![]() It would insist on knowing what a project will cost, how it will be paid for, and who will pay for it. It would insist on knowing how each project fitted into a larger, long-term vision of how roads and transportation system would work. In theory, a regional planning agency would be guided by current, accurate data and scientifically based models. The Oregon Department of Transportation is pushing an entire series of freeway widening efforts, including the $1.2 billion Rose Quarter project, $5 billion for the mis-named “I5 Bridge Program” and billions more for widening I-205 and I-5 at the Boone Bridge in Wilsonville. This approval is one more brick in the wall of an even larger freeway building plan. Supersize Me: The planned $5 billion widening of I-5 (Courtesy: Bike Portland) Next month, the Metro government is being asked to approve $36 million in additional funds for further planning of this massive freeway project. And it says it’s looking at how the whole system works to make Portland a greener more just place.īut when it comes to the single largest transportation investment in the region, a proposed $5 billion 5-mile long, 12-lane wide freeway project across the Columbia River, it’s simply abdicating its responsibility and betraying its stated principles. That government claims to care deeply about the climate crisis, and regularly touts the sophistication of its transportation modeling team. It has a directly elected regional government, with strong planning authority over transportation and land use. In theory, Portland has a smart approach to regional planning. ODOT and WSDOT have not produced a viable financing plan for the project, which would be the region’s most expensive, and which has a $3.4 billion financial hole. ![]() I-5 bridge plans are inconsistent with adopted state, regional and city commitments to use road pricing to manage demand, which would obviate the need for expensive capacity.Freeway plans fail to address climate change and don’t acknowledge that new capacity will produce additional travel and increased greenhouse gases.ODOT is pushing freeway plans piecemeal, with no acknowledgement that they are creating new bottlenecks.The proposed $5 billion, 5-mile long, 12-lane freeway I-5 bridge project is being advanced based on outdated traffic projections using 2005 data.Portland’s Metro regional government would be committing planning malpractice and enabling lasting fiscal and environmental damage if it goes along with state highway department freeway widening plans ![]()
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