Downtown Portland, Oregon, Freeway Tour

This video tours all 5 of the major freeways, leading into, around and out of Downtown Portland, Oregon. I-5, I-405, I-84, U.S. 26 and U.S. 30 are featured in this video. Includes footage of the Fremont Bridge, the 2nd longest tied arch bridge in the world, as well as the Marquam Bridge.

[@CosmoPhotography]

Portland looks like a lot of fun! I've heard many good things about it and will definitely have to check it out sometime during my college years. This was a great video and one of your best I think! I really like your revised style of displaying graphics and the directional tabs at the top of the road you're currently on.

[@EuropeanRoads]

Very thorough job! The large amount of overpasses on the 405 can be explained because it is a depressed freeway, running under the downtown grid system.

[@PeteTheChopp]

What a beautiful city! That section of US 26 by Washington Park is awesome!

[@InterstateKyle]

I love Portland!!! Cant wait to go back soon!

[@Freewayjim]

Outstanding! one of your best works IMO. It does look a little like Pittsburgh-West out there, definitely on my list of places to go someday. 6* and a trip to the favorites file.

[@imhellag]

Portland seems nicely compact and scenic enough. What a difference from LA, the ratio of concrete to green!

[@FreewayBrent]

@grvk: Thank you! Portland, Oregon, is one of my favorite cities to drive around.

[@FreewayBrent]

@haljackey: Thank you! Portland definitely has a very interesting freeway network. I know it's regarded as sort of an American utopia, regarding mass-transit, but their freeway network is very enjoyable; a mixture of the old and the new, bridges and tunnels. Their downtown freeways are amongst my favorite in America.

[@tshane250]

YAWN! LOL, just kidding. That was a totally awesome tour. Portland is very scenic. I really need to go there someday. Thanks for sharing!

[@jimritem]

Great job!!! Gotta watch it again. Thanks for posting this.

[@dhcave]

Thanks for the trip ! Driving through all of the freeways must take some time.

[@dhcave]

@FreewayBrent What I mean is that documenting all of the freeways in a major city requires some investigation in advance, and time and strength for shooting on the roads, but you still managed to do all that in this video, and earn the reputation on KZbin with this and other ones you made. This is amazing. I only counted a few (quite few...) people doing this on KZbin worldwide so far... I was not saying that you have "all the time to spare on the highways." I'm sorry if you feel bad.

[@FreewayBrent]

@dhcave: haha, well, I *wish* I had all the time to spare on the highways. But then again, I guess everyone has to live by some kind of commitments. Anyway, I actually filmed the entire Portland metro freeway network in one day, except for this downtown freeway tour. I actually picked out the routes, on a whim, without really any advance planning. Basically whatever I "felt" was the right route, at the right time, depending on traffic conditions. I really appreciate the feedback. Thanks!

[@ZoeToots]

This is sweet! Love the way you narrate it too!

[@FreewayBrent]

@QuasiTraction: Hey, no problem; I'm glad you enjoyed this particular video, and I feel it's one of the best ones I've released. For the most part, I-405 has pretty light traffic during non-commute hours. But wow, during rush hour, if you're in the Nob Hill district just west of I-405, you can get a good view of the sea of brake lights in both directions on the Fremont Bridge & a quick peek on Oregon's traffic cameras will show all 3 miles of I-405 practically congested or even gridlocked.

[@FreewayBrent]

@yourwifecalledagain: Yes, the region does indeed continue to grow at a pretty fast pace. As of 2009, the region had over 2.2 million residents, not including the other 383,000 that live around the Salem area, which has strong commuter ties between the two cities.

[@Freewayjim]

@FreewayBrent -Yes, the freeways there look extremely interesting

[@FreewayBrent]

@2004JETTA: Thanks! It took about 8 hours to put this video together, from start to to end.

[@FreewayBrent]

@Bryant5493: I agree. And even better yet, most of those narrow stretches of freeway have emergency breakdown shoulders.

