By Manuel Suarez Pallas
Traffic congestion in Portland has been a recurring problem around the city for quite some time now. Although the 2020 pandemic made the traffic index drop 66%, the city still ranks 14 worst in the nation. Many people started working from home, most students did their classes online, and many recreational areas (shops, restaurants, meeting areas) closed. Now that life seems to get back to normal, traffic congestion in Portland will (most likely) be on the rise again. In 2019 before the pandemic, the average driver would lose almost 90 hours stuck in traffic, and the city ranked 8th. The pandemic had a tremendous impact on the number of trips people took downtown, trips declined 77% in April and 65% in December (Ley, Clark County Today). As things start to get to normal we found ourselves in a time where we need to start thinking about future strategies to solve the regional congestion traffic issue in the Portland Metro Area. Throughout this article, we will examine the causes and possible solutions to this reoccurring issue in the city. After all, none like to get stuck in traffic all morning or all afternoon. Based on a Metro Poll, residents of the city indicated that widening roads and highways is the top priority, as opposed to improving public transportation in the city. Moving forward we will need to keep analyzing the trends to keep making decisions that maximize the needs and wants of the residents in the Portland Metro Region.
“Worsening urban congestion is the result of many factors, including increased travel demand for intensified economic and leisure activities and a growing population” (Bell et Al). Looking at the current situation of Portland Oregon, we need to analyze the transportation demand to meet the needs of the residents. This technique is called the travel demand strategy. Aside from the tedious wait in traffic, congestion comes with several other issues, such as air pollution, irrational use of traffic infrastructure, and an increased number of accidents. TDM consists of three core elements. The first element is demand-side strategies, which are implemented by employers as a strategy to mitigate traffic. The second element is travel choices, here is analyzed what mode of transport individuals use. Lastly, application settings target certain events, such as school events, travel, and tourism (Bell et Al). We need to understand the motives and look deep in analyzing the reasons behind transportation use, to make decisions in which we can impact and react to the needs of the users in the regional area of Portland. We need to ensure that economic and environmental success is not affected by the congestion around the city. Transportation demand management serves as a way to analyze and look for opportunities to impact the congestion issue. We need to look for options that are viable, sustainable, and meet the needs of the average resident. It is more feasible to solve the congestion issue from the demand side, rather than offering more capacity or facilities of transportation.
An article from Portland Mercury, states that “Portland’s stretch of Interstate 5 suffers from what engineers call “hyper-congestion,” a near-complete breakdown of traffic that cuts the freeway’s efficiency roughly in half” (VanderHart). A firm hired by ODOT stated that widening the highways would not be the solution to congestion in Portland, in fact it will stem congestion in the coming years. Adding lanes won’t ultimately ease the communication vessels in the city. Local leaders are raising the question of adding toll fees, some experts stated that tolling could have a significant impact on congestion, without adding lanes to the highway. “ The state could settle on a far more limited approach—or none at all. Other concepts under consideration include tolling a single bridge (the Abernethy, where I-205 crosses the Willamette River), constructing tolling lanes on a larger stretch of I-205, tolling all existing lanes on a segment of I-5 through downtown, and tolling a lane of I-5 in each direction just south of the Interstate Bridge” (VanderHart). But as of right now we don't know all the answers, as the idea of tolling is extremely complex. At the end of the day, satisfaction and understatement between the plans and people are crucial. The issue of congestion is a complex one, residents' needs are important and our decisions moving forward should understand the why behind the decisions we take on a daily basis, and act towards that. We need the output of the people, and the Portland Metro Area needs to listen to such concerns.
Sources:
Ge, Ying-En, et al. “SOLVING TRAFFIC CONGESTION FROM THE DEMAND SIDE.” Promet, vol. 27, no. 6, 2015, pp. 529–538.
https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/portland-drops-to-14th-worst-traffic-congestion-in-nation/
Hi, Manuel, thank you for your thoughtful op-ed. I appreciate the statistics and other information and resources you included. I agree with you that it would be more feasible to alleviate congestion by looking at the demand side rather than the supply side of the issue. You are right that transportation demand management can help to better understand this demand. To add, I do not think there is a similar modeling practice that as adequately focuses on the supply side as TDM does for demand. It is interesting to learn that, bureaucratically and administratively, the conversation has sort of shifted from expanding roads and highways to tolling them. Given all of the existing concerns about tolling, I still think this is a positive shift in governmental thinking, because expanding roads and highways is grossly worse, socially, environmentally and economically, than simply tolling them. It is also good that the conversation remains on tolling even though the public prefer expansions. Hopefully if tolling is implemented, there will be a complementary measure to ensure that low-income people are able to receive reduced- or no-toll passes. Thanks, again, for your post.
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