By Car: Getting Around Portland

In This Section

Driving Downtown
Parking
Taxicabs & Car-Sharing

While Portland prides itself on being a city that’s easy to get around without a car, this section offers some tips for touring the city in four-wheeled fashion.

See the main “Getting Around” page for background on how the city is laid out.

Major freeways

Downtown Portland is ringed by Interstate 5, the main north-south route from Canada to Mexico, and Interstate 405, a loop that encircles downtown and the Pearl district.

Interstate 84 originates at I-5 on Portland’s inner east side and continues east to Portland International Airport (accessible via the connecting Interstate 205), the Columbia River Gorge, and on to Idaho and Utah.  Interstate 84 is also known as the Banfield Expressway, or just “the Banfield.”

Running west to the coast and east to Mount Hood is U.S. Route 26. The westbound stretch is also known as the Sunset Highway and leads to Beaverton, Hillsboro and Forest Grove, terminating at Seaside on the Oregon Coast (about 75 miles east of Portland). Eastbound Highway 26 is dubbed the Mount Hood Highway. Mount Hood is about 55 miles from downtown Portland; the highway continues east to Nebraska.

Traffic Laws

Speed limits: If not otherwise marked, the speed limit is 20 mph in business districts, 25 mph in residential districts, 55 mph on highways and rural roads and 65 mph on interstate highways.

Turns: Left and right turns onto one-way roads are permitted even with a red light, provided you first stop and yield to traffic and pedestrians.

Cell phone use: The use of a mobile communication device while operating a motor vehicle is only permitted for individuals 18 years of age or older using a hands-free accessory. Individuals under 18 are barred from driving while using any mobile communication device. This includes texting or talking on a cell phone, even with a hands-free accessory.

One more note about driving in Oregon: It’s one of only two states in the nation that don’t allow drivers to pump their own gas (the other is New Jersey).