[@QuasiTraction]

@FreewayBrent First off, thanks for putting more videos of Portland up. Hope you enjoyed your time here! second, I-405 actually did take out a number of houses and structures in SW Portland. It was part of an urban renewal project that was started in the early 1960's. Many of the homes were rentals and were in poor shape. Unfortunately when 405 construction was started, it's design was already obsolete for the growing population, but its certainly less congested than I-84 or I-5 at peak hours.

[@aflutes1706]

great video

[@FreewayBrent]

@CosmoPhotography: (continued from before)...bookstores, mom-and-pop shops, bars, lounges, microbreweries, neighborhood movie theaters, and etc., there may be no better city in America, as you can explore for virtually months and months and never run out of such places to discover. Perhaps America's quirkiest city, too, and the great outdoors is virtually at everyone's doorstep. In the future, I'll be working on a 4-part street tour around the different Portland neighborhoods.

[@Nexis4Jersey]

Wow that was truly incredible , drools

[@FreewayBrent]

@aswchris: I'm not quite sure what it is, specifically, but I-405 doesn't seem to split the city apart, like some other urban freeways do. Perhaps it's because I-405, itself, isn't some 12 or 14 lane monstrosity. I'm not sure of the history of I-405's construction, but it doesn't appear there were any houses or apartments that were bulldozed to make way for freeway construction. Thanks for the feedback; this was not an easy video to edit. I put a lot of time into this one.

[@FreewayBrent]

@GeoffJennyOliver: Yes, I love driving around the Portland area, and downtown in particular. I think you saw the Portland Aerial Tram; that opened up a few years ago as a commuter tram, between the South Waterfront district and the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Most of it was funded by OHSU; the city picked up a smaller portion of the tab. Look up the Portland Aerial Tram on wikipedia (KZbin wont allow me to post internet links).

[@2004JETTA]

fantastic this must have taken a long time

[@FreewayBrent]

@tshane250: Thanks for the acknowledgement, and I'm glad you enjoyed the tour around downtown Portland!

[@soldieroffurtune09]

This is great! I just want to let you know that you and cosmophotography has influenced my major decision to become a civil engineer. Thank you

[@FreewayBrent]

@Freewayjim: Yeah, there's a ton of hills all over the place in Portland, and lots of trees and greenery, just like Pittsburgh. The architecture and political climate is completely different, but both cities place an emphasis on the importance of neighborhoods. I think you now realize why I wanted to get back to Portland to film around town; the freeways may not have a ton of lanes on them, but they are all interesting rides.

[@GoJoGeoff]

...that's awesome stuff Brent - overpasses everywhere - up down in and around - what was the cabling at 0.43 power lines?

[@stanbernadino]

Awesome video...I'm actually pretty embarrassed at the extremely outdated nature of our infrastructure here in Oregon. ODOT has so much money to pour into light rail and commuter trains but doesn't seem to care about the ridiculous traffic jams Oregonians have to put up with every day. I like Portland but I hate going through there because I always end up stuck in a jam. North I-5 from the Rose Quarter until you cross the bridge is a nightmare!

[@adrianroam95]

i'm remember going on the stretch starting at 2:59. something about it was cool...

[@FreewayBrent]

@CAMINOANDALUZ: Let's just say that it took more than a few minutes to do this one. :-) It probably took about 10 hours of total editing time, because of all the extra graphics that I inserted, then sized, re-sized, and relocated. I won't be using the cardinal directional tabs for most of my videos; I changed directions so many times in this particular video, that I felt it would be helpful to guide my viewers on which direction I was heading in.

[@FreewayBrent]

@FreewayTitan: Fortunately, there's no major potholes on any of their freeways, but their road surfaces tend to wear down real quick. US 26 is prob in most need of a resurfacing; I-5 is also a pretty rough ride, too.

[@FreewayBrent]

@JMB106: Thanks, brotha!

[@FreewayBrent]

@ZoeToots: I had no idea you posted a comment on this video until now. My bad. Thanks for watching, and glad you enjoyed!

[@Stoffelpiff]

gutes video Daumen hoch!!!!!

[@wipandco]

Do you use a wide angle lens on your camera?

[@georgiaroadgeek]

Great video, Brent! BTW, where do you get the images for signs and markers that you are using? I'd like to add the same thing to my videos. Again, great video, Brent, and thanks in advance for your answer.

