The $7.5 billion plan to widen the I-5 bridges across the Columbia River is being sold, in part, based on claims that it will be used by millions of phantom trucks. Metro’s biased truck modeling over-states current I-5 truck traffic by almost 70 percent: more than 2 million phantom trucks per year. Metro’s model says […]
Inventing millions of phantom trucks to sell a wider bridge Read More »
The Interstate Bridge Project proposes spending $7.5 billion to widen I-5, but misses the real bottleneck. A new, independent analysis by national traffic expert Norm Marshall of Smart Mobility, Inc., shows that the proposed IBR project fails to fix the real bottlenecks affecting I-5 traffic. Traffic problems on I-5 are caused by bottlenecks outside the
They’re digging in the wrong place Read More »
IBR re-wrote the definition of congestion to make I-5 traffic look worse For decades, Oregon DOT has defined traffic congestion as freeway speeds below 35 MPH. Now, for the Interstate Bridge project, IBR has moved the goalposts: now any speed under 45 MPH is counted as “congested.” The definition of “congested” matters because its central
Moving the goalposts: Redefining traffic congestion Read More »
What City Observatory Did This Week They’re digging in the wrong place: A new, independent analysis by national traffic expert Norm Marshall of Smart Mobility, Inc., shows that the proposed IBR project fails to fix the real bottlenecks affecting I-5 traffic. The Interstate Bridge Project proposes spending $7.5 billion to widen I-5, but misses the real bottleneck.
The Week Observed, October 25, 2024 Read More »
What City Observatory Did This Week Forecasting the impossible: The case for the $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement project is based on deeply flawed traffic models that ignore the bridge’s capacity limits, and predict plainly unrealistic levels of traffic growth if the bridge isn’t expanded. These grossly overestimated projections make future traffic look worse and
The Week Observed, October 18, 2024 Read More »
The case for the $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement project is based on deeply flawed traffic models that ignore the bridge’s capacity limits, and predict plainly unrealistic levels of traffic growth if the bridge isn’t expanded. These grossly overestimated projections make future traffic look worse and overstate the need and understate the environmental and financial
IBR: Forecasting the impossible Read More »
The case for the $7.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement Project is based on traffic projections from Metro’s “Kate” travel demand model. But there’s a huge problem: Kate doesn’t accurately model even current levels of traffic. The model has a high overall error factor, and importantly, consistently over-estimates traffic on the existing I-5 bridges. Metro has
Kate: Metro’s wildly inaccurate model overstates current traffic levels Read More »
The Interstate Bridge Replacement Project simply can’t tell the truth about current traffic levels or recent growth rates. IBR reports inflate the current level of traffic on I-5 bridges by nearly 5,000 vehicles per day IBR reports falsely claim that I-5 bridge traffic is growing twice as fast as ODOT’s own data show IBR officials
The Interstate Bridge Project’s Flawed Traffic Data Read More »
What City Observatory Did This Week There’s no evidence of a housing bubble. Strong Towns Chuck Marohn has a recent blog post proclaiming that the US housing market is the midst of another bubble, similar to 2008. But a closer look at housing market fundamentals, especially mortgage debt, shows few parallels to that earlier debacle.
The Week Observed, August 30, 2024 Read More »
Another housing bubble? Strong Towns Chuck Marohn argues that we’re in the midst of another housing bubble. He claims the housing market is full of fraud and is a bubble that’s “ready to pop,” just like in 2008. Is there really a new housing bubble? Marohn’s cites the surge in house prices and worries about
Another housing bubble brewing? Not really Read More »
