How we get from here to there

Oregonians love to complain about traffic congestion and tie-ups in our daily commutes.  If it seems like you are taking longer to get where you need to be, you're right. 

But how do traffic conditions here on the Westside compare with other parts of the region and other parts of the country?

For most commuters in the Portland metropolitan region, we still manage to get to our destinations faster than our fellow road warriors in other parts of the country.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, most commuters in the Portland metropolitan region need less than 25 minutes to get from our homes to our jobs.  Our average commuting time around the Portland region actually improved between 2008-09, most likely due to the reduction in those commuting due to our sluggish economy and high unemployment rate.   

The latest federal census data released this month shows residents of Multnomah County needed only 24 minutes to get to their destinations and were usually on the job for nearly two minutes before their colleagues from Clackamas County came rolling in, averaging just less than 26 minutes to get to work.  

Workers across Oregon typically needed 22.1 minutes to commute from their homes to their jobs, while the national average is just over 25 minutes each way.  Somewhat surprising, given the daily traffic delays that snarl the I-5 and I-205 commutes between Oregon and Washington, commuters from Clark County managed to keep pace with their Oregon neighbors quite well, averaging 24.9 minutes travel time last year.

While public transit ridership among workers from Multnomah County was more than double the state and national average last year at an impressive 10.6 percent, it also had a higher average of people who chose to walk to work (4.8 percent versus 2.8 percent nationwide), ride their bikes, or chose "alternate means" (5.8 percent versus 1.7 percent nationwide).

Commuters from Clackamas County preferred to travel alone in their vehicles (76.5 percent), while Washington County commuters seemed to be more sociable with 11.2 percent choosing to carpool.  

For a comparison of the commuting times and travel habits among workers in the region's largest counties, please refer to the table of 2009 U.S. Census data compiled by WEA staff. 

Wishing you safe travels,

Teresa Dunham
Communications Manager