Gresham sits on the east side of the Portland metro at the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge, with I-84 running along its northern edge through Fairview and Troutdale toward the Gorge. US 26 runs through the city as Powell Boulevard and then the Mount Hood Highway, heading southeast toward Sandy and Mount Hood. Burnside Road, Division Street and Stark Street carry traffic between Gresham and east Portland. The Sandy River marks the eastern edge near Troutdale, and the Historic Columbia River Highway climbs from there into the Gorge.
181st and 182nd avenues run north and south through Rockwood toward I-84, and Hogan Road, also known as 242nd Avenue, links I-84 with downtown Gresham and the southern neighborhoods. Eastman Parkway and Kane Drive cross the hilly east side. The grid is easy to navigate, but rush hour on I-84 and Powell Boulevard backs up, and a breakdown on either one is hard to escape.
The MAX Blue Line runs along Burnside into downtown Gresham, ending at the Cleveland Avenue station, and its park-and-ride lots are popular with commuters headed into Portland. Mt. Hood Community College sits on the north side, and Portland International Airport is a short drive northwest via I-84 and I-205. The shopping centers near downtown and along Burnside double as handy meeting spots.
For a mobile mechanic, Gresham is mostly driveways and garages. Rockwood's apartments and dense blocks rely on lots and street parking, the neighborhoods around Gresham Butte have hilly streets and sloping driveways, and the newer subdivisions in Pleasant Valley have attached garages and wide streets. Many homes on the east side sit on larger lots with room for trailers, boats and work trucks.