Commuting by Community

Traffic JamFinding a home in close proximity to where you work may not rank as high in your home search as finding good neighborhoods or schools. However, if you are looking to live in Gresham, but work in Hillsboro, you’re going to spend a lot of time listening to talk radio.

In response to a reader’s question, I’ve prepared a list of suburban communities below, with their distance and drive times to downtown Portland.

Caveat: I generated this table using Google Maps, generically using its definition of the center of each city to downtown Portland as its starting and ending points. If you live on the outskirts of one of the communities, your mileage could be significantly longer or shorter. This table also does not take into account rush hour traffic loads, but I am on the lookout for such a study.

Distance and Time to Downtown Portland

To Downtown Portland
Distance (miles)
Time (mins)
Beaverton 8 14
Vancouver, WA 9 15
Lake Oswego 10 17
Tigard 10 16
Gresham 13 28
West Linn 13 26
Tualatin 14 22
Clackamas 17 26
Oregon City 17 32
Hillsboro 18 31
Troutdale 19 30
Sherwood 20 31
Wilsonville 21 27
Scappoose 22 36
Camas, WA 22 32
Damascus 22 36
Boring 22 36
Battle Ground, WA 25 38
Banks 25 38
Newberg 25 43
Forest Grove 27 41
Canby 27 39
Dundee 28 47
Estacada 29 48
St. Helens 29 47
Gaston 30 53
Sandy 30 47
Woodburn 32 39
McMinnville 39 67
Salem 47 56
Hood River 62 69

In my experience, commutes get complicated any time you need to cross the Willamette River (downtown, Sellwood Bridge, Oregon City). The east/west commute using Highway 26 and the Banfield is a challenge just about every day. Other congested routes include Interstate 5 to and from Vancouver across the Columbia River, as well as Interstate 5 between downtown and Wilsonville south.

For public transportation users, Google is experimenting specifically in Portland with it’s Transit Trip Planner (http://www.google.com/transit). You enter starting and ending addresses, and the planner will provide detailed instructions on where, when, and how to use the bus and MAX lines to get you there. You can also toggle the Drive setting to compare time and costs between public transportation and driving. Tri-Met’s Trip Planner may be a more definitive resource.

[tags] commuting, transit, suburbs, Portland, drive [/tags]

Photo by Bringo under Creative Commons license.

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July 27, 2006 · Filed Under Lifestyle, Relocation

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