Should a new West Arterial Road between Portland and Vancouver be considered in combination with the other options?

Description

A new road along the existing railroad corridor and N. Portland Rd. between Mill Plain in Vancouver and US 30 in North Portland. It provides to access between Portland and Vancouver, particularly for freight between the ports of Vancouver and Portland, and to the Columbia Corridor, and the Northwest industrial area. This improvement is also targeted to reduce truck traffic in the St. Johns and North Portland neighborhoods and provides an alternative access to Hayden Island.

Summary of Findings
3 or 4 lanes
(See Details of Summary Findings below)

Measure	Baseline 2020	West Arterial Road
Reduce auto travel times (Downtown Portland to Salmon Creek in p.m. peak period)	40 min.	34 min.
Reduce I-5 & I-205 Congestion (% of congested lane-miles on I-5 & I-205 during the p.m. peak period)	39%	25%
Reduce truck Route Congestion (% of congested lane-miles on truck routes in the study area during the p.m. peak period)	25%	23%
Reduce Spillover Traffic	No significant change	to Portland = Yes Vancouver = No
Minimize Environmental Impacts (Bridge) (impacts to natural resources such as fish, wildlife, plants, wetlands)	Moderate	Major
Minimize Displacements (number of residential and business displacements given conceptual design)	12	+22
Cost (2001 dollars)	$291 M	$947 M

Summary Details
West Arterial Road

Travel Time

There is an increase in transit ridership. The increase is due to additional transit service on the West Arterial and in the I-5 corridor.

Transportation Performance

Improves travel times in the I-5 corridor by 6 minutes compared to today. Substantially reduces delay on truck routes compared to Baseline 2020 and prevents delay on truck routes from growing worse than it is today. Carries about 9600 vehicles over the Columbia River during the evening peak period. The West Arterial Road's four-lane bridge over the Columbia River is near capacity during the morning and afternoon peak periods. Traffic increases on key Vancouver roads compared to Baseline (data from p.m. peak): 4th Plain Blvd 25% increase in traffic Mill Plain Blvd. 84% increase in traffic Traffic decreases on key Portland roads compared to Baseline (data from p.m. peak): Marine Drive 27% decrease in traffic Hayden Island Interchange 6% decrease in traffic St Johns Bridge 54% decrease in traffic Traffic increases slightly on US 30 in Portland compared to Baseline (data from p.m. peak): US 30 6% increase in traffic

Transit Ridership

There is an increase in transit ridership. The increase is due to additional transit service on the West Arterial and in the I-5 corridor.

Environmental Impacts

Major environmental impacts on Hayden Island that are difficult to avoid and will need to be mitigated. Improves the quality of life in the St. Johns neighborhood in Portland due to providing an attractive alternative route for trucks to get to and from industrial areas on the Peninsula. Because most of the roadway would be built over the railroad and in the railroad cut, there are fewer direct community impacts (e.g. noise, air pollution, and visual) than if the alignment were elsewhere.

Displacements

Least amount of overall displacements compared to I-5 improvements (22 displacements for West Arterial Road vs. 24 for 3 lane and 42 for adding a 4th lane).

Other

Requires agreement with the railroad.

Cost

$947 M (2001).

Graphs:
Traffic on Local Roads Travel Time
Congestion and Delay

Data Table (Microsoft Word format | Adobe Acrobat format)

Map of the West Arterial Road

Costs of Option Packages Studied

Land Use Findings

Environmental Findings