Month: February 2023
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More induced travel denial
Highway advocates deny or minimize the science of induced travel Induced travel is a well established scientific fact: any increase in roadway capacity in a metropolitan area is likely to produce a proportional increase in vehicle miles traveled Highway advocates like to pretend that more capacity improves mobility, but at best this is a short…
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The Week Observed, February 24, 2023
What City Observatory did this week IBR admits its bridge is too steep. After 15 years of telling the region that the only feasible alternative for crossing the Columbia River was a pair of side-by-side double-decker bridges, the IBR project let slip that it was now thinking about a single level crossing, ostensibly because it…
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I-205 tolls will cost you $600 per year
ODOT’s planned I-205 tolls will cost the average local household $600 annually. Regular commuters on I-205 will have to pay $2,200 per year in tolls under the ODOT plan The Oregon Department of Transportation is proposing to pay for its widening of the I-205 Interstate South of Portland by charging tolls. These tolls will represent…
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IBR floats new bridge design, proving critics right
For four years, the Oregon and Washington highway departments have been pushing a revival of the failed multi-billion dollar I-5 Columbia River Crossing. Their key sales pitch is that the size and design of the project can’t vary in any meaningful way from the project’s decade-old record of decision, for fear of delaying construction or…
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The Week Observed, February 17, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Driving between Vancouver and Wilsonville at 5PM? ODOT plans to charge you $15. Under ODOT’s toll plans, A driving from Wilsonville to Vancouver will cost you as much as $15, each-way, at the peak hour. Drive from Vancouver to a job in Wilsonville? Get ready to shell out as much…
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Driving between Vancouver and Wilsonville at 5PM? ODOT plans to charge you $15
Under ODOT’s toll plans, A driving from Wilsonville to Vancouver will cost you as much as $15, each-way, at the peak hour. Drive from Vancouver to a job in Wilsonville? Get ready to shell out as much as $30 per day. Tolls don’t need to be nearly this high to better manage traffic flow and…
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The Week Observed, February 10, 2023
What City Observatory did this week CEVP: Non-existent cost controls for the $7.5 billion IBR project. Oregon DOT has a history of enormous cost overruns, and just told the Oregon and Washington Legislatures that the cost of the I-5 Bridge Replacement Program (IBR) had ballooned 54 percent, to as much as $7.5 billion. To allay…
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CEVP: Non-existent cost controls for the $7.5 billion IBR project
Oregon DOT has a history of enormous cost overruns, and just told the Oregon and Washington Legislatures that the cost of the I-5 Bridge Replacement Program (IBR) had ballooned 54 percent, to as much as $7.5 billion. To allay fears of poor management and further cost overruns, IBR officials testified they had completed a “Cost…
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The Week Observed, February 3, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Groundhog’s Day for Climate. So you think you’re not Bill Murray in the classic “Groundhog’s Day?” Oregonians, ask yourself: are we anywhere closer to seriously addressing the climate crisis than we were a year ago? Greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing, chiefly because we’re driving more, and our policies…
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What the City of Portland said about the Rose Quarter
City of Portland raises big questions about the I-5 Rose Quarter freeway widening project (translated). Last month was the deadline for comments on the supplemental environmental analysis for the proposed $1.45 billion I-5 Rose Quarter freeway widening project. Our friends at Bike Portland got a copy of the city’s comment letter, signed by then Portland…
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Climate: Our Groundhog Day Doom Loop
Every year, the same story: We profess to care about climate change, but we’re driving more and greenhouse gas emissions are rising rapidly. Oregon is stuck in an endless loop of lofty rhetoric, distant goals, and zero actual progress If it seems to you like you’ve read this before, you have: We’re marking this year’s…