Next month, the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation hopes to bring a plan to City Council that would create a new “Transportation System Development Charge (TSDC) Overlay District.” TSDCs are taxes levied on real estate developers that are calculated based on new traffic their properties are expected to generate. The funds are then used on infrastructure projects that increase traffic capacity.
PBOT says the need for a new tax overlay district arose because they’re still $5 million short on the $30 million commitment they made to help pay for TriMet’s $1.5 billion Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project.
At a meeting of the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee on Tuesday, PBOT staffer Shoshanah Oppenheim presented a list of five projects — in addition to the light rail project — that the City would fund with the estimated $13.5 million the new taxes would generate. The list includes two bike-centric projects.
Here is the list of the projects and the estimated amounts they’d get from the new taxes:
- Clinton to the River Multi-Use Path — $600,000
- Broadway Cycle Track and Streetscape Improvements* — $674,107
- SW 4th Avenue Streetscape — $1,301,088
- SE Water Avenue Relocation — $1,565,478
- “Close the Loop” (take Eastside Streetcar Loop over new transit bridge) — $5,425,243
- Portland Milwaukie Light Rail — $5,000,000
This was the first I’d heard of any improvements being made to the Broadway cycle track. At the meeting, Oppenheim said “there’s a desire to build a raised, separated bikeway project.” Curious, I asked PBOT for more details about what the $600,000 worth of “improvements” might entail.
PBOT spokesperson Dan Anderson says details about what the $600,000 raised through the TSDC plan would pay for are yet to be determined, but he confirmed it would be used to fund, “permanent improvements to the Broadway Cycle Track from SW Clay to SW Jackson.” He added that, “Any future improvements will depend on the results of the city traffic engineer’s evaluation, which is expected in several months.”
Oppenheim asked the Bike Advisory Committee for a letter in support of the project list. Despite two members from Southwest Portland who were concerned that none of the projects improved connections from southwest into downtown, the BAC voted to draft a letter supporting the list.
PBOT plans to bring the TSDC Overlay District plan to City Council for adoption on April 6th. Learn more here.