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Cornell commuters stymied by Portland traffic change

Are you affected by the closure of NW Westover at rush hour? Tired of congestion on roads over the west hills? Sign a petition asking Portland to cancel the closure of NW Westover at rush hour until other changes are made to relieve the resulting congestion on NW Cornell Road.

Cars stack up at the tunnel leading to NW Portland. The stacking at times stretches all the way back to the Portland Audubon Society facility.

The petition also asks Portland and Multnomah County to work with neighborhood groups and other agencies to find long term solutions to reduce congestion on all commuter routes north of Burnside, by providing options such as car or van pool systems, shuttle buses, telecommuting or flexible work hours.

Click here to sign the petition.

Note: change.org requires address and email information. You may optionally UNCHECK the box that says “display my name,” and it will not be visible to others. Once you get a confirmation email, you may also unsubscribe from any email updates about this petition, or change your email preferences.

The City of Portland recently closed access from Cornell to NW Westover during peak hours. This substantially increased the daily commute time on Cornell, creating a significant hardship for thousands of people in communities northwest of Portland’s core, including Portland residents.

Members of an affected Neighborhood Association decided to put together the petition and to gather more support from Washington County residents. They believe this change should only have been undertaken as part of a broader program of traffic management in the area. The petition says, “We sympathize with residents of Lovejoy and Westover, who have long experienced increasing daily congestion and cut-through traffic near their homes. We support the creation of breaks in traffic and other safety measures. However, many people who commute on Cornell have suddenly had their commute times nearly doubled, literally overnight.”

New signs prohibit right turns from Northwest Cornell Road onto Westover Road during rush hours -- except for carpoolers. The signs are intended to keep Washington County commuters from cutting through the neighborhood. Photo and caption from OregonLive.

With the ongoing population growth in the Portland metro area, traffic congestion has become a way of life in most neighborhoods. Cornell is one of the few roads over the west hills into the core of Portland. Options for commuters are limited. There is no bus service on Cornell between Washington County and NW Portland. The park and ride for MAX at Sunset Station is full by 7:30 am. Steep terrain in the hills makes bike commuting impractical for most people.

Cornell is a critical commuter access route. During peak hours, it carries vehicle traffic far beyond its intended capacity. Tunnels and environmental concerns effectively prohibit widening the road. Other roads over the west hills are similarly limited.

While Cornell’s road designation is “neighborhood collector,” The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has acknowledged since 1992 that it “functions more like a Major City Traffic Street by providing access from the surrounding area into the City's downtown commercial areas, or a Regional Trafficway by providing neighboring cities to the west of Portland a commuting route into town.”

The petition continues, “We must work together as a community to improve the quality of life in our region, and access to an efficient transportation network is a critical component. There is significant congestion on all through roads in the west hills, and we want to work with PBOT, Multnomah County and other agencies to find and implement effective solutions.”

The petition asks:

1. Because of the hardship from the unexpectedly large increase in commute times, PBOT should suspend the Westover closure experiment until the implementation of other congestion-relief improvements in the area. Once relief measures are in place, we would support Westover traffic calming measures if still needed.
2. Portland needs to allocate funds to implement a few effective short-term solutions for Cornell between Skyline and NW 23rd (such as a light at NW 25th & Lovejoy).
3. We would like to work with Portland, Multnomah County and other agencies to explore potential longer term solutions to the larger problem, including a Transportation Demand Management program (TDM) to provide options for commuters on all routes over the west hills. TDM programs can include subsidized transit, offering new van or car pool systems, shuttle buses, telecommuting or flexible work hours.

An opinion piece in OregonLive from May 3 brought out all the usual reactions: ride bikes, work from home, but we know that’s not practical for many of us.

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