(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has wasted no time showing where her transportation priorities are. On the first day of the session she published a bill for consideration in the Oregon Senate that lists 37 highway projects worth about $888 million dollars.
In 2016.
The list is included in Senate Bill 38 (text), which was requested by Governor Brown for the Department of Transportation. It includes projects in every region of the state. 15 of the projects are spread across Interstates 5, 84, and 26. There are eight projects slated for Interstate 5 at a combined cost of $182.4 million. Big ticket items on the wish-list include $100 million more dollars for the next phase of the Sunrise Corridor in Clackamas (taxpayers have already paid $130 million for the first phase), another $192 million for the controversial Newberg-Dundee Bypass (near Wilsonville), and $100 million more for the Highway 62 bypass project in Medford.
Of the $888 million, about one-third ($290 million) would be allocated toward freeway interchanges. Here’s the entire list
This is about the same amount of funding for major highway projects passed by the legislature in 2009. Their Jobs and Transportation Act was a $960 million bill that included a list of highway projects worth $840 million.
(Editorial digression ahead…)
Who has chosen these projects? Where was the public debate? Why are elected officials acting like traffic engineers and telling the Oregon Department of Transportation what to do? Are projects that will increase carbon emissions, destroy the fabric of our neighborhoods, and lead to more deaths, injuries and unhealthy Oregonians really our top priority in 2016?
Oregon is at a crossroads. Transportation funding is one of the top issues in Salem this session and so far it looks like 1960s-era freeway projects are by far the top spending priority. The drumbeat of “congestion is hurting the economy” and “we need to fix bottlenecks” is growing louder by the day. It is drowning out all our lofty commitments to air quality, public health, climate change prevention, traffic safety, and so on. Unless you believe that lawmakers will address those problems responsibly — that is, by investing heavily in biking and transit in urban areas to relieve traffic pressure on interstates and create a healthier and more efficient system for all road users — we are headed for more business as usual. That means incremental progress for biking, walking and transit while motor vehicle use — and all the negative impacts that come with it — grows at an exponential rate.
Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2017 session.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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