Yesterday’s Oregonian has a piece (Tualatin mayor praises Bridgeport traffic flow) quoting the Mayor of Tualatin, Lou Ogden, talking in his State of the City address about the improvements to roads surrounding Bridgeport Village: “Most times of the day, you see open lanes there.”
But I bet he’s never been there on a bicycle…
3 responses to “Traffic Just Peachy at Bridgeport Village”
As someone who uses that area constantly in one mode or another, I really have to agree with El Major that things have not turned out as badly as feared. I had worried about bottlenecks on the off-ramp of I-5 at peak times, from backups along the rightmost lane of Lower Boone’s Ferry. And then after the light at the Park and Ride, I figured the right turn lane into the complex would get backed up quickly as well.
Neither seems to be the case, amazingly. As a driver you have to pay serious attention to how your lane is painted, especially turning left onto LBF from 72nd and also the offramp. But other than that, traffic almost seems BETTER than before.
The mayor’s concerns appropriately only extend to the public streets surrounding the complex, which is good news for Bridgeport Commons–because the trouble starts when you get inside it. I understand the idea of creating a piazza-like arrangement that necessitates moving parking off to the side, but it really seems like a pain to drive all the way to the back, park, and then walk to your destination. There is dedicated parking for the restaurant cluster on the East side; there should have been some dedicated spaces for the Regal 18–perhaps behind it. And if you want to shop at Wild Oats, good luck to you!
There are some nice touches–free umbrellas at the exit of the parking deck, for instance–but overall I think the mall management hopes to just cajole as many people as possible into letting a valet take care of parking your car. That crosses a line of boojieness for me, I’m afraid.
Ironically, the parking arrangements are not unlike some some Dutch towns. You drive to a structure at the edge of the center, then park and walk into the center.
The circulation in the surface parking is definitely a mess though.
My big problem however is that you can’t get there easily via any mode other than passenger car.
I am interested in the comment by Chris and torridjoe about the parking structure at Bridgeport Village. When Bridgeport first opened, my observation was the people did not use the structure, but clogged up the site looking for surface parking. Surface parking and circulation does not support the capacity, and parking structure usage was required, but people did not appear willing to get out of their cars and walk. The expectation was for parking at the store front.
Does anyone know if his pattern has changed? Are more people using the valet parking or are people more educated to use the parking structure? How does this work for grocery shopping at Wild Oats?
I’ve heard that Bridgeport is jammed on a
Saturday night, and cars are spilling out into adjacent streets, which is different than the mayor’s report. Does anyone have additional information?
I bike past Bridgeport frequently during the daytime, and I agree with torridjoe that congestion isn’t as bad as it was at the opening.
I would be interested in knowing what people who go to Bridegport have observed about usage of the parking stucture vs motorists expectations of surface parking at the place they are going.
Regards,
Richard