1. Long commutes in cars are highly undesirable.

• Depending on where people live and work, some Portlanders feel that commute times are quite good while others complain of long (45 minute plus) commute times.
• Portlanders agree that commute times should be kept to a minimum; many mention 20 minutes or less as the ideal commute time.

Sample Strategies:

1. Have employers stagger the times at which people enter and exit work.
2. Create more affordable housing so people can live closer to their places of work.
3. “Increase mass transit and buses to suburbs. More carpooling.”
4. Create express bus and MAX lines to reduce the length of cross-town commutes on public transportation.
5. Many Portlanders agree that “additional freeway lanes are needed in many areas.”

2. Traffic is relatively manageable now, but will be unbearable in the future if nothing is done.

• People who move to Portland from other large cities (LA, D.C., NYC., Seattle, etc..) express the opinion that traffic is better in Portland than in these other places.
• Many respondents note that as the city becomes denser, traffic is sure to increase.
• Respondents believe that traffic will be a major problem in the future if the City doesn’t take steps now to plan for it.

Sample Strategies:

1. Developers should be required to plan for how new traffic will be handled when they create new developments.
2. “A focus on creating more self-sustaining neighborhoods. The reason for this is to reduce the number of people commuting into the city core for work. Living close to work is the only way to alleviate this problem.”
3. Widen roads and freeways in anticipation of population growth in coming years.
4. Create better incentives for people to switch from using cars to using public transportation (many ideas for incentives are mentioned in Transportation: Public Transportation).
5. “Decrease auto traffic by increasing licensing fees, fuel tax, [and] parking fees.”

3. Traffic is already a major problem requiring immediate City attention.

• Many people mention that traffic has been getting progressively worse in Portland over the years. Some people feel this is a relatively recent development (in the past 5 years or so) while others feel it began ten or even fifteen years ago.
• A number of respondents feel that traffic has reached a point where it is unmanageable, unhealthy and a major stressor in their lives.
• People speak of witnessing acts of road rage and believe that traffic is making Portlanders less friendly and more aggressive.
• Many respondents lament having to idle their cars in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic, as this creates unnecessary pollution.
• There are certain “chronic areas” that are consistently jammed up. Frequently mentioned problem areas included (in no particular order): downtown, I-5 from N. Lombard through the Marquam Bridge, Hwy 26 from Beaverton to Portland, I-84 and the Columbia River Crossing.

Sample Strategies:

1. Improve traffic light synchronization. Many respondents cite specific intersections downtown and on the inner Eastside where traffic lights seem poorly synchronized.
2. “Study large cities throughout the world to find methods of handling traffic ... And find best practices that could be applicable in Portland.”
3. “More lanes on the major streets (like Powell, Division, etc.) to handle the traffic jams.”
4. “I hope to see public transportation improved to alleviate traffic gridlock and pollution.”
5. Increase streetcar and bus routes on the Eastside to link more people and neighborhoods to MAX lines and express bus routes.

   Downtown:

1. Make certain parts of downtown “car-less.”
2. Charge a vehicle toll on cars entering certain parts of downtown similar to that levied in London.
3. Increase the use of public transit downtown by enlarging the size of Fareless Square.
4. Decrease the use of cars downtown by creating underground parking lots near freeway exits where commuters can leave their cars and board public transit downtown.
5. Improve the synchronization of traffic lights throughout downtown, especially during rush hour.
6. “Discourage unnecessary driving by raising parking costs downtown and in the central core.”
   
   Interstate 5:

1. Create a circular route around Portland so that North/South traffic on I-5 can bypass downtown Portland.
2. Create an underground “through tunnel” or “express tunnel” for I-5 commuters who do not want to exit downtown.
3. Add additional lanes to I-5 between North Lombard street and downtown Portland.
4. Create MAX lines that go North to Vancouver and South to Wilsonville or Salem to ease traffic on I-5.
5. Build a bullet train from Seattle to San Diego, so West Coast travelers can move quickly between all the major cities.

   Columbia River Crossing:

1. Many people suggest building another bridge between Washington and Oregon to ease congestion between Vancouver and Portland.
2. A number of other respondents advocate for an express MAX from Vancouver to downtown with a big park and ride lot in Vancouver.

4. In Portland, public transportation and auto traffic are interrelated.

• Portlanders understand (and seem frustrated by the fact that) the busses and the MAX can only move at the speed of car traffic. They fear that as long as there is auto congestion, these forms of mass transit will not be as fast as they could be, which in turn will deter riders, creating additional auto congestion.
• Many people believed that eventually public transit in downtown would have to be moved either below or above ground to ease congestion in the inner city.
• People also complained about bus stops that jut into the roadways and block traffic behind them. They suggest a separate lane or aisle that busses can pull into when picking up passengers.