The center of downtown Portland, Oregon is the famed Pioneer Courthouse Square (S.W. Broadway and S.W. Morrison). It is also known as Portland's living room, plaza, or town square. It is the place where things happen and people meet. (pioneercourthousesquare.org) This is the primary starting point and ending point of Oregon drives.
The secondary starting point is the Portland International Airport, 7000 N.E. Airport Way, along the Columbia River, at the far North East corner of Portland. Taking the freeways, I-205 (south) then I-84 (west), the drive to Pioneer Courthouse Square is about twenty to thirty minutes from the airport parking garage. (flypdx.com)
Portland freeways are best to avoid for inbound to downtown, 7:30 am to 9:00 am, and outbound, 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.. Watch out for trucks, Portland is a major trucking hub. For the latest traffic information go to the Oregon Department of Transportation website (tripcheck.com).
Smile for the camera. Many of Portland's streets and intersections have photo radar for speed and stoplight violations. Some of the fixed locations are; E. Burnside Blvd. and N.E. Grand Ave., N.E. Broadway and N.E. Grand Ave. The mobile locations are generally near; downtown bridges, and schools (portlandonline.com).
Fuel your vehicle on the Portland's eastside, it is cheaper. The prices of major and minor fueling stations are five to ten cents a gallon cheaper than Portland's westside. Stay in your car, there is no self-service gasoline in Oregon (portlandgasprices.com).
