Population boom in the Mid-Willamette Valley, increased traffic, and other thoughts..

[Aero Denezol]

It's always been hard to go anywhere quick in Portland and Seattle, especially at rush hour. I used to live in Portland, and for many years I visited family and customers in Seattle. I have driven plenty in those cities and seen their traffic problems firsthand.

One of the advantages to living in a smaller town is better traffic. Or at least it used to be an advantage. I am noticing more and more it's getting hard go anywhere quick in the mid-Willamette Valley. Our infrastructure here is much more limited than in Portland and Seattle. Recently a large influx of transplants has turned an orderly flow of traffic into a morass. No longer can I use my lunch hour to run errands. I see more red-light runners and more road rage. I hear more police sirens at night. I spend precious chunks of time sitting at intersections burning gasoline. And a homeless person recently took a dump in the parking lot our company.

When I left the Board of my local Neighborhood Association (2021) the City predicted 30,000 additional residents for Salem-Keizer in the next 5 years. I think that estimate was way, way, low. People are coming here in droves.

I guess there is no stopping "progress". But lately I'm also thinking I need to make plans to leave the mid-Willamette Valley. At least, I need to leave the I-5 Corridor. If I wanted to deal with big city problems, I would move to a big city.

Anyway, this has all been very frustrating. Maybe some of you have observed the same thing.

Rant over.

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[CamoDeafie]

It's always been hard to go anywhere quick in Portland and Seattle, especially at rush hour. I used to live in Portland, and for many years I visited family and customers in Seattle. I have driven plenty in those cities and seen their traffic problems firsthand.

One of the advantages to living in a smaller town is better traffic. Or at least it used to be an advantage. I am noticing more and more it's getting hard go anywhere quick in the mid-Willamette Valley. Our infrastructure here is much more limited than in Portland and Seattle. Recently a large influx of transplants has turned an orderly flow of traffic into a morass. No longer can I use my lunch hour to run errands. I see more red-light runners and more road rage. I hear more police sirens at night. I spend precious chunks of time sitting at intersections burning gasoline. And a homeless person recently took a dump in the parking lot our company.

When I left the Board of my local Neighborhood Association (2021) the City predicted 30,000 additional residents for Salem-Keizer in the next 5 years. I think that estimate was way, way, low. People are coming here in droves.

I guess there is no stopping "progress". But lately I'm also thinking I need to make plans to leave the mid-Willamette Valley. At least, I need to leave the I-5 Corridor. If I wanted to deal with big city problems, I would move to a big city.

Anyway, this has all been very frustrating. Maybe some of you have observed the same thing.

Rant over.

Yup, I've noticed much the same living in Albany, now in Monmouth.... to make matters worse, there's more people living in West Salem area that has to cross the Center Street Bridge and the Marion St Bridge at the same timeframe... and Marion St Bridge is being worked on at nights

 

[frank linkh]

Thanks to all who participated in this immigration process. You know who you are. Let's go Brandon

 

[Hop Sing]

Same here in McMinnville. We actually have a rush hour here in mornings and evenings. We quit dining in town because parking was near impossible to find. Oddly, unlike a previous poster here - you know how you are - I see mostly white people plugging up the roads. Immigrants seem to be working instead of going to restaurants.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Yeah no... its not a certain class of people moving in droves. Monmouth/Independence have always had a large Hispanic/Latin American community for the last 35+ years, but its only in the last 5 years that white people are booming here, usually moving from either Eugene, Portland, Salem/West Salem or McMinnville because it is cheaper rent and properties here than in those cities plus relatively low crime.. I'd say its more the wealthy ones moving from places like Seattle, California, New York City (thanks Ron...) that are buying up properties and moving for a "better life" and bringing the traffic and voting patterns that they left behind

 

[Provincial]

Yeah no... its not a certain class of people moving in droves. Monmouth/Independence have always had a large Hispanic/Latin American community for the last 35+ years, but its only in the last 5 years that white people are booming here, usually moving from either Eugene, Portland, Salem/West Salem or McMinnville because it is cheaper rent and properties here than in those cities plus relatively low crime.. I'd say its more the wealthy ones moving from places like Seattle, California, New York City (thanks Ron...) that are buying up properties and moving for a "better life" and bringing the traffic and voting patterns that they left behind

This.

The last two days, I have seen cars with California plates at the Post Office. I assume they are filing Change of Address forms, because the white women inside them are writing on something and then going back inside. One of the cars had a bumper sticker that said "F___ Trump", so we know how they will vote.

They have fouled their nest in Cali, and now moved here to foul us, too.

 

[pharmseller]

I know exactly what you mean.

Harrisburg went to hell years ago when we got our stoplight.

When will the madness end? A roundabout?




P

 

[Bajablast]

I drive to Kent/Auburn/Renton area and back 4 days a week. Thankfully the trip north is early morning hours, so traffic is less hellish up there.

Everything stated above and more have me planning my escape from Oregon and the socialist policies of the west coast.

When the time comes to leave, I will not miss it here in the Portland metro
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The world is full of kings and queens, who blind your eyes and steal your dreams. It's Heaven and Hell......

 

[Ura-Ki]

Yup, Salem has gone to hell in a hand basket! In the 6 years I have been here the homeless have grown exponentially, and along with it the crime, with the Koof, many of the good mom and pop businesses have closed up or moved out. And the taxes are always going up ( thanks Dems) while the roads are getting more jambed up and the pot holes grow larger and larger! Between all the wasted tax dollars spent in Art projects and other pork bellies like Homeless camps that fail almost as soon as they fill up, to the over burden of new Cali plates showing up every damn day, it's crazy and getting crazier! I swear, the water is worse now too, you can smell the chlorine and other crap in it now, it's so bad that I had to take on a water delivery service to get good clean drinking water, yet more taxes wasted elsewhere in crap we don't need!