I-5 North through Portland?

[McDave]

We're planning to head up I-5 from Sacramento to Olympic National Park, and afterwards come back on Hwy 101. The idea is to make a quick trip up and a more leisurely trip back home. However, I'm not looking forward to towing the Airstream through Portland on I-5. Any suggestions on alternate routes through or around Portland that might be better without adding substantially more time?

[waltb]

We take the 205 around the east side of Portland and find it much better to pull.

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by waltb

We take the 205 around the east side of Portland and find it much better to pull.

Agreed, that's the ticket. You'll still find heavy traffic during commute hours especially from Wilsonville to the 205 exit but nothing like the Terwilliger Curves as you approach downtown and on up to the crossing to Vancouver.

Happy Trails

bob

[NoResults]

Don't even think about i-5 take 205.

Dave

[Lily&Me]

The traffic into and around Portland is insane, and I personally would stay off of I-5.

I took this north to Seattle and the ferries last year, but not coming back South, as it was slow, bumper to bumper traffic for miles and miles and miles.

Couldn't tell you which highways I took, tho.

Maggie

[duncans]

Hi Dave,
I have commuted from Woodburn to OHSU in Portland for 30 years. Very dense traffic starts way south of Ptld---like just north of Woodburn long before you hit the 205 cutoff. Heavy traffic begins around 6AM and cont. 'til abt 9AM, then it eases significantly until 2:30PM until 6PM. I don't find the Terwilliger Curves to be any big deal. If you take 205, you will miss the heart of downtown Portland and it's beauty. 205 is straighter (ugly), but I find that people drive much faster (crazier) on it. 205 also has quite a few on / off ramps, so best to stay in the center lane. 205 does have a nice bridge over the Columbia, just don't get blown off! This is all my humble opinion.
Now, where to stay? If you and Nancy are looking for a nice place to dock for the evening, come stay with us! We live outside Silverton on 20 acres and have a creek setting. Your pouch can roam. We can talk Wind Rivers / High Sierra / etc. ! Or just drink wine!
Whatever you do, safe travels, have a wonderful time!
Dave and Susan

[Gsmblue]

Originally Posted by duncans

Hi Dave,
Heavy traffic begins around 6AM and cont. 'til abt 9AM, then it eases significantly until 2:30PM until 6PM. I don't find the Terwilliger Curves to be any big deal. If you take 205, you will miss the heart of downtown Portland and it's beauty. 205 is straighter (ugly), but I find that people drive much faster (crazier) on it. 205 also has quite a few on / off ramps, so best to stay in the center lane. 205 does have a nice bridge over the Columbia, just don't get blown off! This is all my humble opinion.

Dave and Susan

I could not agree more with this. I lived in Portland for 10 of the last 11 years and this sums up my experience. I lived in NE and towed up and down the I5 through town. I always preferred it to the 205 for the simple reason that people drive like maniacs on the 205... I would rather crawl for a few mins and enjoy some scenery. But we are all wired differently!!

Safe travels.

[PKI]

Understand the crawl mentality, but hitting Portland in rush hour is a bad plan. If you are running that way stop for a break and burn off some time. The 205 is still the ticket for getting through Portland will less hassle. But then Portland traffic is much closer to the speed limit than California traffic, so I see less crazy there than normal. It's all relative.

Given the slower pace of RV life, I'd take 95 instead of I5. A visit to Crater lake on the way up is starting to be just as much of a draw on the way up as the Avenue of the Giants is are on the way back South. Watch out for the banana slugs in Olympic.

Enjoy the trip and travel safe. Pat

[Betty Farmer]

Duncans, that is the very nicest posting I have ever observed. If you are ever down Texas way you would be welcome to hang out on our farm where we have a creek and ponds to fish in.

[lrskfalls]

We recommend taking the 205 around the east side of Portland. I-5 goes through the gut of Portland traffic, is narrow and has several lane changes that can be very challenging during rush hour.

[Seabloom]

My comments from not living in Portland was that transiting through the town from North to South on a Friday afternoon wasn't as bad as we had feared, we did it all on the I-5, the bridges at the North end of town are amazing. We left the Canada US border and Blaine WA early in the morning hoping to be through Portland early afternoon. Of course best laid plans failed, the Everett to Olympia stretch was beyond dreadful. Especially bad was the area of I-5 around the Lewis-McChord Joint Base. We crawled at 5-15 mph for an hour. Anyway maybe that prepared us for what we thought Portland would be like. We were pleasantly surprised the traffic was dense but moved reasonably.

We stayed well south of Portland at a campsite called Deerwood Park near Eugene Oregon. For an overnight pit stop it was great. You can divert up to Crater Lake from there. They allow any Airstream any year, any time. Worked great for me as my 1976 still has the sunburn finish, we spent the effort on inside first, getting to outside next year.

