Jonathan doesn’t like it if I engage in “navel gazing,” but his post last week about the kick-off of the state’s Joint Committee on Transportation 13-city tour in advance of Oregon’s 2025 transportation package was really good reporting. After spending seven hours with the committee — in the bus and, at the round-table, and during the public comments — he captured both the feeling in the room as well as the specifics of what participants said.
And you responded with 200 comments (so far). I just went through all of them again this morning—and this blows me away—all the comments are on-topic! I would say curl up with a cup of hot chocolate in front of the fire and read them, except that it’s nearly summer. But I defy anyone to find a more knowledgeable, civil conversation (open to all) on internet, and I think it’s worth spending time reading the whole thread.
A comment from somone named, “Ivc” is this week’s selection. It got a COTW nomination (those nominations can be really helpful with this volume of comments, so please keep them coming) and a lot of thumbs up. I liked it because it stepped back from the details that many commenters were discussing, and instead zeroed-in on the core problem: the state cannot afford to pay for the car-centric mega-projects it has committed to.
Here’s Ivc’s comment:
There’s a lot to unpack in this post.
I wonder sometimes if advocates for freeway expansions are totally math illiterate. They need billions.
“…Many of those funds were diverted to non-road projects” — my rear end. A quick look at ODOT’s 2023-25 Budget, [shows that] “Public Transportation” (transit and active transportation) amounts to 465 million, 8% of ODOT’s budget for that cycle. Even if the state didn’t spend another penny on bikes or transit ever again, it wouldn’t be enough fund one of these expansions, let alone three of them. If they’re not sitting there dreaming up with massive new revenue sources for these fantasy projects, they need to be advocating for stopping these projects now. Anything else is just delusional.
I do find it curious that Director Williams appears to be completely unaware of freeway traffic in Southern California or around Puget Sound.
Thank you Ivc. Please treat yourself to reading Ivc’s comment in the context of 199 other fine takes on Oregon’s transportation situation.