What happened the last time a new transportation corridor was built? That’s a question everyone should ask, now that discussions have begun about rebuilding the Interstate 5 Bridge.
When the new Interstate 205 corridor opened in December 1982, I-5 had almost 110,000 average daily vehicles crossing the I-5 Bridge. The next year, traffic counts dropped 18.6 percent to 89,000 vehicles. It took a decade to exceed 1982 vehicle counts on I-5. Now, that’s congestion relief.
We’ve added over 1 million people. According to a recent study, Portland has the nation’s 12th worst traffic congestion due to a lack of investment in roads and building new transportation corridors.
The original plan was to build a westside corridor completing a “ring road” around the downtown core, once I-205 was finished. Sadly, Portland killed the second phase. We’re living the traffic nightmare that was guaranteed to follow.
