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ODOT presents statewide congestion and reliability report; Bend highlighted for rapid growth
Summary
ODOT staff presented the agency's third statewide congestion and reliability report at a Bend TAC meeting, showing Bend's population and employment have grown far faster than statewide averages and identifying signal operations and recurring congestion as leading causes of delay in the Bend MPO area.
ODOT staff presented the agency's statewide congestion and reliability overview to the Bend Technical Advisory Committee during a hybrid meeting, summarizing metrics, data sources and local findings relevant to the Bend MPO.
The report, the third edition produced by Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), uses probe-speed data (INRIX via a RITIS subscription) to measure recurring congestion and reliability statewide and at county and city scales. ODOT presenters Becky Knudson, a presenter with ODOT, and Chi Mai of ODOT's transportation analysis unit described where congestion and unreliability cluster and why Bend shows distinct patterns compared with Portland and other metro areas.
Knudson said the report links economic activity to transportation demand: "public agencies have little control over economic activity," and that strong population and employment growth drives travel demand. She noted Bend's growth has outpaced statewide averages: since 2001 Bend's population rose about 89% and employment about 68%, while statewide vehicle miles traveled increased roughly 9% over the same period. Knudson and Chi described two primary performance measures in the report—congestion (recurring delay) and reliability (day-to-day or seasonal variability)—and said the report includes county- and city-level appendices with maps for all 36 counties.
The presenters explained the data sources and key findings: INRIX probe-speed data (available to Oregon government agencies and their contractors through the RITIS subscription) underpins the statewide maps; Portland Metro accounts for the largest share of recurring congestion; Bend and Deschutes County show a larger share of delay attributed to signal operations compared with the statewide mix; and some areas that are moderately unreliable are not highly congested, a pattern ODOT links to seasonal factors such as weather or recreational travel. Chi said INRIX/RITIS is ODOT's primary source for the congestion and unreliability maps and that project-level or very small‑segment VMT estimates are less certain.
Knudson summarized other numeric findings highlighted in the presentation: roughly 60% of statewide VMT occurs on state highways (about 61% historically), 35% of total VMT is commercial (freight and business travel) while households account for approximately 65% of VMT, and heavy vehicles represent about 9% of VMT but about 75% of heavy-vehicle miles occur on state facilities. She also noted lane-mile capacity statewide has grown more slowly than population and employment (lane‑mile increases under 10% statewide since 2000 while population and employment rose faster), which complicates the ability of agencies to 'build their way out' of congestion.
Committee members asked several technical questions. One TAC member asked whether INRIX-based outputs separate transit from other vehicle types; Chi responded the probe-speed dataset represents vehicular travel (private and commercial vehicles and trucks) and does not currently separate transit operations. Another member asked whether the 'signal operations' cause category distinguishes signals from roundabouts; Chi said the methodology (developed externally) does not clearly indicate whether roundabouts are differentiated and that ODOT staff would follow up. Staff also noted the Bend-area signal‑ops data covered Deschutes County and 2023 was the data year used for the regional maps.
Knudson and Chi encouraged TAC members to use the underlying tools for before-and-after or trend analysis and said the full report (with expanded appendices) was posted to support legislative and local planning conversations. They said ODOT plans a subsequent edition in 2026 with updated maps and data.
The presentation concluded with TAC members discussing how performance measures could inform scenario modeling with local travel demand models and how per-capita VMT metrics (used by statewide climate policy) are trending down slowly but not as quickly as climate goals require.
