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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.  […]

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 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

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

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.

What City Observatory Did This Week How Metro’s RTP illegally favors driving and violates state climate rules.  Oregon’s planning rules require Portland area transportation plans to prioritize investments that reduce vehicle miles traveled–but the region’s transportation plan illegally prioritizes spending for freeway expansions. Metro’s adopted Regional Transportation Plan devotes most of its resources to providing additional

Must Read Portland advocates sue to block Rose Quarter Freeway widening.  There’s a new chapter in the long-running battle to block the Oregon Department of Transportation’s I-5 Rose Quarter Freeway widening project, a 10-lane mile and a half expansion that has quadrupled in cost to $1.9 billion.  Local advocates, led by No More Freeways, have

Must Read Induced Demand and Climate Denial.  As we’ve long said, the favorite folk tale of state DOTs and highway boosters is the idea that the primary solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is lowering the amount of time cars spend indling in traffic.  If we widening the highway so that cars could just go

What City Observatory Did This Week The cost of the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) is going up:  But we won’t tell you how much . . . And we’re not going to tell you until a year from now, after the 2025 Legislature adjourns In January, 2024, IBR official publicly acknowledged that their 13 month-old cost

The cost of the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) is going up:  But we won’t tell you how much . . . And we’re not going to tell you until a year from now, after the 2025 Legislature adjourns In January, 2024, IBR official publicly acknowledged that their 13 month-old cost estimate of up to $7.5 billion