South Waterfront Access

Route from South Waterfront to US-26 Eastbound, Portland, Oregon

I drove over to my daughter's apartment yesterday afternoon to water her Christmas tree while she is out playing jet-setter. Basically ridiculous, but when you are retired people find all kinds of things to fill your time, like water a Christmas tree that's 15 miles away. That's what I get for getting married.

South Waterfront is a 'special' kind of area. I think it all used to be industrial, ship building, iron and concrete, that kind of thing. Then somebody decided maybe it should be redeveloped into fancy offices and apartments, but nobody bothered to put in any city streets, so it's all private property and no parking unless you have a permit or a legitimate reason to be on the premises. On the weekend there are lots of empty spaces in the parking lots adjacent to  businesses, but they are all posted with 'violaters will be towed' placards. Now you might be able to get away with parking in one of those spots for an hour or two, but then again, some predatory tow truck drivers are just waiting for someone to violate the rules so they kidnap your car and hold it for ransom. I am not willing to take the risk, besides I am not pressed for time. I can legally park a mile away and hoof it. There is a path along the river that is open to the public. That is one thing the city did manage to do.

I suppose the lack of public parking is okay for businesses, they just have to provide their own, but it means there is no parking for visitors to residences. Maybe that's okay. Maybe all the people who live in the area's apartment blocks don't want any visitors.

Anyway, getting back home was super annoying. It was creepy-crawly all the way up Kelly from where Naito Parkway branches off, and then all the way to the top of Sylvan hill. I think the Zoo Lights might have had something to do with it. It was so bad that I checked the map when I got home to see if there was any other possible route. There are a couple, but I don't know if they would be an improvement. You could get on I-5 Northbound, but that would take you East across the river. You could take I-405 all the way around the city center, but you are liable to get ensnarled in traffic somewhere along the way. You could get on I-5 Southbound, but that will take you way down south to Lake Oswego. Kind of out of the way, but at that time of week it might not have been bad, except then you have to take 217 North through Beaverton, and that is always a shit sandwich. Instead of taking Kelly all the way up the hill to I-405, you could take Naito up to Clay Street which leads straight onto Highway 26. Clay is not great, lots of traffic lights, but I've never seen it as bad as Kelly, and Kelly is always a mess.

I've lived in a number of cities but I don't think I've ever seen one with as convoluted a set of streets as Portland. Maybe it's just a consequence of the terrain (hills and rivers) and short sighted planning (we'll only think about present, we aren't going to think about the future because nothing has ever changed in Oregon, and if we have our way nothing ever will. Except, okay, we'll allow this one new road). Of course Los Angeles has no shortage of visionaries and they are choking on their traffic problems.

Update 2 days later: Took the Clay Street route. It was at least as miserable as the original route. Had to stop for every freaking traffic light. Took something like 30 minutes to get from Front Ave to actually get on the freeway, a distance of like 12 blocks. I hate downtown Portland. Okay, I admit, it was the height of rush hour, but it still sucked big time.