You could get $400 or $1,200 Specialized’s new Haul e-cargo bike. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“I think in many ways, particularly for lower income families, this can be a powerful anti-poverty measure.”
– Khanh Pham, Oregon House representative
The bike bus bill wasn’t the only piece of legislation on our watchlist that moved forward on Wednesday. House Bill 2571, the e-bike rebate bill, was voted out of the House Committee on Climate, Energy & Environment by a vote of 9 to 1.
The only lawmaker to vote against the bill was southern Oregon Representative Kim Wallan, a Republican who represents District 6 in Medford.
As we reported earlier this month, HB 2571 has been significantly amended since it was first introduced in November. General Oregon residents can receive up to $400 toward the purchase of an e-bike and those who qualify for the low-income tier (80% of average median income) can receive $1,200. The bill also takes responsibility for processing the rebate away from bike shops and leans more heavily on the Department of Environmental Quality for administration.
The bill’s chief sponsor is Rep. Dacia Grayber (D-28). At the committee work session yesterday, bill co-sponsor Rep. Khanh Pham (D-46) asked Grayber’s Legislative Assistant Barrett Johnson how this bill would mesh with a Portland e-bike rebate that is likely coming as part of the Portland Clean Energy Fund grant program. Johnson said they’ve contacted PCEF and that, “We believe these rebates will be able to stack, similar to the way rebates for electric cars stack at the state and federal level. That’s something that we are hoping to see to help additionally alleviate cost burden and that the DEQ is in support of at an agency level as well.”
Rep. Pham, who sits on the committee, touch on affordability in comments she made prior to her “yes” vote:
“Particularly for low income families that can’t afford a car, these kinds of e-bikes can be a really critical replacement for trips to the grocery store. I bike my daughter to school [on ours]. We were able to avoid having to buy second car. So I think in many ways, particularly for lower income families, this can be a powerful anti-poverty measure.”
From here the bill has been referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. While this vote is a step forward, insiders know that many bills die at Ways and Means where final decisions are made about bills with budgetary implications. That committee will weigh the urgency of this rebate against many other statewide priorities.
In an email to supporters of the bill, Barrett Johnson wrote, “This is a point in which a number of great bills and popular policies lose steam. Not because of their quality, nor how well they were advocated for, but because there is simply not enough money for everything.”
Johnson said he’s “cautiously optimistic” it will move forward based on the fact that it has bipartisan support from lawmakers and public demand signaled by the “overwhelming success” of a new rebate program in Bend and the possible PCEF investment.
Stay tuned as this and other bills work their way through the legislative process.
Screen shot of CityRover via Oregon City Public Works.
Artificial Intelligence is moving into our lives at a very fast pace. Even here at BikePortland HQ we’ve been playing with some forms of it and pondering how it might help us serve the community better. Yes it’s scary and needs to be regulated; but there are some very cool applications and I’m looking forward to seeing how it impacts the realm of transportation.
This morning I learned that Oregon City, a town of about 37,000 people about a one hour bike ride south of Portland, is using AI to help fill potholes. According to a statement just released by their public works department, they are the only city in Oregon currently taking advantage of the technology.
Here’s more:
Called CityRover, the Public Works department has been testing the AI device to help identify and mark the location of potholes. The device works by continually scanning the road ahead while in a City vehicle, in this case, the street sweeper. It then marks spots it identifies as a pothole and relays the data to a database accessed by the City. Officials say it has been an incredibly helpful tool.
“The street sweeper drives every street in Oregon City several times a year,” said Jayson Thornberg, Street Operations Manager for Oregon City. “With this tool out there every day all day looking for potholes, it helps the City find problem areas quickly.”
The data sent to staff includes precise mapping as well as images showing the issues the machine identified. That information is then reviewed by staff who determine if what the device marked is indeed a pothole, is it within the City’s jurisdiction, and prioritize it into the team’s workflow.
It’s great to see a city taking advantage of AI like this. Portland could obviously use a lot of help with street maintenance these days as their strained work crews and lack of upkeep of protected bike lanes has become a major issue. Of course just identifying the problem spots is only half the battle — too bad AI can’t actually do the pothole filling and the sweeping.
But who knows? Are we really that far away from a Roomba-type vacuuming/sweeping robot that autonomously patrols streets and sweeps up messy bike lanes?
