Portland to Salem Commute (Wilsonville, Mission: rental, neighborhoods, living in)

[PB&J&A]

Hi all,
My partner and I are relocating in April and my main office will be in Salem (she will fortunately be able to work remotely). Yes, I understand, "live where you work." I just can't abide by that advice. At least not yet. We're from the MidWest, but have been living in the SF Bay Area for the past 4 years, thus accustomed to a long, miserable commute. In my experience, driving 45 miles in 60 minutes is preferable to sitting in an essential parking lot, driving 12 miles in over an hour. We've set up a temporary rental in Hawthorne, but would like some opinions on how feasible this commute will actually be or suggestions on neighborhoods that would be most amenable to this drive. I'll be getting to work before 8 and leaving around 4.
Any thoughts are much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to respond,
Ashley

[psichick]

My two cents....find a city close to the 205/5 interchange. At least you're not quite as far, but not in downtown Portland either. Oh dang. You wrote that you are in a temporary rental in Hawthorne. Yikes. That's going to be one heck of a nasty commute. I live near the 217/5 interchange and thought about commuting to Salem. And from where I live, it's still a 45 min drive w/o traffic. You could add on another 30 mins....or more...because I know what I see on the freeway, people are heading south in the AM...aka jammed up.

I will say this...traffic here is very different form CA. I'm from SoCal and a 50 min commute doesn't bother me mostly because the freeways move. Sometimes it's stop/go and inches a long, but other times, it's moving at 50+. Versus, inching along in stop/go traffic for an hour. Yuck.

My two cents. I would probably try and move more south, towards the 205/5 interchange. Unless you're dead set on living closer to downtown. Then, well, good luck. I don't know what the commute would be from Salem to, say, Wilsonville. But I know that traffic gets bad once you hit the 205/5 interchange going north.

[PB&J&A]

Thanks, I really appreciate the input. I've been tracking googlemaps and traffic in the morning when my commute would be, which is leaving before 7 a.m. Would this make much of a difference in your opinion? It typically comes in at only an hour when leaving from downtown...I have no idea how accurate this is, though, which is why I'm reaching out to all you kind locals. Thanks again!

[psichick]

IMHO, looking at the red/green/yellow isn't accurate. HOWEVER, when I get my navigation set up (via Google Maps), that seems pretty accurate. Not all the time, but most times. For instance, sometimes going home, it'll show very small parts of red on a street, however, the entire street going a few lights is backed up. So why just a quarter of a street shows red, I have no idea. Or the freeway may show red for a few miles, but when I get to it, it's moving, a bit. Slowly, but moving. Not necessarily stopped or stop/go. And then, of course, there are days I see all green going to work and I hit traffic. LOL. Typical, right?

In the AM, when you'd typically leave, try doing a navigation from your place to your work. See if that helps. I honestly have to think the hour is wrong. Granted, maybe there's no traffic before 7am on your route. I leave at 7:10am and I know on the 217 southbound, it's already stop/go. The 5 may be open though.

[PB&J&A]

Ah, I know what you mean! One of life's great mysteries is the Google Maps red/green/yellow...I find the only certainty is the red/black. You see that and it's a guarantee that you are most definitely screwed. I'm quite the avid stalker, so each morning for several weeks, I'd check around 6:45-7:00 a.m. from an inner SE location to downtown Salem. It's typically 60ish minutes, which I found comforting, but at the same time was suspicious (hence I am posting on this forum). What seems to be worse is the commute back up in the evening between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. That's consistently an hour and ten+. Fortunately, I'll be training in Portland the first 2 months, which is why we arranged the temporary Hawthorne lease...at the very least, we're going to experience Portland temporarily. I did see there's an Amtrak line running between the two, but runs infrequently and doesn't seem to be used as a commuter option.

Any specific recommendations for cities just South of Portland with easy access to both cities? The major appeal Portland has for us is the open-minded, progressive community feel a lot of the neighborhoods possess. We're going to be starting a family relatively soon and being a same-sex couple are looking for as much opportunity for acceptance and diversity as we can find. We also LOVE food (vegetarian), hiking, indoor climbing, cider/wine, and staying active. I've been mostly blasted with negativity when searching about Salem (i.e., everyone complains it is incredibly boring). I'm sure we'll get a better sense of the different options once we're out here, but really appreciate the input!

[oldtintype]

Don't live in Salem. If you want to be in Portland proper you might want to check out something close to 5 like Capital Hill/Multnomah Village area. At least you'd be bypassing downtown (as opposed to Hawthorne) on your way to/from Salem. It would shave off about 10-15 min in non peak times and up to half an hour during peak times.

Google has it as 45 min from Multnomah Village to Salem without traffic. Still a long commute but.....Other than something in SW like I suggested, you're in the suburbs. I don't think any of the suburbs are particularly anti gay but it's...the suburbs. Just depends what you're looking for.

What city are you in in the Bay Area? What suburbs/cities in the Bay Area would you definitely not want to live in? That helps to give you suggestions.

[PB&J&A]

Great suggestions! Thank you! We're basically trying to avoid living in Salem at all costs, but at the same time realize that's completely unfair given we've never actually been there. We currently live in Campbell (West San Jose area), which we like because it has a nice downtown area with restaurants, bars, shops, Sunday farmers market, etc., and is very dog friendly. We honestly prefer many neighborhoods in San Francisco (Hayes Valley, Castro, parts of the Mission, Noe Valley, and Bernal Heights) to most areas down in the South Bay, though. San Jose is very spread out and overall quite boring, although not a terrible place to live. We're looking for more walkable neighborhoods, yet close proximity to outdoor activities. And the irony is not lost on me that we're searching for a walkable neighborhood, only to drive a very long distance to work every day

[oldtintype]

Multnomah Village has a cute shopping strip with restaurants, is close to Hillsdale which has a nice library, farmer's market and various shops, and close to downtown. That part of SW Portland is very rural feeling yet still walkable--lots of trees, very different from Hawthorne but very nice and I'd chose it rather than one of the suburbs on the way to salem any day.

Multnomah Village Business Association

[EnricoV]

Actually, the Amtrak Cascades is set up as a commuter train ... but is really only down in the morning and back in the evening. It leaves Portland at 6 and arrives in Salem at 7, which sounds great for you. The return would be more of a problem, as it doesn't leave until 6, returning to Portland at 7. There are earlier buses that Amtrak runs, though.

And personally, that would look really attractive to me. I'd look for a place in the Pearl, which would be really near the train station, and sounds like exactly the kind of neighborhood you're wanting. The fare is steep (it looks like you can get a month-long unlimited-ride pass between the two cities for $218 ... so five days a week, two rides would put each trip at about $5), but then so is gas and wear & tear on a car, driving that many miles.

[PB&J&A]

Multnomah Village is an area we weren't familiar with, but judging from that website and your description, is right up our alley. I'll get back to my creepy, stalking ways and closely watch Google Maps during peak times again!