The rumors BikePortland reported on back in January have unfortunately turned out to be true. In the final week of the session, the Oregon Legislature is considering a cut to Safe Routes to School funding in order to balance their budget and save the Oregon Department of Transportation from mass layoffs.
In addition to a $17 million which could be redirected from the Safe Routes to School program, the bill proposes to axe $8 million from the Community Paths program. These funds are not currently obligated to any projects or grants and it would only be a one-time re-allocation. The thinking among Democratic lawmakers is that these and other budget balancing steps are necessary to buy time until a full transportation package could be considered in 2027.
We expected reallocation of Safe Routes funding, but the hit to Community Paths — a program funded in part by Oregon’s $15 tax on new bicycles — is a surprise.
Lawmakers unveiled their plans over the weekend. They’re a mix of cuts and re-allocations hinted at in a presentation by ODOT staff back in February. The proposal is outlined in the -3 “dash 3” amendments to Senate Bill 1601.
Here’s the breakdown of redirected funds according to Oregon Capitol Chronicle:
Lawmakers will take and reallocate:
- $5 million from the student driver training program
- $6 million from Oregon Highway 58 enhancements and expansions that have since wound down due to environmental issues and lack of local support
- $8 million from the Community Paths program for building and maintaining multi-use public paths
- $17 million from Safe Routes to Schools grant program
- $20 million from the Transportation Operating Fund, or the “lawnmower” fund, which is funded by non-road gas tax funds
- $35 million in dedicated revenue for bridge projects, seismic improvements, preservation of highways, culvert projects and safety projects
- $42 million from the Connect Oregon program, which provides grants for marine, aviation and rail projects
- $85 million of federal funds that can be tied to projects that don’t need a match from the State Highway Fund, freeing up those local dollars
The nonprofit Oregon Trails Coalition has issued an action alert, urging its supporters to fight the proposed cuts to Safe Routes and Community Paths. “The proposal cuts funding from the only state sources of funding for multi-use paths in order to backfill highway maintenance needs, including redirecting funds from our state’s tax on bicycles from off-street paths to highway maintenance,” reads a statement issued by the group a few minutes ago.
The public will have a chance to weigh in on this proposal at a meeting of the Joint Subcommittee on Capital Construction tomorrow (Tuesday, March 3rd). A possible vote on the measure could also take place at that same meeting.
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Instead of postponing or shelving road expansion projects and planning for huge highway expansions we can’t afford… we’re cutting projects that make it safe for kids to walk and bike.
When is the legislature going to grow up and realize we can’t afford highway expansions?
Why should they grow up? Out of the 60 seats in the Oregon House of Representatives in the 2024 elections, 1 incumbent was voted out. Just one. There is no reason for them to change, they keep getting re-elected. To them they are doing great and are being rewarded for their excellence by us voting them back in.
Our votes count and who we vote in matter. We are seeing the results of our actions.
The Connect Oregon program also funds bike/ped infrastructure and transit:
https://www.oregon.gov/odot/programs/pages/connectoregon.aspx
The Oregon legislature is collectively acting like a drug addict, needing a bigger and bigger dose (a 20-lane bridge project that no other state would even seriously consider doing, trying to fix a pointless bottleneck, etc), and is now getting so desperate for its next hit of car infrastructure that it is taking away programs for its most vulnerable users. The state really needs to go into rehab ASAP.
Heck. How about a cut for some people who frittered a hundred million, or two, on the I-5 bonus lane project and the layers of bridge plans? Do we need the folks who screwed up their budget to the tune of a whole billion dollars? Less of that, please.
We can trust parents to fight for safe routes to school, but I’m glad I grew up in a place and time where the regular streets were enough to get to school or the library, or just ride around. People think kids on bikes are not serious but my early years on a bike made my life better in many ways and support my economic existence to this day.
We had to have freeways apparently for national defense or some such thing but look what happened, they reshaped our economy while, oops, stamping out whole neighborhoods. Bikes have huge economic potential on one tenth the footprint and one twentieth the budget but no, not serious.
I think we have to reconsider multiuse paths, not as an idea, but as a name that makes them sound trivial. We use the word path for a thing that doesn’t go anywhere particular, that people use casually for unimportant things.
There are other budget items offered as cuts that seem unwise. Seismic events are something that happens later, we’ll deal with that when it comes, right? We sure will. This works until suddenly it doesn’t. The feds may not be coming to help Oregon, maybe we should do what we can now within a budget instead of rebuilding our infrastructure and economy from scraps later.
Freeways were also not originally envisioned to be going through city centers. You can still have a big old road to move troops and supplies on without a freeway downtown.
It will be a great day when our Safe Routes to Schools and Community Paths get all the money they need and ODOT has to hold a bake sale to build a bridge.