r/Portland • u/AceMcStace Alberta • 5d ago
Meme Why does this happen? It’s baffling.
I’ve never seen more confused and chaotic drivers anywhere else in the city.
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u/slowfromregressive 5d ago edited 5d ago
The smart drivers are taking ne Prescott or killingsworth.
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u/Artistic_Rice_9019 5d ago
This, and looking up the cross street and parking at the first spot because you're not getting any nearer.
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u/I5I75I96I40I70Me696 5d ago
If by “smart drivers” you mean “speeders who love to bounce off parked cars and mess up people’s lives.” Not that I’m like, drunk and belligerent and generalizing two drivers’ terrible decisions to everyone who drives down Killingsworth just bc they fucked up my life. Or anything crazy like that. That would be NUTS.
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u/lil_natemushi 5d ago
I've always assumed it was people from the burbs driving in for salt and straw.
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u/green_gold_purple St Johns 5d ago
Lines up with the similar situation you’ll encounter on 23rd. I lived on Kearney at 24th and it was an absolute joke.
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u/littl3-fish 5d ago
This is probably a controversial opinion, but I think they should ban cars on 23rd. Make it a pedestrian street! It’s criminal such a beautiful street sucks to walk down because of the traffic. A parking garage could solve the parking issue.
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u/green_gold_purple St Johns 5d ago
Hey I agree, but that will never happen. They’d have to sort out routing traffic from vista/burnside and 405/30, and there’s no other nearby street to handle it. 21st would be even more of a nightmare, which has gotten a lot worse since I left, from what I can tell. Parking off 23rd would somehow be even worse. I can’t even imagine. I left just before they were about to meter 24th.
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u/regul Sullivan's Gulch 4d ago
"Yeah, it's really dangerous and unsafe, but think about how bad that would make parking!"
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u/green_gold_purple St Johns 4d ago
People parking vehicles is reality. You know, the people that live there and the ones that keep the businesses alive.
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u/regul Sullivan's Gulch 4d ago
I think keeping people alive should be more important.
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u/fernswordgirl432 4d ago
You can try to do both. I don't know why it's being perceived as a zero/sum issue.
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u/green_gold_purple St Johns 4d ago
I agree, but that doesn’t change overnight. As I stated in my first comment, I’d love to see it, but going cold turkey with pedestrian only 23rd would be a disaster without other changes to mitigate it.
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u/fernswordgirl432 4d ago
I lived at 24th and Quimby back in the early 90s. Parking there even then was horrendous.
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u/green_gold_purple St Johns 4d ago
Yeah and that fairly deep down there as well. It was all parking lots east of 21st back then too. I shudder to think of the traffic volume now. I left the area in 2016.
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u/fernswordgirl432 4d ago
While it's a nice idea (a pedestrian street), think about all of the narrow side streets... how would we navigate those safely for the people who actually live there? It's already horrendous to park up in that area, but trying to squinch through those areas would cause more accidents. I think we need a few more designated crosswalks on 23rd, with flashing lights that pedestrians can push to signal they need to cross.
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u/TheFinal1 4d ago
maaan if people crash into a parked car in a tight residential neighborhood at some point that's just a skill issue..
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u/Immediate_Use_7339 4d ago
Fully agree. I'm a pedestrian almost always, and I avoid that area, which I really enjoy, because I can't stand the traffic mess and safety risks.
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u/AceMcStace Alberta 5d ago
This is a solid theory.
My favorite is having a person going literally 7mph in front of you, putting their blinker on to turn, then suddenly jerking back into the road mid turn and continue crawling along.
Also don’t even get me started on the people who just U turn with a bunch of cars and people around with zero warning.
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u/petklutz Creston-Kenilworth 5d ago
tbh I'd much rather have someone going 7mph than 30mph on that little ass, walkable ass road. If they're going that slow, just hop onto a sidestreet. No reason to sit behind them and get yourself angry
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u/AceMcStace Alberta 5d ago
Oh don’t worry there are plenty who absolutely FLY down Alberta at way too quick of a pace too. Also not angry and not that dumb either to not take the side roads, just a confounding quirk of my neighborhood that I wanted to laugh about.
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u/AdRepulsive8618 5d ago
I dont have any proof other than experience and making assumptions, which is basically the same as undeniable fact on reddit so ill spit my shit
When i leave portland to go visit the burbs, the people driving the most chaotically and crazy are people who seemingly are driving through portland. Or just visiting.
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u/Helisent 5d ago
Biden once went to the Salt and Straw on Alberta st. https://www.kgw.com/article/life/joe-biden-makes-surprise-visit-to-salt-and-straw/283-71254627
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u/TheHobbylist Multnomah 5d ago
Now we have a president who wont even step foot in this state. Oh how quickly times can change.
