Lately, a commute from Hillsboro to downtown Portland takes about the same time as Salem to Portland. It’s not your imagination. Portland highways are packed like never before. Portland is growing and an improving economy coupled with lower gas prices translates to crowded highways.
Each year Portland sees about 10,000-12,000 motor vehicle collisions and 6 fatalities per 100,000 residents. Interesting, New York has the country’s lowest traffic fatality rate at about 1 per 100,000. The US average is 10 fatalities per 100,000.
With all the highway traffic recently, you might assume highways are where most Portland traffic crashes occur. You would be wrong. According to the 2015 Portland Traffic Safety Report published in February 2016, urban arterial roadways, not highways is where most accidents happen. The following 10 roadways comprise only 3 percent of Portland roadways yet account for a whopping 27 percent of Portland traffic fatality sites. The top 10 most dangerous Portland arterial roadways are:
- SW Barbur Boulevard
- SW Beaverton Hillsdale Highway
- W Burnside Street
- NE Sandy Boulevard
- SE Division Street
- SE Powell Boulevard
- NE 82nd Ave
- SE Foster Road
- NE 122nd Ave;
- NE Marine Drive
Use extra caution when using these roadways. Barbur Boulevard is particularly dangerous for bicycles due to the lack of a bicycle lanes.
