“This is a huge deal.”
– Mike Serritella, PBOT
The Portland Bureau of Transportation has scored another windfall from the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF). On Tuesday evening, at the monthly meeting of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, PBOT announced they’ve received a $5 million grant to implement bicycling and walking projects from the North Portland in Motion Plan.
“This is a huge deal,” said PBOT Senior Planner Mike Serritella, who leads the project.
PCEF is managed by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS). It’s funded by revenue the city collects from large retailers (1% tax on corporations with $1 billion in national revenue and $500,000 in revenue in Portland) and is dedicated to “community-led projects that reduce carbon emissions, create economic opportunity, and help make our city more resilient as we face a changing climate.” The fund plans to award $750 million in grants over five years.
NPIM launched in 2021 and PBOT released a slate of recommended projects in May 2023. While the projects are very exciting, this is just a planning document that comes without any built-in funding commitment. PBOT has many plans like this on the shelf gathering dust, just waiting for the funding stars to align. Now they have.
Because PBOT is so accustomed to operating with limited resources, many of the projects recommended in NPIM are relatively inexpensive. “These are small-scale projects identified in the plan,” Serritella said at the meeting. “So that $5 million commitment gets us a huge way forward on the plan.”
In April, the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee BAC wrote a letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler and the rest of city council that stated: “Adopting this plan is a critical part of ensuring a long overdue vision for safe mobility in the quadrant.”
The funding comes from PCEF’s Strategic Program 30: Active Transportation and Small Capital Projects and is part of a tranche of PCEF grants PBOT won earlier this year. The grant marks just the latest good news from PCEF when it comes to bicycling and transportation funding. In May 2024 the fund was a lifesaver for the PBOT budget when it injected $49 million to PBOT projects and programs. PCEF is funding a $20 million e-bike rebate program, and its community grants have injected millions into local transportation nonprofits.
I haven’t seen the application and it’s not clear to me yet which specific NPIM projects PBOT will build with this $5 million. But with Serritella and a solid crew at the helm, and with lots of momentum behind the projects in the plan, I have no doubt this amazing funding news will lead to key upgrades in north Portland in a short time-frame.
Some projects in the plan have already been built. And last night Serritella said, “We’ll continue to build more projects as soon as it stops raining.”
The NPIM plan is expected to be considered for official adoption by Portland City Council in December.
— PBOT North Portland in Motion