affordable for tech
workers seeking to avoid U.S. 26.
Most Clackamas County residents still leave the county
for work each day. In Oregon City, Milwaukie and Molalla, a growing percentage
of residents left their city limits for work, and their commute times rose
16 percent, 21 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
By contrast, commuters in Tualatin, Tigard and Hillsboro
increasingly stayed within their own city limits, and average commute times
in those cities rose 3 percent, 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
Texas Transportation Institute 2009 Report
The
Texas Transportation Institute publishes their mobility study annually.
The Urban Mobility report is considered the most authoritative study of
its kind, the Texas report outlines the nation's congestion problem in metro
areas.
The 2009 report analyzed traffic congestions for the year
1982-2007. In 2007, congestion in the Portland metro area added 37
hours behind the wheel to motorists' rush-hour trips, a decline of one hour
from the 2006 rate. Added together over a longer period, all area motorists
experienced 34.4 million hours of delay because of congestion in 2007 −
a 21 percent jump from 2002. That's because the average U.S. rush-hour driver
still needs 25 percent more time − 29 percent more time in the Portland
area for trips than during off-peak times.
The Texas study touts a "travel time index" that has been
controversial locally because it doesn't reflect well on Portland. The index
compares the time it takes to complete a trip in rush hour to the time it
takes in free-flow times. A value of 1.30 indicates a 20-minute free-flow
trip takes 26 minutes in rush hour. By that measure, Portland and Seattle
tied for the 20th-worst congestion, with a travel time index of 1.29. Los
Angeles-Long Beach had the nation's worst, with an index of 1.49.
The average for 90 large urban areas studied is 39.9 million
hours of travel delays. For 29 metro areas — like Portland — that are classified
as "large," the average is 31.8 million hours.
Other
2009 report
findings:
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Consider that traffic and congestion normally get
worse in the most highly populated metro areas. Portland is the 24th-largest
metro area by population, but its 37 hours of delay make it the 34th
worst.
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And in the 10 years leading up to 2007, the average
Portland commuter's delay rose from 35 hours a year to 37. The average
for the top 90 metro areas grew from 36 hours a year to 41 hours.
Light Rail Open to Debate
Activists, regional planners and legislators have sparred
for a decade about how to address the most visible effect of population
growth: traffic congestion. And each camp can find ammunition in the census.
It shows west side light rail between downtown Portland
and Hillsboro, which opened four years ago, helped boost the number of rail
commuters from about 2,600 in 1990 to 9,100 in April 2000, before the downtown
streetcar and airport MAX opened. In neighborhoods lining the tracks, MAX
drew 5 percent to 10 percent of commuters.
Critics of the nearly $1 billion west side line say that's
a trickle compared to the 800,000 people who drove alone - or the
54,000 who, according to the census, rode the bus. It's also a small portion
of all rides on MAX, which average 68,000 per weekday.
"Rail is irrelevant to most people in the region," said
John Charles, environmental policy director at the free-market-oriented
Cascade Policy Institute
in Portland.
But Metro officials say the census greatly undercounts
MAX commuters because it asks workers how they "usually" get to work. That
leaves out occasional riders. Metro surveys and computer models put one-way
commuter trips at 44,000 a day, which would suggest individual commuters
number 22,000.
Biking to Work
The Rose City has been judged the most bicycle-friendly
place in North America, according to Bicycling magazine in one award and
the League of American Bicyclists in another. Portland wins accolades
for its extensive bikeways (309 miles of bikeways) and willingness to include
cyclists in its master planning. Corvallis, Ashland and Beaverton have been
honored as well.
American Automobile Association chapter
Oregon/Idaho
is the first AAA club in the U.S. to include bicycle service as part of
its regular roadside membership benefits package for AAA Plus, Plus RV and
Premier members. There is no additional charge for roadside service which
applies to all bicycles and tandems, including rental bicycles and bicycle
trailers.
September 2006 The average daily summertime
bicycle trips across Portland's four busiest cycling bridges have increased
by 18 percent over last year. And for the first time that four-bridge total
has passed 12,000 daily trips.
