Which commute is the worst?

BACK STORY: Hint: It's not Sunset Highway anymore

By Peter Korn

The Portland Tribune, Sep 12, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

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Still, commuting times appear to be longer for just about everyone compared with a few years ago. Between 2002 and 2004 — the most recent year for which statistics are available — the average travel time to work for Portlanders rose from 21.9 minutes to 23.5 minutes.

Approximately 308,000 Multnomah County residents drive to work each day nonetheless. About one in 10 takes public transportation, and one in 30 commutes to work by bicycle.

Those numbers have to change, according to Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder. Burkholder says people will stop car commuting when public transportation is available. He cites Metro statistics showing that where light rail is available in the Portland area, about 30 percent of nearby commuters are giving up their cars to ride the MAX.

Still, preventing California-style freeway congestion without new freeways will be difficult, Burkholder says. He thinks the answer may be toll roads.

Toll roads can solve two problems, Burkholder says. They can raise money and manage traffic. They can manage traffic through what Burkholder calls differential tolls.

An example: Higher tolls on freight vehicles during rush hour discourage truckers, who have more leeway on times to travel than commuters. Burkholder says such tolls already are in place in Southern California.

Another model, Burkholder says, comes by way of London and Stockholm, Sweden, two cities concerned with drivers entering the city during peak traffic periods. There, according to Burkholder, fees on toll roads are higher for vehicles entering the city during rush hours.

The message is clear, Burkholder says: “We have a good transportation system. Use it (and pay) or change your work time.”

Some go by surface

The best strategy, Burkholder says, is getting people to live closer to where they work. And according to Burkholder, progress has been made in that regard. The average trip to work in 1990 was 10 miles, he says; in 2000, it was seven.

“That’s the biggest impact,” Burkholder says. “Reducing the distance people have to travel. In the long run what we’re going to have to do is think differently. The biggest issue is, How do we reconfigure the city so people don’t have to travel as far?”

Until then, commuters will be left to their own resources, which increasingly means finding alternative routes.

Commuters from Beaverton have been turning to Northwest Cornell Road, to the ire of some Northwest Portland residents. Commuters who might otherwise take I-5 north into Portland from Wilsonville have been using Southwest Macadam Avenue and Barbur Boulevard.

Sometimes the alternate routes work, according to Burchfield. But more often, he says, trading a bottlenecked freeway for surface streets rarely pays off.

“Most of the time when you see those bottlenecks it’s still faster to stay on the freeway,” Burchfield says.

peterkorn@portlandtribune.com

Sidebars:

Traffic jams don't stop the data flow:

www.localnewsdaily.com/news/story.php?story_id=115802212303499800

Suburban traffic presents a few twists:

www.localnewsdaily.com/news/story.php?story_id=115802240453638100

How do you commute?

We want to hear your commuting stories.

The Portland Tribune publishes special in-depth reports on issues facing the region several times a year. These sections are called Rethinking Portland, and the next one, on Nov. 28, will focus on transportation.

As part of our research, we are inviting readers to e-mail us about how they commute to and from work. Why do you live where you live, why do you work where you work, and how do you travel between the two? How has your commute changed over the years? And, because about 1 million more people are expected to move to the region over the next 20 years, how do you think your commute might further change?

Please e-mail your stories to Rethinking Portland editor Connie Pickett at rethinking@portlandtribune.com. We may contact some of you for additional information for the section.

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