The Street Trust’s 2023 Oregon Active Transportation Summit is less than a month away. For those not yet in-the-know, this summit is an annual meeting of the minds for advocates, community leaders, city officials, and politicians across Oregon and beyond. It features interesting panels and opportunities for exchanging ideas about how to reform our transportation system.
This year, the summit’s theme is “move into action,” and The Street Trust (TST) says their goal for the event is to “take big ideas for our transportation future and make them actionable.”
“The challenges to building a safe, accessible, racially equitable, and climate smart transportation system are getting more complex every day,” TST states. “Now is the time to build our capacity to take the lead with urgency and enthusiasm… we’ve curated a program that will move interaction beyond discussion into coordinated action for specific outcomes.”
This year’s summit will be a mix of in-person programming at the Lloyd Center (where TST’s offices and ‘Hub’ transportation coworking space is located) and virtual content. Guest speakers will include Ryan Sharp, the Director of Transportation and Parking for the City of Hoboken (which is known for its effective approach to Vision Zero), TriMet General Manager Sam Desue, Jr., who will present on the state of Oregon transit, and Metro Council President Lynn Peterson, who will do a reading of her recently-published book.
The panel discussions will cover a large range of active transportation topics. Here are the various tracks attendees can explore:
Resiliency & Prosperity – how do we prepare our transportation system for changing conditions and how do we withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions, including pandemics and climate change?
Accessible & Inclusive Mobility – how do we center disability, race, age, and gender to achieve transportation equity and a system that works for all?
Future-Proofing Transportation Funding – in 1919, Oregon led the nation with the first gas tax, but rapidly changing society and technology demand new solutions – how will we equitably pay for transportation in the future?
E-bikes & Micromobility – how do we move light individual transportation options from emergent tech to mobility workhorses, solving problems for people and places?
Safe Routes & Great Streets for All – how do we work better together encompassing and surpassing Vision Zero and Safe Routes to Schools?
NEW! Tools, Tips, & Tricks for Making Sh*t Happen – a community curated track for you, by you – Have an activist toolkit to share? An organizing success story to celebrate? A potentially transformative idea or innovation that needs workshopping? This is your venue.
Each morning of the summit will include two networking events for transportation people to mingle and swap ideas. There will also be a “Sunday Fun Day” multimodal scavenger hunt and kickoff party on Sunday, April 23rd as well as a PechaKucha ideas/pitch session on the evening of Tuesday, April 25th. Both of these events will be open to the general public, not just summit-goers. TST will have more information about how to sign up for the PechaKucha event soon.
Here are just a few of the talks and events that have caught our eyes:
Activate Portland’s waterfront and waterways;
Houselessness and transportation safety;
Cross-Section Trade Offs:
Achieving Complete Streets within Limited Space; Artists Organizing on the Streets; Steps towards a multi-modal delivery system – blending cargo bikes, autonomous vehicles, transit, and more to create synergistic magic.
If you work in transportation or are interested in improving active transportation in the Pacific Northwest, you might be interested in this event. You can buy tickets to the summit here. TST is also looking for volunteers to help with the event — if you sign up for a four-hour shift you will get free admission to the event! Sign up here, and quick — volunteer slots are filling up fast.
You can find out more about this year’s summit at TST’s website. And check our past coverage to get a feel for what to expect.
“We’ve really tried to tighten the language as much as possible…The idea is to give districts more flexibility in how they use their dollars, not to give them more dollars to do things differently.”
– Stacey Michaelson, Multnomah Education Service District
Oregonians who want to see bike buses and walking school buses proliferate across the state have reason to cheer as the House Committee on Education voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 3014 Wednesday night. It’s a much different bill than lawmakers heard about at its first public hearing last month as backers have made major revisions to address concerns about fiscal responsibility and how it might impact traditional school bus service.
Also known as the “bike bus bill” after a bike bus at Alameda Elementary School in Portland helped spark unprecedented enthusiasm for how kids get to school, the original version of the bill would have simply added a list of new activities that would be eligible for reimbursement from the Oregon Department of Education as part of a district’s transportation funding expenses. Instead of only traditional school buses, the bill sought to expand the law to let districts fund things like bike buses, walking school buses, crossing guards, and public transit passes.
