Oregon Public Broadcasting

The City of Portland received a national award Tuesday for its use of technology to improve traffic congestion.   Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Dozens of traffic experts packed a downtown hotel for the award.

But many Portlanders may be thinking that for all the light-rail and bicycling, traffic hasn't improved.

The city's director of transportation, Susan Keil, concedes the point but says it'd be a lot worse if they hadn't taken all kinds of steps.

Susan Keil: "If we continue to have in-migration, then to keep it at the same level of congestion is pretty good. I wish more people would go to really congested cities, because then they could come back with a more balanced perspective on how well things do move in Portland."

New traffic-easing technologies you might not have noticed include lights that  stay green longer for buses and trucks -- so they don't block intersections; and special timing at surface street stop lights when there's a freeway accident -- so commuters can drive around it quicker.