Curb space and buildings in Portland
The truck needs a legal place to stand at your new address. In Portland, a Temporary Street Use Permit from PBOT, the city's transportation bureau, reserves on-street spaces for a residential move, and the permit is issued in your name. PBOT asks for up to 7 business days between the application and the start date. Outside its service area you print the reservation signs and set them on barricades yourself; on metered blocks and inside that area, city staff post them. Each year the city also pauses street use on mapped blocks of the big retail districts, from mid-November into early January and again around the Rose Festival in late May and June. If your delivery falls in either season, check those maps on PBOT's permit page. Condo and apartment buildings set their own elevator hours and loading spots. Reserve them, and forward any insurance request in the building's words; we issue the Certificate of Insurance to match.
The road: US 101, then I-5
From downtown Los Angeles the truck takes US 101 to I-5 and then holds that interstate for about 905 miles: the length of California's Central Valley, the mountains of far northern California, the Siskiyou pass into Oregon and the Willamette Valley up to Portland, where I-405 brings it downtown. Fuel for the whole drive is part of your price. If your move goes farther up I-5, see our Los Angeles to Seattle page.
Two days of driving, one time zone
About 14 and a half hours of the trip is time at the wheel. Federal rules let a truck driver drive 11 hours after 10 hours off, so the drive takes two days, and delivery is planned for 3 to 6 days after loading; the rest of that window covers weather on the pass and the move-in slot your Portland building gives you. Both cities run on Pacific time, so a delivery hour you agree with our Irvine office means the same thing at your new door.
- Day one in Los Angeles: each piece is wrapped, what will not fit through a door is unbolted, and every box is checked off your list as it goes on the truck.
- Two days north on I-5, into Oregon over the Siskiyou pass.
- Portland: the crew carries everything to the rooms you named, rebuilds what it took apart and writes up any damage on a Damage Report.
Winter on the Siskiyou pass
The high point of the drive is Siskiyou Summit, just past the Oregon line at 4,310 feet. Northbound, I-5 then drops about 2,300 feet in six miles on a 6 percent grade. ODOT warns that fog, snow and black ice are common there from October to April, and Oregon law requires chains when conditions or posted signs call for them (ODOT). A storm can slow the crossing. On a winter move, put medicine, phone chargers and the documents for your first days in Portland in a bag that travels in your car.
Leaving a Los Angeles rental
If you rent, California law helps you get the security deposit on your LA apartment back. Once you give notice, the landlord must tell you in writing that you can ask for a pre-inspection, a walk-through that shows what to fix while you still live there. After you move out, the landlord has 21 days to return that deposit or send an itemized list of deductions (California Courts). Book the walk-through before loading day and leave your Portland address so the check or the list can find you.
Your first 30 days in Oregon
New residents have 30 days to get an Oregon driver's license, if they will drive, and to title and register their vehicles (Oregon DMV). Most people with a license from another U.S. state can switch without a test. Carry your car title and current registration with you instead of packing them, because that DMV visit can come before the last box is open.