The amended bill (now six pages instead of two) voted on Wednesday creates a separate process and introduces significant bureaucratic hurdles for those reimbursements. The bill creates a statutory definition for “alternative transportation” (“the arrival to, or departure from, a school by means other than a school bus or school activity vehicle or transportation provided under contract with a school district”) and then lays out several steps districts would have to take in order to receive state funding.
The key changes to the bill are as follows:
Districts must receive a waiver from the State Board of Education to transport students via a method other than a school bus (as laid out in ORS 327.043, which requires districts to provide transportation for elementary students who live more than one mile from school and for secondary students who live more than 1.5 miles from school).
Or districts must submit a supplemental plan for the “alternative transportation” method and get approval from the State Board of Education prior to receiving a reimbursement.
Costs will only be approved when districts have demonstrated that traditional busing is not a viable option. For instance, the state will only reimburse programs that serve students who do not live along an existing school bus route.
Reimbursements for public transit passes will be allowed only after all state funding for local transit (as laid out in ORS 184.758) has been exhausted.
One source described the changes as “guardrails” added because some stakeholders feared schools might look to spend “millions” for new, non-bus programs. Others were concerned that the administrative overhead associated with the bill would strain the workforce and incur more personnel costs at the Oregon Department of Education.
Rep. Nguyen
The bill is championed by Representative Hoa Nguyen (D-48), a former school attendance coach and walking school bus leader who worked in the Portland Public Schools district and saw first-hand how limited access to school buses left many kids without reliable transportation. “I used the walking school bus as an intervention to chronic absenteeism,” Rep. Nguyen shared with me from her office in Salem this morning. “It improved our tardy rates, attendance rates, behavior in the classrooms, and by just learning about the communities that the students live in.”
Since current law only funds bus service for students that live more than one mile (for elementary) or 1.5 miles (for secondary) away from their schools; and with many students not living near a bus stop or in places buses don’t reach, Rep. Nguyen says her bill creates more local control so districts can fund solutions that work for their specific needs.
“For for a long time, [instead of taking a step back and thinking about a transportation plan] districts just said, ‘Oh, a school bus driver.’ That’s all we did. And so hopefully this bill will open up the gateway to let school districts sit down and think about, ‘What can we do?'”, Rep. Nguyen said.
“It’s a start! And it can be a toehold for proving how active transportation can be a full-fledged tool for getting kids to school safely.”
– Zachary Lauritzen, Oregon Walks
In the last month, Rep. Nguyen and other chief sponsor Rep. Khanh Pham (D-46) realized the bill must undergo considerable revisions or risk losing key support. They are also aware that all bills with a fiscal component are closely scrutinized this legislative session as lawmakers are hesitant to start new funding programs; and with some school districts still reeling from a school bus driver shortage that started during the pandemic, supporters realized the bill would not move forward if it threatened funding for existing programs.
That concern was evident in testimony on the bill (shared prior to recent amendments) from leaders of the Oregon School Boards Association and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators: “We do not know how other districts will be impacted if new districts may seek new funding reimbursement. We do not know how many districts would seek supplemental transportation plans. Or how well these alternative programs work in adverse weather. Or the potential impact across general and special education student populations. Or how safe students and staff will be outside a physical bus,” they wrote.
Rep. Nguyen addressed those concerns when she introduced the bill at the committee meeting Wednesday. “I would like to remind us what I believe our main objective here is to serve our students and families. I’m here to represent the students that have no safe or reliable means to get to school, because they do not have anyone else in the room to speak for them,” she said.
Bob Estabrook with the Oregon School Employees Association, a union that represents 22,000 public school workers, told lawmakers that the problem with HB 3014 is that is does nothing to address the school bus driver shortage and he’s worried it would divert funds from busing. “Even with the greatly improved amendments… it’s not addressing the core problem, which is that we do not have enough bus drivers and other district staff to make sure that we are safely getting our students to and from school,” he said during testimony in Salem on Wednesday. “We are already not adequately funding our educational system… and if we divert funds towards other purposes, then we never are going to have enough money there to hire the bus drivers that we need to support our students,” he added.
Stacey Michaelson, government affairs administrator for the six school districts in East Multnomah County, reassured lawmakers that the bill will not jeopardize existing budgets. “We’ve really tried to tighten the language as much as possible to make sure that we’re not requiring any additional funding out of the transportation grants,” she explained. “The idea is to give districts more flexibility in how they use their dollars, not to give them more dollars to do things differently.”
