Portland Traffic Problems Are Getting Worse and More Costly

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Wednesday, March 16, 2016

GoLocalPDX News Team

Portland has some of the most congested highways in America according to the data released in the INRIX global traffic study.

One Portland highway corridor ranked right with the biggest hell highways in America around New York City, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta as being the most congested.

I-5 From MacAdam Ave to N.Tomahawk Island Drive is the 41st most congested section of highway in the United States. At its worst, this 10 exit span takes nearly 40 minutes to travel with an average speed of just 15 mph. The worst time to travel that 9.6 miles is 4:00 pm.

Seven Portland highway corridors were ranked as among the mosy congested in the United States.

Cost to Portland Could be $1 Billion

As GoLocal previously reported, the growing congestion in Portland is costly in time and money for Oregon families and business. 

Traffic congestion across the state could cost the economy almost $1 billion annually by 2040, according to a study released by the Port of Portland and the Portland Business Alliance.

The study was commissioned by 33 businesses that operate in the Portland-area.

“If that’s your future, then that seems kind of sad, and that’s not very attractive to me,” said Susie Lahsene, senior manager of transportation and land use policy at Port of Portland.

The average Portland metro household will experience 69 hours of road congestion this year. A total of 5 percent of all Portland metro area travel time is spent under congested conditions, like stop-and-go traffic, according to the study.

 

Growing Problem

The global comprehensive survey finds that “Urbanization continues to drive increased congestion in many major cities worldwide. Strong economies, population growth, higher employment rates and declining gas prices have resulted in more drivers on the road – and more time wasted in traffic.”

“The report reveals the U.S. faces large challenges to solve congestion issues, fueled by continued economic and population growth, higher employment rates and declining gas prices,” said the report.

INRIX Traffic Scorecard "analyzes and compares the state of traffic congestion in countries and major metropolitan areas worldwide. The report reveals the cities most impacted by worsened traffic conditions are those that experienced the most economic improvement during the past year. The U.S. had the worst congestion, with the average commuter spending nearly 50 hours in traffic in 2015."

 

METHODOLOGY

Source Data & Analysis

The INRIX Traffic Data Archive is the source of “Big Data” (typically several years of historical traffic information) used in the Scorecard. The INRIX 2015 Traffic Scorecard analyzes metropolitan areas in the United States and European countries, as well as select cities in Asia.

INRIX has developed efficient methods for interpreting its real-time traffic data to establish monthly and annual averages of travel patterns. These same methods can aggregate data over periods of time to provide reliable information on speeds and congestion levels for specific segments of roads.

http://inrix.com/scorecard/methodology-en/

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