For those of you who were not aware, I recently took a trip to the west coast. We spent a little time in Seattle, WA, a day in Corvallis, OR, and a couple of days in Portland, OR. It was a great trip. While we (me and my fiance) did meet our main goal, which was to look at Portland State and Oregon State Universities, I also get to see the end-effect of what happens when a city actually plans. That city would be Portland, of course.

The city was laid out in a grid of standard-sized blocks of alternating one-way streets. As long as you knew in which direction the river was located, you could orient yourself and easily find your destination. They also had two light rail lines and a streetcar line running through Downtown. Best of all, they were free within the limits of Downtown. (Explanation: Both street car and light rail use the same trains. Light Rail uses two trains put together. Light Rail utilizes dedicated ROW and changes traffic signals so that it does not stop. Street car stops at signals and shares a lane with cars.) Due to high parking costs and the abundance of bicycles, the light rail systems were crowded for most of the day. The stations appeared to be designed with the rider in mind with seats, protection from the elements, and a system called TransitTracker, which allows you to accurately know when the next train will get to your stop.

The city seemed to be designed for pedestrians and bicyclists, which I am sure also contributed to the high transit ridership. There were abundant crosswalks and bike lanes. Traffic at non-signalized crosswalks knew that they had to stop for pedestrians. The business mix Downtown was good as well. There were grocery stores, an abundance and variety of restaurants for all budgets, and a mix of retail shops. Instead of tearing down the city to build a suburban mall, they used the existing buildings to utilize Downtown as a town-center-style shopping area. They had stores that the average Hampton Roads resident has only seen inside a shopping center in storefront locations. For example, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Banana Republic, Williams-Sonoma, Billabong, etc all had stores downtown.

Overall, the city gave the appearance that the residents were proud to be from Portland and that they city actually cared about what the residents thought. Everybody was nice and helpful. Random people would come up and ask if you needed help.

A couple of final notes: First, you could tell they put transit ahead of highways. The highway surfaces were great but the design had changed little in years. There were no acceleration/deceleration lanes. You just had to hit the gas and go. They did not waste money on things that we would consider necessary. For example, barricades to keep traffic from colliding with the wall were the exit splits off the highway.  Second note: The transit facilities were surprisingly clean and un-vandalized. How could this be? I though that they sold bus/transit shelters pre-vandalized. Apparently, in Oregon, it is a felony to deface transit property in any form or fashion. Excellent idea.

Downtown Portland Transit