The Oregon Legislative Fiscal Office, the state body that determines budgetary implications of new bills, says the fiscal impact of HB 3014 would be “indeterminate.” Further analysis will be completed at the bill’s next stop: the House Committee on Revenue.
Oregon Walks Interim Executive Director Zachary Lauritzen said his organization is “thrilled” at last night’s vote. “It goes to show that supporting active transportation policy doesn’t have to be left or right, Democrat or Republican. Getting people out of cars is just good policy,” he shared with us via email. Lauritzen acknowledged that the amended bill included major compromises from the original version, but added that, “It’s a start! And it can be a toehold for proving how active transportation can be a full-fledged tool for getting kids to school safely.”
Another sponsor of the bill, Rep. Khanh Pham (D-46), called the passage a “big win for giving schools more flexibility in supporting multi-modal transportation choices.”
While the new version of the bill adds considerable red tape that might limit its use and impact, Rep. Nguyen says earning the trust of taxpayers is paramount. “We have to build trust of the public… we have to be fiscally responsible as well… We have limited funds and there are challenges,” she said.
And Sam “Coach” Balto, captain of the Alameda Elementary Bike Bus who is currently at the Bike Bus Summit in Barcelona, Spain, told us, “I am excited bike bus bill is still rolling.”
Somewhere between Tillamook and Newport on Highway 101. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“With insufficient resources the Oregon Transportation Plan becomes more important than ever…unprecedentedly difficult tradeoffs lay in front of Oregonians.”
– Draft Oregon Transportation Plan
The Oregon Department of Transportation has released a draft of the Oregon Transportation Plan (OTP) and the agency is asking for public feedback about it. I realize that is not the most enticing way to begin a story, and I’ve been hesitant to even write about this. Transportation agencies seek public feedback on plans all the time, and we write about those efforts almost as often — in fact, we just covered the OTP update in November, the last time ODOT wanted input on this plan.
So before I ask you to take time and learn about a 100-page plan, I want to make it clear what the OTP actually is and why Oregonians should care about it.
From the draft OTP. (Source: ODOT)
ODOT describes the OTP as the “umbrella” transportation plan for the state, under which all of ODOT’s more specific plans — like the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan and Transportation System Plan — fall. The OTP was first adopted in 1992 and was last updated in 2006 — eons ago, as far as the transportation landscape is concerned. The updated plan will lay out the vision for Oregon’s transportation policy from now through 2050.
As a document, the draft OTP is an interesting read (for nerds like me, at least). It lays out a global overview of Oregon’s transportation system, detailing the problems we face as a state and the ideas ODOT has for solving them. Since it’s the blanket plan on top of a lot of other, more nitty-gritty ones, it doesn’t get too specific about anything.
I emailed Adam Argo, a principal transportation planner at ODOT who has been a lead member of the OTP update team, to hear his pitch for why this plan matters. He said the OTP provides a “vision and policy foundation for the state’s entire transportation system” including “locally-managed streets, bridges, and public transportation fleets Oregonians depend on in their respective communities.”
“The OTP guides impactful transportation decisions at all levels, down to communities and neighborhoods,” Argo wrote. “The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) ultimately adopts the OTP and the scenarios in the OTP will help guide their decisions around investment priorities.”
One thing that’s very clear from perusing the draft plan: ODOT is very worried about money. It’s not a revelation that the state’s transportation funding system is unsustainable and drying up, but it’s interesting to see how planners intend to deal with these financial woes in their long-range planning framework.
“With insufficient resources the OTP becomes more important than ever to help ensure that what little money is available is directed in ways that can best support the movement of people and goods. Unprecedentedly difficult tradeoffs lay in front of Oregonians,” the plan states. “What this means…is that while there will be some gains and investment in some areas, there will also be nearly impossible trade-off discussions that will have significant impacts to people’s lives, communities, and the economy.” (Stay tuned for more coverage of ODOT’s budget.)
According to the OTP, ODOT needs four times more funding than it currently has in order to “fully realize the vision” of the plan. In order to reach this funding level, ODOT will likely have to charge higher user fees for the system, like tolls and road use fees (which the OTP states might have “potential negative impacts to equity”). But in this funding scenario, the state could have a “more resilient system, less affected by climate and natural events, a more reliable system, and a system with more travel options for everyone.”