The Hawthorne continues to lead with almost double the
average daily summertime bicycle traffic of the next-leading bridge, the
Broadway. The Hawthorne's average daily count this summer is 5,557 trips
compared with the Broadway at 2,856. The four-bridge average daily total
is 12,046, up from last year's 10,192.
The counting process: For all but the Burnside Bridge,
the city placed automatic traffic counters on the sidewalk bridge paths
and left them for up to several days. On the Burnside Bridge alone, which
has a roadway bike lane that doesn't lend itself to an automatic bikes-only
count, the city stationed a person to tabulate bicycle trips from 4 to 6
p.m. on a weekday.
Portland Ranks First in Nation for Biking to
Work
A larger share of Portlanders commute by bicycle than in
any other large city in America, eight times the national average, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau. Census Bureau's annual
American Community
Survey data showed 6.4 percent told the survey that they bicycled to
work in 2008. This makes Portland No. 1 in bicycle commuting among the 30
largest cities in the country. The percentage of walkers and transit users
also rose.
Across the Portland metro area, 21,921 people rode bicycles
to work. Statewide, 37,582 people pedaled to work.
Biking Resources
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Bike Portland
This site is a chronicle of the Portland bike scene that has loads of
information about biking in Portland.
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City of Portland Bike Guide Check out the city's bicycle routes
and its Bicycle Master Plan.
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Oregon Human Powered
Vehicles Dedicated to riding, racing, and building all types
of alternative bicycles, tricycles, and human-powered craft.
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Portland Bicycle
Transportation Alliance The Bicycle Transportation Alliance
is a Portland metro area non-profit bicycle advocacy organization.
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Portland Wheelmen Touring
Club 700 member club that promotes recreation riding.
Also a social club.
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Ride Oregon
Ride Information on shuttle services, bike shops,
restaurants, motels, and campgrounds that cater to cyclists.
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Trimet
Guide Learn how to take a bike on the bus, light rail, or
streetcar.
Resources
City of Portland Transportation Describes the options
for transportation in Portland.
Demographia Compares Seattle to Portland. Demographia
guiding principle is "What government does for one it should do for
all; What government does not do for all it should do for none."
Our Community
Portrait Describes "the community to the community" by examining
new Census 2000 data along with existing trends and providing data and
analysis to the community.
Portland State University Population Research Center Research
on census in the School of Urban Studies and Planning.
Texas
Transportation Institute An arm of the Texas highway department
that rates traffic nationally each year for major metro areas.
US Census Bureau Link to 2000 census data.
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According to
the US Census 2000, the region's average journey to work has stretched to
24 minutes in 2000 - less than you might expect with 26 percent population
growth since 1990.
Metro Counties Average Commute Time in Minutes
Clackamas - 26.2
Columbia - 29.3
Multnomah - 23.8
Washington - 23.7
Yamhill - 24.8
Clark - 24.7
Marion - 23.5
Polk - 23.4
About 76 percent of rush-hour travel is
congested, up from 49 percent in 1990.
The worst spots:
- Interstate Bridge between Portland and Vancouver
- Sunset Highway (US 26)
- Interstate 5 heading out of downtown
Bikers peddling into downtown on the Hawthorne
Bridge in the morning on their way to work. Portlanders made 10,192
daily bike trips across Portland bridges in 2005 according to the City of
Portland Department of Transportation.
Just 25 percent of Washington County (west
side) residents work in Portland.
The vast majority - more than two-thirds - work in Washington County.
This is the reply that Jensine Larsen, founder
of the Portland-based international women's magazine,
World Pulse,
gave when asked if she was going to move to New York. It appeared
in the December 21, 2005 issue of the Willamette Week.
We're not going anywhere. Portland
is a hotbed of publishing, and it will be a global Mecca. Portland's
going to be a model for the world. Creativity is highly valued in Portland
and there is a sense of do-it-yourself, start your own business - a lot
of social entrepreneurs. There's a strong feminine pulse here.
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