Thoughts on Traffic

My current job's schedule is kind of crazy- in one week I may work in up to 4 different clinics- either in Hillsboro, Northeast Portland, East Portland, or Gresham. Theoretically, I might also end up in Beaverton or Tigard as well. This adds some great variety to my week. Each clinic is different, with different demographics, and different office culture.

One less fun part of this schedule, however, is the different commutes.  Did you know that Portland is ranked as the 6th worst place to be during rush hour?(Oregonian Article).  I believe this to be true.

I currently live in Beaverton right off of highway 26, a major highway that connects downtown Portland to Beaverton, Hillsboro, and ultimately the Oregon coast.  In non-rush hour times, the drive from my house to downtown Portland is 10-15 minutes- all on pure freeway.  During rush-hour this commute turns into a nightmare, stop-and-go sometimes the whole way.  The job I work at in Northeast Portland takes me 20 minutes to get to during non-rush hour, 45 minutes during rush hour. My Gresham job takes 40-45 minutes to get to during non-rush hour, 1 hour+ during rush hour.  The Hillsboro Clinic, which is theoretically the closest, takes 20 minutes in non-rush hour, who knows how much during rush hour (I take a back road that is 25 minutes, out of sheer fear of the freeway).

The rush hour delays are okay if you know that they are coming. You mentally prepare for stop-and-go and also leave a little early.  The stressful part is when there are non-predicted delays.  And I have noticed that Portland traffic can occur for sometimes the silliest reasons. Examples:

• Broken down car on the side of the road-  someone who has pulled off to the side of the road because their car has broken down can cause the freeway to come to almost a complete stop for miles.  This is silly because the car isn't even blocking the lane. People just slow down to see what's happening
• Car wreck- this makes sense that it would jam up the freeway... when a lane is being blocked. This makes less sense when it is also pulled off to the side of the road.  Delays are insane with lane blocking and just ridiculous when pulled off.  This is when you pass the wreck and think "that is what caused me to be 45 minutes late?????"
• Police- this seems to be counterproductive.  This morning my commute was delayed 10 minutes because of a police officer that he decided he needed to pass the traffic with his sirens.  He wasn't pulling anyone over.  I hope he was heading to an emergency because this immediately jammed up the freeway for a couple of exits.  I've noticed that traffic stops and police officers waiting on the side of the road can also cause traffic delays.
•  Signs- this was something I encountered yesterday. In Portland we have electronic signs above the freeway with announcements.  There was an amber alert for a child on the sign yesterday.  I understand the need to get this information out to the public, but it seemed a little strange that it caused such a huge traffic delay. There was traffic all the way from my job in Northeast Portland to the sign in Beaverton. It took me over an hr to get home (instead of 20 minutes...).  Traffic immediately cleared after the sign

What are your experiences with traffic and commutes?? What crazy stories do you have