The OTP states that if Oregon can’t acquire more funding for its transportation system, “limited to no progress is made toward accomplishing the desired policy outcomes in all investment areas,” rendering the whole plan essentially meaningless. The dire language used in the draft plan makes it clear that regardless of what ODOT officials say to the public about charging higher road use fees, they’re going to have to get serious about it at some point in the near future.
Argo wrote that ODOT is interested in hearing from the public so they can gain understanding of “how Oregonians use the transportation system now, how they see themselves in the OTP’s vision (for connecting people and goods to places in the most climate-friendly, equitable, and safe way), and how the OTP goals, policies, strategies, and actions could impact their everyday lives and their future.”
Technically, the Oregon Transportation Commission isn’t beholden to the OTP when making funding decisions. But at the very least, an umbrella transportation plan that takes a strong stance on reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT), improving multimodal options and addressing the climate impacts of transportation is something advocates can use to hold the agency and the commissioners who oversee it accountable down the line.
Right now, some advocates think the language in the draft plan isn’t strong enough about reducing VMT in order to achieve statewide climate goals. Climate activist Bob Cortright is a particularly strong critic of ODOT who voiced his qualms with the OTP in a recent OTC meeting, saying the plan is “really silent about the scale of reductions in VMT and mode shift that are needed.”
You can comment on the OTP here from now until May 12th. There will also be two opportunities to learn more about the plan: a webinar on April 11th at noon (Zoom link here) and a virtual public hearing on May 3rd at 10 am (Zoom link here). The OTP is expected to be adopted by the OTC later this summer. Find out more at the OTP update page.
Metro is dedicated to shaping a better future for the greater Portland region. The work the people of Metro do every day benefits the lives of the people who live here, today and tomorrow. We offer a highly competitive compensation and benefits program. Learn more about the benefits Metro offers.
Metro’s Parks and Nature Department seeks compassionate, collaborative, creative thinkers who are passionate about real estate, conserving fish and wildlife habitat, providing safe places for biking and walking, and creating an equitable region for all.
Parks and Nature’s land acquisition team is seeking two Senior Real Estate Specialists; however, they do have the ability to fill as an Associate Real Estate Specialist.
Real Estate Specialists in Parks and Nature work to purchase natural area lands and rights to build trails. These purchases protect and enhance ecological values, mitigate climate change, and fill gaps in the off-street biking network in the Portland region. The incumbents will work with Metro conservation and parks planning staff, attorneys, landowners and other partners to develop successful real estate transactions that advance the commitments Metro made to voters through the 2019 Parks and Nature bond measure.
You will join a team of 4 Real Estate Specialists each responsible for leading land acquisition efforts for their assigned geographic portfolio. The team acquires a variety of interests including fee simple, conservation easements, and trail easements, and works across the tri-county region. The work is independent, so we seek candidates that have experience working in real estate, demonstrated good judgement, and the ability to manage multiple complex transactions simultaneously.
Metro strives to cultivate diversity, advance equity, and practice inclusion in all its work, both within and outside the organization. To be successful in this role, you must understand the history of inequity in the United States and how systemic racism, racial disparities, and white supremacy culture play out in today’s environmental movement and through settler/colonial concepts like land ownership. Building and maintaining authentic relationships with colleagues and community members is an important function of this position, so we seek candidates with self-awareness, strong cross-cultural communication skills, and experience successfully working with staff and community members from a wide variety of cultural and racial backgrounds.
As the Senior Real Estate Specialist you will:
Negotiate property acquisitions with landowners, from prospecting through closing, including development and implementation of negotiations strategy, and development, review, interpretation and monitoring of contracts and related documents.
Evaluate, prioritize, and conduct targeted outreach to private landowners, educate landowners about Metro Parks and Nature’s mission and goals, cultivate willing sellers, and be responsive to new opportunities and community questions.
Study real estate market trends, understand market dynamics and land use limitations or opportunities, conduct market analysis, and develop defensible estimations of fair market value.
Conduct site visits on properties that are often rural, heavily forested, and/or have difficult terrain, either alone or together with landowners, other Metro staff, or consultants (e.g., surveyors, landscape architects or environmental professionals).