[@FreewayBrent]

@CosmoPhotography: Portland's freeways may not be 16 or 18 lane monstrosities, but I would argue that the region has some of the more interesting freeways in the country. Beyond the freeways though, Portland is perhaps America's most walkable, most livable & neighborhood-oriented city. The city lacks any true international destinations; rather, it's one of those cities that, IMO, is a better place to live than to visit. With that said, if you're into exploring restaurants, cafes...

[@FreewayBrent]

@Nexis4Jersey: Hey, thanks! Looks just a tad bit better than the very first videos I uploaded onto KZbin, yeah? :)

[@hhsoul35]

nice opening photo! oooh~ i like going up hill :) sweet video!!! it looks like you mapped out a route that would best showcase the interesting parts of the streets/structure! now if only it would stop stalling.... -jenn-

[@FreewayBrent]

@wooga78: Hey there, it's been awhile. I didn't include I-205 in this video, because it bypasses Downtown Portland to the east by about 5 miles, so it would not have made sense to include it in this Downtown Freeway tour video. I will eventually be uploading a separate I-205 video on its own; maybe in the 2nd half of the year. Hope this clears things up. Cheers to you, and have a great rest of the weekend. :-)

[@grvk]

Avesome ride !

[@FreewayBrent]

@jimritem: Thank you!

[@FreewayBrent]

@flees4free: Thank you!

[@FreewayBrent]

@georgiaroadgeek: I'll send you the links to all of the signs on Facebook. Thanks for watching!

[@FreewayBrent]

@InterstateKyle: Portland is awesome! Can't wait to go back up there next summer, and re-film everything with my new camcorder. Should make for a much improved video.

[@FreewayBrent]

@bulldozer950: Yeah, and a circle that is a lot of fun to drive around!

[@FreewayBrent]

@hhsoul35: Thank you, dong-saeng! Maybe I'll get a chance to show you around the City of Treez, sometime soon. :-D

[@TheFonz89]

@Garguy5 Paul Keeley - Doormatica. One of his better songs however my favorite happens to be Sunset Boulevard.

[@FreewayBrent]

@dhcave: For this particular video, or just in general? I've driven over 600,000 miles now, and I'm only 28 years old! It's only fitting that I have "FreewayBrent" as my name, here on KZbin!

[@FreewayBrent]

@wipandco: I do not, but it's something that I have considered. I know for a fact that KZbin member, CosmoPhotography, has used one in the past.

[@socarboy]

Too bad that the copyright holder of the song had YT mute it. In my opinion I belive that they were "shooting themselves in the foot" by doing this by limiting exposure to their song that perfectly flowed with the video. I'm glad I copied it in its original form a couple of years ago and it's saved to my computer's drive.

[@Toyfexable]

ya go blazers 1:53

[@Nexis4Jersey]

@FreewayBrent yes i remember those shitty red tinted videos

[@Zalis116]

And meanwhile, the hippie road-haters in Portland want to tear down the Marquam Bridge, redesginate I-405 as I-5, and remove I-5 from the east side of the Willamette River entirely.

[@96justinpark]

From the look of this video, the freeways in Portland seem... very poorly planned out. LOL

[@hollowaang5284]

I've driven those freeways plenty of times and they don't make any sense at all. Seattle seems to be better with their highway system.

[@stanbernadino]

I know, if they do that I won't bother going to Portland anymore...like 90% of the population I drive a car and would rather avoid the nightmare traffic scenario that would create =]

[@JMMT7022801]

The audio's all fucked up. I'm not getting any audio!

[@FreewayBrent]

Yeah. Unfortunately, the record label that owns the copyright to this song, decided to ban it for use on KZbin, so it's been muted. I have no control over that, unfortunately. I'll be heading back up to Portland in the summer, so I'll be replacing this video with much improved footage (and better editing, too).

[@KazuchiX]

FreewayBrent Would like to see that too

[@kurzovarchives30]

The audio seems to have returned.

[@FreewayBrent]

I'm going to finally start working on a much-improved version over the next few weeks. Video should be out by early December!