Month: April 2023
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The Week Observed, April 21, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Why should Oregonians subsidize suburban commuters from another state? Oregon is being asked to pay for half of the cost of widening the I-5 Interstate Bridge. Eighty percent of daily commuters, and two-thirds of all traffic on the bridge are Washington residents. On average, these commuters earn more than…
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A blank check for the highway lobby: HB 2098-2
The HB 2098 “-2” amendments are perhaps the most fiscally irresponsible legislation ever to be considered by the Oregon Legislature. They constitute an open-ended promise by the Oregon Legislature to pay however much money it costs to build the Interstate Bridge Replacement and Rose Quarter freeway widenings—projects that have experienced multi-billion dollar cost overruns in…
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Why should Oregonians subsidize suburban commuters from another state?
Oregon is being asked to pay for half of the cost of widening the I-5 Interstate Bridge. Eighty percent of daily commuters, and two-thirds of all traffic on the bridge are Washington residents. On average, these commuters earn more than Portland residents. The 80/20 rule: When it comes to the I-5 bridge replacement, users will…
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The Week Observed, April 14, 2023
What City Observatory did this week The case against the Interstate Bridge Project. We offer 16 reasons why Oregon and Washington lawmakers should question the current plans for the proposed $7.5 billion I-5 freeway expansion project between Portland and Vancouver. Here’s reason #10 (but click through to read all 16!) 10. IBR traffic projections have…
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Put a bird on it: Highway Greenwashing
There’s no shortage of cynical greenwashing to sell climate-killing highway widening projects GeorgiaDOT and AASHTO have a new PR gimmick to promote the same old product In a famous season one sketch of Portlandia, Fred Armisten and Carrie Brownstein popularized the catch-phrase, “Put a bird on it” about a hipster couple who transformed all manner…
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The Case Against the Interstate Bridge Replacement
Here are our 16 top reasons Oregon and Washington need to re-think the proposed Interstate Bridge Replacement Project. The bloated size of the project and its $7.5 billion cost, and the availability of better alternatives, like a bascule bridge, call for rethinking this project, now. It’s not a bridge, it’s a freeway widening and interchange…
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The Week Observed, April 7, 2023
What City Observatory did this week IBR’s plan to sabotage the “moveable span” alternative. The proposed $7.5 billion Portland area freeway widening project is supposedly looking at a moveable span option to avoid illegally impeding water navigation. But state DOT officials are planning to sabotage the analysis of a moveable span options as part of…
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Wile E. Coyote hits bottom: Portland’s inclusionary zoning
Portland’s inclusionary zoning requirement is a slow-motion train-wreck; apartment permits are down by sixty percent in the City of Portland, while apartment permitting has more than doubled in the rest of the region Inclusionary zoning in Portland has exhibited a Wile E. Coyote pattern: apartment starts stayed high initially, until a backlog of grandfathered units…
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IBR’s plan to sabotage the moveable span option
IBR officials are planning to sabotage the analysis of a moveable span options as part of the Interstate Bridge Project The Coast Guard has said a replacement for the existing I-5 bridges would need a 178 foot navigation clearance. The highway departments want a 116′ clearance fixed span. The Oregon and Washington DOTs say they…