Maintain updated knowledge of legal requirements, regulations and bills that impact Metro’s parks and nature real estate work.
Coordinate with legal staff to conduct due diligence processes prior to closing.
Coordinate between planning and design staff and local agency partners to identify desired trail easement areas based on site constraints.
Work regularly with administrative, legal, and technical staff, committees, contractors, and consultants to facilitate natural area or trail acquisition or further department goals; may develop or lead cross-disciplinary work teams on special projects.
Coordinate and/or develop agreements with external partners (e.g., local jurisdictions, planning agencies, transportation departments, non-governmental partners and other park and trail providers) to facilitate park, natural area, and trail acquisition.
Provide support, research and materials for committees that advise or oversee Metro’s work; prepare complex reports and present results or analyses to colleagues, Metro Council, committees, boards or other government agencies or their staff.
May provide advice and guidance to other agency staff regarding real estate processes and procedures as well as negotiation strategy.
Act as an engaged member of the Parks and Nature department in support of the mission and vision; perform other duties as assigned.
Attributes for success:
Knowledge of systemic racism, government’s role in creating and upholding systems of oppression, and history of systemic racism within the conservation movement and land use planning.
Knowledge of and experience applying the theories, principles, practices, and techniques of real estate negotiation.
Knowledge of the Portland metro real estate market dynamics and trends.
Experience engaging with diverse community members, building consensus, and resolving conflict.
Experience structuring and negotiating real estate purchase and sale agreements, particularly for habitat conservation, parks and/or trail acquisition.
Knowledge of real property law and government land acquisition policies and procedures, including local land use regulatory frameworks and capital project development processes.
Ability to combine sound business sense and commitment to public open spaces, parks, and active transportation.
Excellent negotiation, written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to handle multiple tasks and work on complex real estate transactions with moderate level of supervision.
Passionate about providing superior public service in a team environment.
Excellent listening and interpersonal skills.
Diversity and inclusion: At Metro, we’re committed to hiring a workforce representative of the communities we serve, recognizing that a diverse workforce strengthens our organization. We invest in employees by supporting equitable and inclusive hiring practices, employee policies and training programs.
TO QUALIFY
We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific in your application materials on how your background is relevant.
Minimum qualifications: Senior Real Estate Specialist
Bachelor’s degree in applicable area of study; AND
Four years of experience in a similar position; OR
We will consider any combination of education and experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties and responsibilities of the position.
The ability to pass State of Oregon broker license exam within one year of hire.
Minimum qualifications: Associate Real Estate Specialist
Bachelor’s degree in applicable area of study; AND
Three years of experience in a similar position; OR
We will consider any combination of education and experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties and responsibilities of the position.
The ability to pass State of Oregon broker license exam within one year of hire.
Required:
The candidate selected for the position will need to pass a Driving Record check prior to being hired. Speeding tickets do not necessarily preclude employment and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Working Conditions:
Duties are performed in an office environment and in the field. Work is expected to be performed with a mixture of telecommuting and on-site hours. The position frequently requires travel throughout the Metro region to off-site locations, often walking on uneven or rough terrain and ability to spend extended time outside in all weather conditions. This position requires talking in person and over the phone, sitting, repetitive motions of the hands/wrists, and good general hearing and vision ability.
COVID-19 vaccination requirement:
Metro is committed to ensuring the health and safety for our employees and our community. As a part of this commitment, Metro has implemented a vaccine requirement policy for employees, paid and unpaid interns and volunteers.
Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination is considered a minimum qualification requirement for Metro job applicants. This proof will be requested during the hiring process.
If you require an accommodation under this policy for a medical condition or disability, or sincerely held religious belief, please email benefits.help@oregonmetro.gov.
If this statement is true for you, then you may be ineligible to apply:
If I was terminated for cause during any of my employment with Metro, or resigned in lieu of termination, I understand I may be ineligible for rehire for a minimum of 3 years.
Like to have qualifications:
You do not need to have the following preferred qualifications/transferable skills to qualify. However, keep in mind we may consider some or all of the following when identifying the most qualified candidates. Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience, including the military, or life experience that are relevant for this position.
Direct experience in property acquisition for public benefit (public agency, land trust or other non-profit).
Direct experience advancing racial equity within a government agency, non-profit or other organization.
