Portlanders: how will the roads be downtown in the morning?

February 23, 2023 6:16 PM

We have a medical appt at Good Samaritan Medical on Lovejoy St. We'll be coming up I5 from Eugene about 730-930 am. Is this a bad idea with your current road outlook?

Most of the question is already above. We have a specialist appointment that has already been a long wait and would be difficult to reschedule. We know to check Tripcheck but would like to hear from some people in Portland right now. We do not have AWD.

posted by nakedmolerats to Travel & Transportation (15 answers total)

They plow near the hospitals and main roads. I think you’ll be ok.
posted by janell at 6:36 PM on February 23, 2023

Freeways are as of this afternoon seem more or less fine; side-streets are slippery chaos and mostly ice at this point, main streets are sometimes plowed, but not all of them; 82nd has not been plowed at all.

My wife grew up in NH, and seemed to do okay on a quick bread-and-milk run today in a Subaru, but even she said it was uniquely shitty and dicey. It is supposed to freeze and get icier over the evening.

Amtrak appears to be running, and arrives at union station (and depending on your mileage, may be straight up cheaper than gas). The street cars are not running as of right now, but this may change tomorrow? That would get you really close to your destination, but they've said their snow removal crews aren't even really able to get downtown right now, so it's a gamble. I would personally go this route, but I don't like driving period.
posted by furnace.heart at 6:47 PM on February 23, 2023

Oh, I forgot to add: Live plow map!. There's only like four or five plows running in the entire city right now.
posted by furnace.heart at 6:55 PM on February 23, 2023

Follow up! If we did hop on the train, do you think we could walk from the station to Good Samaritan? It looks like a pretty easy city-block walk, are there any weird overpasses or anything?
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:59 PM on February 23, 2023

It's almost a straight shot I think; nothing weird between those two points. Like a 20-30m walk normally? Google says 20m, but your knees may vary; I would take a quick google-street view walk to check and see if you'd be down. It goes under the highway, not over.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:05 PM on February 23, 2023

I’m in West Linn/Lake Oswego area and our roads are clear- I can hear many cars traveling down hwy 43 and most of my snow has melted on the driveways and side streets in my neighborhood. It gets bad the further north you go- looking at the tripcheck.com cams, i5 looks ok on Macadam but as soon as you get on 405, it looks not great. If you drive most of the way here and feel uncomfortable about going further, grab a bus in downtown Lake Oswego or somewhere on Macadam and take that to downtown.

Hope it goes smoothly for you!
posted by haplesschild at 8:28 PM on February 23, 2023

Adding- I also don’t have an AWD and will just be busing around where I need to go tomorrow- and my husband’s employer, who is right in downtown PDX, is keeping their office closed tomorrow.
posted by haplesschild at 8:37 PM on February 23, 2023

Amtrak often runs hours late, I would at least be ready to drive as a backup if the train isn’t there when you need it to be.

The map above shows several plows in downtown right now, and basically all of downtown is priority plow routes. If the medical office is open, I’d probably drive it. Take food/water/blankets/charged phone just in case.
posted by momus_window at 9:09 PM on February 23, 2023

The sidewalks are pretty terrible, with lots of ice. Maybe they’ll have been shoveled downtown. Dress warmly.
posted by bluedaisy at 11:46 PM on February 23, 2023

If you take the train to Union Station in PDX, take the streetcar from there to Legacy - it’s a 15-20 minute trip at 9AM Friday.
posted by bendy at 2:20 AM on February 24, 2023

Or, grab a Lyft. It’s less than a mile-and-a-half.
posted by bendy at 2:36 AM on February 24, 2023

I do not expect the streetcar to be running. The tracks are full of ice.

Most roads in NW portland are still pretty bad, but the major roads should be navigable. Lovejoy, for instance, is 80% bare pavement. I expect 21st Ave is similar.
posted by misterbrandt at 3:19 AM on February 24, 2023

I realize this may no longer be helpful to you, but PBOT Asks Drivers to Stay Off Roads. What I’m taking from this is- don’t linger after the appointment, head home before things potentially re-freeze tonight.
posted by Secretariat at 6:48 AM on February 24, 2023

I hope you made it; would love an update if you can.
posted by hydra77 at 10:00 AM on February 24, 2023

Thanks everyone! We made it there and back safely. As you said, I5 was pretty much fine, and once we hit the downtown streets, they had iced over but everyone was going 10mph so we just inched along. We saw a lot of cars that had been abandoned on Thursday but no new accidents.
posted by nakedmolerats at 4:51 PM on February 24, 2023