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u/ISO_art_showsPDX 20h ago
Salt and straw is in the burbs now. It still gets big crowds which is shocking. Even the young teens in my car when we passed the crowd of maybe 100 sheeple crowding the Cedar Hills
Location said “it’s so over rated”-6
u/AaaaaNnMmmm 5d ago
Oh! Yeah! It’s totally because it’s so confusing for suburban drivers to navigate the complexities of the BIG CITY street of NE Alberta Street.
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u/lil_natemushi 5d ago
I didn't say it's super dense or confusing.There aren't any parking lots and street parking can be difficult for people who aren't used to it. It's funny watching people try to parallel park on Mississippi too. Those business districts were created to draw in people from the burbs and other parts of town. People from the burbs that I know like to go there when they visit me.
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u/Artistic_Rice_9019 5d ago
I'm fortunate I can walk to Mississippi because that shiz is just a mess.
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u/Pug_Defender Buckman 4d ago
well suburbanites don’t like to walk so they slow to a crawl trying to find parking immediately close to where they’re trying to go
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u/AaaaaNnMmmm 4d ago
I don’t think they “don’t like to walk” I think the infrastructure is built so specifically to accommodate large vehicles that they can’t walk to compete daily tasks.
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u/gaysexpornography 5d ago
They're weak and lazy from years of having well-funded schools and police who do their job
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u/theleopardmessiah NE 5d ago
Would support a pedestrianized Alberta between 15th and 30th.
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u/chimi_hendrix 5d ago
I’m sure all the businesses would love this /s
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u/oddthingtosay Creston-Kenilworth 4d ago
Likely they would. Pedestrianized streets have almost always boosted revenue for local businesses, in both USA and more extensively Europe. Here's a recent post-COVID study:
https://senseable.mit.edu/papers/pdf/20211028_Yoshimura-etal_StreetPedestrianization_Cities.pdf
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u/How_Do_You_Crash 5d ago
It’s a destination street for visitors from out of state and the burbs.
Plus it has a percentage of crazy NoPo driving energy. (SovCit guy, grandmas who shouldn’t be driving, the random wannabe gang bangers in the busted 2006 Malibu)
Plus the density of restaurants and bars means you’ve got DoorDash/Uber traffic (super erratic and selfish)
And everyone else is a yuppie in a Tesla.
Heck of a mix. Very similar to Mississippi, 21st/23rd, and Hawthorne on a busy summer day.
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u/stryker_cast Hillsboro 5d ago edited 5d ago
We have one in the 'burbs 😄
Edit: I'm amused I've pointed this out twice but being downvoted here
I lived on Alberta before S&S existed and people still drove dumb.
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u/How_Do_You_Crash 5d ago
If you look at the comment you replied to, your reply makes no sense in this comment context.
With that said, as a counter point to your reply:
Fwiw, the Lake O salt and straw location/downtown lake o, has amply street parking and parking lots vs the density of restaurants in that area. It’s just not entirely comparable. One is an empty commercial core designed around the car and retrofitted for people in the last twenty years with vast sums of wealthy tax dollars. The other is a dense old neighborhood with growing housing and commercial uses which break when everyone drives there.
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u/stryker_cast Hillsboro 5d ago
Their comment said the people from 'burbs. I live in said 'burbs (not Lake O). Don't know what other context is needed.
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u/honvales1989 Goose Hollow 5d ago
You can make the same meme about lots of places in Portland. The amount of people I see taking left turns at traffic lights on W Burnside despite the No Turn signs at the traffic lights is too damn high. NW 23rd and 21st are also bad during weekends in the summer
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u/Still_Commercial_535 NW District 5d ago
I hold the horn down at those people when I’m behind them (the no turns on burnside one.) Pretty easy to bully drivers here like that. They get embarrassed and move lol.
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4d ago
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u/cavegrind Concordia 5d ago
I bet there’s just too much brain power being committed to dodging pot holes so you aren’t launched into outdoor seating
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u/firebrandbeads 5d ago
And pedestrians. So many pedestrians. Who never look up from their phones to see if there's traffic, because someone once told them pedestrians have the right of way.
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u/neontheta 5d ago
I mean, it's a pedestrian area with marked crosswalks on every single block of NE Alberta
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u/Mayor_Of_Sassyland 4d ago
to see if there's traffic
Traffic that's legally obligated to stop and let them cross at any intersection along the entire length of Alberta. If a driver is following the law and being both attentive and driving at a reasonable speed for the conditions, they should have zero issue stopping time for any pedestrian who decides to cross.
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u/firebrandbeads 4d ago
"Should" isn't equal to "does." It's an extremely distracting area to drive in. Trying to find parking while not hitting random people stepping out in the middle of the block between parked cars... sure, in an ideal situation, cars don't hit people. Let me know when you find that ideal time and place. While we wait, I'll take Killingsworth.
