r/oregon • u/Ok_Design_6841 • 1d ago
Article/News Portland’s I-5 closure will upend commutes for weeks. Here’s how employers are preparing
https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2026/09/portlands-i-5-closure-will-upend-commutes-for-weeks-heres-how-employers-are-preparing.html•
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u/Pokeitwitarustystick 1d ago
“Take public transit” like they didn’t just cut a bunch of bus stops
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
“Sit for 2 hours in traffic in an uncomfortable seat with a kid vaping and a meth head - absolutely do not work from home”
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u/oficious_intrpedaler 1d ago
Bus drivers definitely stop folks from vaping on the buses, fortunately.
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
If they catch them and give a fuck. I was behind a girl just last week who rode with us half an hour and was sneak vaping and made the whole bus reek like rotten fruit.
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u/Senior-Win3954 1d ago
What did she or the bus driver say when you told them to stop?
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
I didn’t know who it was until we got off and she blew vape juice in my face.
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u/Senior-Win3954 1d ago
Hmmmm
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
Sorry, when 5 people get on the bus at the same time and one reeks like cheap perfume but they are sitting halfway across the bus so you don’t know which, it’s kind of unhinged to go up and start sniffing and telling them they are assholes for their olfactory assault.
It also doesn’t change the fact that TriMet bus commutes will also be 3x as long in the same traffic, potentially way more crowded and in no way a suitable substitute for WFH and actual side street detours (of which PBOT/ODOT has planned 0 for local traffic)
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u/Senior-Win3954 19h ago
I’ve never been on a city bus before so I don’t know how things go
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u/TheVintageJane 18h ago
It’s not bad for a 30-40 minute ride but acting like it’s a viable alternative for transport to the most congested areas during this shit show is fucking madness when those busses are going to be stuck in the same traffic and the vast majority of the ones people will need to be on will be converging in Rose Quarter (the place projected to be the most fucked). They have absolutely nothing planned to ensure bus routes will be running on schedule.
Instead of being stuck in my car for 60 minutes, I’d be paying more to be stuck on a bus for 90+ minutes with a bunch of assholes to not even arrive within a mile of my office. It’s a ludicrous alternative and ODOT and PBOT should be eviscerated for it.
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u/stjohns_jester 1d ago
Oh they could allow a large portion to remote work to help but none are
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
They aren’t even recommending that which is so infuriating.
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u/Former_Clock_1271 11h ago
The article mentions several times that places are recommending remote work.
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u/TheVintageJane 11h ago
Neither the City of Portland nor the state has officially made that a recommendation or request for local businesses. While several businesses are allowing it because they don’t hate their employees, many of the rest of us are not so lucky.
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u/Whosaidwhat2023 1d ago
I believe the City of Portland is offering all of its employees free transit passes thru the closure.
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u/Chilulu3 1d ago
They also authorized full time remote work for at least the first two weeks of the closure for most city employees.
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u/Manfred_Desmond 1d ago
Tacitly admitting they don't actually need everyone to come back to the office.
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u/TheVintageJane 18h ago
I don’t understand how they are getting away with acting like this is a viable alternative to actually planning alternative routes on side streets or encouraging employers to allow WFH. I regularly ride one of the busses that goes from my area of Portland to Rose Quarter then downtown. I wouldn’t be surprised if that normally 35 minute ride to downtown becomes 90 minutes as it will be going through all of the worst points of congestion. I’ll bet money now that if I were to ride that bus to my office, not only would the ride take an hour, but I’d have an extra 20 minute walk to my office unless I want to wait for a transfer (which, god knows how fucked those windows will be with all this congestion).
This is such a nightmare. I hope the press eviscerates them.
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u/GuardianHealer 13h ago
Free?! You mean on the taxpayer dime because Tri-met is its own agency and they want to get paid. It’s going to cost like $245k.
An emergency ordinance was added by Mayor Keith Wilson to the consent agenda of the Sept. 2 City Council meeting. The ordinance would create a one-year pilot program running through Aug. 31, 2027, and cost the city up to an additional $245,000. The cost to the city per employee would be $55.
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u/Nelnamara 21h ago
OHSU told us to commit to extending your commute by 45 minutes and plan accordingly to avoid attendance occurrences. P.s. good luck finding parking and btw, we’re raising the price of parking of which there isn’t enough.
Lots of love,
The suits.
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u/oficious_intrpedaler 1d ago
I'm preparing the same way I always have: biking to work!
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
Please wear your most obnoxious safety gear and be as careful as you possibly can be. There is going to be a whole mess of people on side streets and unfamiliar commutes looking at GPS systems.
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u/aggieotis 1d ago
Or let’s be honest. People who have been sitting in traffic for a while and get enraged by seeing somebody on a bike easily pass them.
They’ll then go out of their way to harm the next bike they can as a shitty form of lashing out.
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u/TheVintageJane 1d ago
Anti-cyclist rage is definitely a thing, but for at least these first 2 weeks, my biggest concern would be frustrated, distracted idiots driving unfamiliar routes and not understanding where they are most likely to need to be aware of cyclists. Hanlon’s razor if you will.
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u/VaginaeCultor 1d ago
So they're keeping the bike lane open on I-5 south, are they? ...the same way you always *need* to use that stretch of road?
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u/oficious_intrpedaler 23h ago
I'm not sure what you're saying here, but I hope they're keeping the bike lanes open on the bridge!
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u/echodarlin 1d ago
I wonder how food delivery gigs are going to handle this.
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u/HalliburtonErnie 18h ago
Tip stealing and contract violations for being "late", so, no change or effect.
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u/PrizePuzzleheaded459 1d ago
This is going to be totally rat rectum. More employers should be encourage to have thier people work from home.
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u/VaginaeCultor 1d ago
The correct answer is "Goat Fuck", but the judges will allow "rat rectum" as well.
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u/TheVintageJane 1h ago
The city and or state should be recommending WFH but they haven’t, instead they are turning this into a TriMet marketing campaign.
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u/PdxPhoenixActual 1d ago
I am so glad I join i5 after the closure(s).
As a former exclusive bus/bike rider ... I'll leave when I leave & I will get there when I get there. Boss can deal.
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u/UfoAGogo 6h ago
As a St. Johns resident, it feels highly sadistic that they planned this right after we lost a bunch of bus lines in NoPo. 🙄
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u/PMass 1d ago
"and the only two-lane section of a major interstate in an urban area between Canada and Mexico."
Oh so we're just excluding the rest of i5 in that statement. Roseburg doesn't count, or Medford, or Redding. All have I5 in the middle of their towns and all are 2 lanes of traffic.
I think what the author probably meant to put was "the only two-lane section of a interstate in a major urban area between Canada and Mexico".
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