The regional economy’s post-recession growth has led to more congestion and longer delays for southbound drives into Portland, according to initial data gathered by the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council staff.

“You’ve got to consider, 2010 and 2011 were probably some of the best traffic years we’ve experienced, in many years, due to the recession,” Dale Robins, senior transportation planner with RTC, told the board of directors Tuesday night. Now, the transportation situation “is much worse than where we were five years ago.”

RTC staff found that the region’s transportation system is seeing more commuter trips, and those are causing more delays on the area’s already most congested corridors.

For 2015, RTC staff gathered data by looking at southbound peak traffic times, Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.

“The situation on (Interstate) 5 has gotten to the point where doing nothing is probably not an option,” Robins said.