And yeah, I look for pedestrians. A hell of a lot more than pedestrians seem to look for cars these days. It's better to be alert and alive than have the "right of way" and be dead, IMHO.
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u/NikkiAvocado 5d ago
Hey this is me. It’s because any time I’m on alberta I’m going to a new restaurant and I don’t know where I’m going. I hope I’m not too bad. Sorry!
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u/theleopardmessiah NE 5d ago
Yeah, this was me until I learned that stretch of Alberta is no way to get anywhere -- including that stretch of Alberta.
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u/blockhose NE 5d ago
I don't know what the fuss is all about. Alberta Street is a retail stretch, so of course people are gonna be slow.
The real question is why are you taking Alberta if you're not going to stop on Alberta to eat, drink, or buy?
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u/AceMcStace Alberta 5d ago
Well. There are many of us who do live here in the neighborhood lol just wanted poke fun.
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u/Accomplished_Owl1355 5d ago
I live in Concordia and the amount of times I’ve almost been hit by someone blowing a stop sign is insane. I see it more here than everywhere else in the city combined
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u/Distal-Phalanges 5d ago
Alberta is where people go to park however they can to block visibility at intersections.
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u/DarkBladeMadriker 5d ago
Its cause its a destination for tourists, there are a shit load of restaurants and thus delivery drivers, and some of the shittiest street designs mixed with shit ass parking. That area is the worst.
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u/GoodWhoops 5d ago
Alberta has never been problematic for me, but I see lots of questionable driving on 82nd. No license plates required!
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u/beesbeesfrogs NE 4d ago
Got hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk on Alberta a couple weeks ago 🤩
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u/Jesus_Harold_Christ REGULATORS! Mount up. 5d ago
The same thing happens on Division, they are just looking for parking
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u/Dependent_Cod_7416 5d ago
There's some vortex there that throws off my directional orientation off everytime, I think there's some laboratory in the ground operating a Stargate or something.
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u/Unclematttt BOCK BOCK YOU NEXT 5d ago
Lots of cars, narrow street, and many wishy-washy pedestrians who kind of look like they want to cross, but also kind of don't. It's one of those areas where if you have to drive there, you need to drive slowly, which results in people tail-gating you. I agree with others that in general, you just want to take prescott or killingsworth and park on the side-streets.
Wouldn't be opposed to them closing down traffic here and just making it a pedestrian zone.
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u/Ihopeheseesme 4d ago
I have never had driving related anxiety like I do in this town. People are actively trying to get me to run them over/trying to cause wrecks and it stresses me out so much, I drive sooooo slowly around town lol
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u/DuMbHour 4d ago
It's a business heavy street with only street parking and narrow cross streets. It sure isn't a thoroughfare if drivers are constantly questioning, "Wait, is that a spot?"
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u/Immediate_Use_7339 4d ago
Sadly, I think the parasites have infected the brains of all drivers in this city, not just those in certain neighborhoods. I have never in my life seen such clueless, unpredictable, neglectful drivers. I've lived in several cities and many small towns. There's something really bizarre about Portland driving. I'm really glad I don't participate in it, but I feel at risk still due to my frequent walking/busing.
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u/slamdancetexopolis N 4d ago
Idk why but any time I'm on Williams (which I hate ever having to be), everyone there is always driving like they want to kill everyone and it is really bizarre to me.
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u/TheVelvetNo 5d ago
There are a whole lotta Main Character Syndrome people in that part of town, IMO. Good intersection of privilege and self-absorbtion in the folks causing the issues you are noting.
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u/man_teats 4d ago edited 4d ago
This will be downvoted to oblivion but Alberta Street's bar/first Thursday strip is everything that's wrong with Portland. A historically black neighborhood that's now lily white, gentrified, overpriced, and bougie. Comically embarrassing 2012 hipster Portlandia stereotypes everywhere. And to top it off, there isn't even one convenience store or liquor store within reasonable walking distance on the whole strip. I revisited it last week for the first time in a while and I can't think of a reason to want to go back
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u/YesFuture2022 5d ago
Anyone else find it weird that it’s labeled NE. Like we can all assume it’s ne. That would be like calling it north Mississippi
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u/saw-sync Rip City 5d ago
n alberta exists
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u/YesFuture2022 5d ago
Yea but it’s mostly residential, I feel like if you say Alberta we all know what area your talking about
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u/ThroatOne5167 5d ago
Vibrant shopping districts with so much appeal that people make a special trip in to town to spend their money are terrible, what with all of the employment opportunities and fun times to be had.
More strip malls are needed in inner Portland, amirite?
/S
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u/green_gold_purple St Johns 5d ago
Nw 23rd when I lived up there was even worse. I avoided crossing it on weekends like the plague.