If you’ve heard about the statewide “Transportation Roadshow” hearings on a possible 2025 funding package, but haven’t been able to attend one, tomorrow is one of your best chances to participate. On Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Transportation will host the sole virtual hearing of the 13 stops on their “roadshow” tour.
The deadline to register for your two-minute online testimony slot is this afternoon, so be sure to head over the event website and take care of that right away. While you’re there, check details for the final two stops in Happy Valley (Thursday) and Hillsboro (Friday).
You might recall back in June when I reported on the first stop on the tour that took place in Portland. I’ve since lost touch with the hearings, so I decided to welcome House Representative Khanh Pham into the Shed (virtually!) for a short interview. Transportation is a major part of Rep. Pham’s work and she’s a member of the Joint Committee.
In an interview this morning (watch it above or on YouTube) we talked about what Pham has heard in testimony so far, what’s at stake for our future, and how you can give effective testimony. As someone who has attended seven of these listening sessions so far, she was full of insights.
Asked if there were any themes from testimony she’s heard so far, Pham mentioned rural transit. “We often think of public transit as an urban priority, but actually if anything, I’ve heard more support for public transit in rural communities where they don’t have any other option,” she shared.
Pham says what she’s heard from Oregonians about the need for better transit has definitely strengthened her resolve to fund more of it. “Transit has been so critical to folks across the state, folks in addiction, folks who are elderly, folks who are have disabilities, young people — anyone who just doesn’t want to drive a car.”
In the previous transportation funding package passed in 2017, legislators created the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF), and given what Pham said about rural needs, there’s a good chance that program could get a significant boost if a new package is passed next year.
Has she heard anyone clamoring similarly for bigger freeways? “Absolutely not,” she said. “I have heard virtually no… very little testimony about widening any Portland area freeways.” The way Pham sees it, the immediate needs are so acute, that it’s, “Left little room for talking about these huge megaprojects.”
“We’re going to have to make some tough choices about what we truly we need to prioritize.”
Listen to the full interview in the player above or on YouTube.
Learn about tomorrow’s virtual hearing here. And check the Oregon State Legislature website for more information and the agenda for the last two hearings in Happy Valley (Thursday) and Hillsboro (Friday).