If you hit Deerwood on a Saturday morning they have a free pancake breakfast which was perfect if you don't want to do a bunch of dishes etc.

https://deerwoodrvpark.com/

Good luck and happy travels.

[hrreed]

Just drove through Portland I-5 coming home from San Diego last Saturday. Kept telling my wife we should have taken 205. Even without traffic I 5 through Portland is quite a chore navigating while pulling the Airstream.

[franklyfrank]

Originally Posted by duncans

Hi Dave,
I have commuted from Woodburn to OHSU in Portland for 30 years. Very dense traffic starts way south of Ptld---like just north of Woodburn long before you hit the 205 cutoff. Heavy traffic begins around 6AM and cont. 'til abt 9AM, then it eases significantly until 2:30PM until 6PM. I don't find the Terwilliger Curves to be any big deal. If you take 205, you will miss the heart of downtown Portland and it's beauty. 205 is straighter (ugly), but I find that people drive much faster (crazier) on it. 205 also has quite a few on / off ramps, so best to stay in the center lane. 205 does have a nice bridge over the Columbia, just don't get blown off! This is all my humble opinion.
Now, where to stay? If you and Nancy are looking for a nice place to dock for the evening, come stay with us! We live outside Silverton on 20 acres and have a creek setting. Your pouch can roam. We can talk Wind Rivers / High Sierra / etc. ! Or just drink wine!
Whatever you do, safe travels, have a wonderful time!
Dave and Susan

We haven't been up Portland way but are planing to go next year.
We travel through downtown Atlanta at least twice a year. How does Atlanta downtown drive through compare to Portlands.

[McDave]

Thank you all for your suggestions. This has been very helpful. I'll let you know how the trip turns out.

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by McDave

We're planning to head up I-5 from Sacramento to Olympic National Park, and afterwards come back on Hwy 101. The idea is to make a quick trip up and a more leisurely trip back home. However, I'm not looking forward to towing the Airstream through Portland on I-5. Any suggestions on alternate routes through or around Portland that might be better without adding substantially more time?

First of all, let's think about this, you are taking an RV trip to the Olympic National Park, and you are taking I-5?

Forget that route and take old highway 101, it's one of the most beautiful drives in the United States, and it goes around the Olympic Peninsula.....easy trip, don't be in a hurry, and enjoy.

We did this 2 years ago, and it was a great couple days...in fact it turned out to be about 2 weeks...

For what it's worth,

Larry

[McDave]

duncans , sent you a message.

[dfschultz]

We just drove from Portland to Seattle yesterday, Thursday, and it took 7 hours. If you are planning on the trip, do it off hours. The 205 is better than I-5. I would head over to Highway 101 down around Corvallis on Highway 20, stay away from Portland. Safe travels.

[demijac]

One thing we really like about pulling an Airstream is that we can take it just about anywhere. That is freeing and allows us not to get too hung up on which road to take. Still, driving through a large city requires a little extra focus. Here are a few 'rules of thumb' that work well for us when driving through any large city.

o avoid rush hour if our schedule allows
o focus on maintaining a safe distance at all times
o drive in the same lane as the long distance truckers do
o avoid frequent lane changes
o start doing our lane changes a mile or so ahead of time to avoid having to
make a sudden or risky lane change at the last second

Hope this allays your trepidation.

Cheers!

[McDave]

Originally Posted by demijac

One thing we really like about pulling an Airstream is that we can take it just about anywhere. That is freeing and allows us not to get too hung up on which road to take. Still, driving through a large city requires a little extra focus. Here are a few 'rules of thumb' that work well for us when driving through any large city.



o avoid rush hour if our schedule allows

o focus on maintaining a safe distance at all times

o drive in the same lane as the long distance truckers do

o avoid frequent lane changes

o start doing our lane changes a mile or so ahead of time to avoid having to

make a sudden or risky lane change at the last second



Hope this allays your trepidation.



Cheers!

Good advice. Of course, living in California, we get quite a bit of practice in congested city driving. But these are all on freeways we have traveled many times before, and know well in advance what we need to do when approaching any particular intersection. I would add to your points that when traveling through a city you are not familiar with, like Portland in my case, don't get overconfident just because you travel through cities like Sacramento or the SF Bay Area with ease. I've found that when traveling through strange cities, like Phoenix recently, the GPS directions often don't come soon enough to safely get in the lane I need to be in when towing. Several times, I just had to say "Oh well," and take the wrong exit, rather than try to force my way over. Fortunately, the GPS is also good about getting you back on the right route (eventually).

[LBelle]

Others have said it but I will repeat it (as someone with 17+'years of commuting in the Portland area and now from a distance with an Airstream) - avoid anything nearing rush hour(s)!!! Otherwise I-5 vs I-205 is a toss up, I prefer I-5, but my wife likes 205... And avoid Friday PMs at all costs!!! But off hours are no big deal either way.
Enjoy Olympic NP, oh neighborhood now and a wonderful area for camping.
Marc