Work or project experience or demonstrated knowledge of principles of park and trail planning, land conservation and/or ecology.
“It’s possible that Portland is just too easy a place to drive… an urban driving paradise for people who are accustomed to congested cities they come from.”
– Roger Geller, PBOT
How much does the City of Portland know about the decline in cycling and when did they know it?
As I continue to do research around the decline (following the release of the 2022 Bike Count Report two weeks ago), I’ve been struck by this question. In some respects, the City of Portland is saying they don’t know what’s causing the decline. But in others, they’ve offered relatively detailed explanations. In this post, I want to share the theories for the decline offered by Portland Bureau of Transportation Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller and compare those to what we’ve heard from other city officials.
First let’s start with the most recent official statements. In the report itself, PBOT wrote, “That a decline is occurring in both numbers of people bicycling and in mode split is undeniable. Why it is happening is difficult to determine.” And in a story published yesterday on MomentumMag.com, PBOT Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera also declined to share a specific rationale. “We see a need for scientifically valid public opinion research that can help us understand attitudes towards biking,” he said. “Until we know more about why people are biking less, we won’t have any new recommendations on how to address this.”
Those statements struck me as odd, given that I know PBOT has already put considerable thought into exploring the cause of the ridership decline. If we go back to the July 2022 PBOT Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, we learn that longtime PBOT Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller has put considerable thought into this question.
Geller, who’s worked in PBOT as a bike planner since the 1990s, shared a presentation with BAC members titled, Why has bicycle commuting/bicycling been in decline in Portland (2014-2019)? (PDF)
“I’m really kind of stumped,” Geller said at the outset of his presentation, “I’ve been in this position for a long time and the general thinking has always been, ‘build it and they will come.'” Geller explained how PBOT built new bike infrastructure each year and the rise in bicycle use followed up until a peak of 7.2% of commute trips in 2014. “But then things changed and the numbers began to drop,” he said.
“The network has grown, the quality of the network has grown,” he continued. “And so this is why it’s kind of confounding because our strategy of ‘build it and they will come’ is just not working anymore.”
Geller’s candor was appreciated. But is he really “stumped”? At that same meeting he shared some theories as to why it’s happening.
The first theory Geller shared was that Portland saw a “tremendous increase” in the number of commuters between 2000 and 2019 — and far too many of them drove cars. According to the U.S. Census, there were an additional 95,211 new commuters on our roads in 2019 compared to 2005. Thanks in part to progressive transportation policies and projects, Portland has able to keep driving at a minimum until about 2014 (see chart below).
(Source: PBOT)
In fact, between 2000 and 2014 bicycling (blue line in chart above) did more than any other mode to absorb those new commuters. In 2013, the number of new commuters who used a car was about half the number who biked. Just three years later, it jumped to twice the number of bike riders! And the number of drivers continued to skyrocket (relative to other modes) every year after that.
This led Geller to share what is perhaps one of the biggest understatement in the history of Portland bike planning: “Portland’s bikeway network is better than it has ever been, but perhaps it is not able to withstand an average annual growth of 6,700 drive alone commuters.”
And that’s not good, because not only will our transportation system eventually grind to a halt (it already would have if not for Covid’s impact on congestion), but if people keep driving at these rates, our city will become a much worse place to live. “One thing [more car drivers] causes,” Geller continued. “Is there’s more aggression on the road, there’s more aggressive behavior, there’s more overflow into the neighborhood greenways…”
Geller is rightfully worried about the quality of cycling on neighborhood greenways, because those streets shoulder the majority of the load in our bike network. “If people are overflowing… cutting through greenways [with cars],” he said. “Then that’s a problem and people are not going to feel especially comfortable there.”
The second theory Geller fleshed out at the BAC meeting last summer was about demographics. He thinks one explanation is that as younger, lower-income, bike-inclined residents who lived in Portland’s most bicycle-friendly neighborhoods moved out, they were replaced by people who weren’t well-versed in cycling. “Maybe wealthier residents don’t know about bicycle transportation?” he posited.
This trend was a double-whammy because not only did some new residents lack awareness of our bike network and/or an inclination to use it even if they did; but the folks who moved away now live in places where bicycling was an even less attractive option due to longer trip distances and a relative lack of safe infrastructure.
Why would new residents be clueless about our bike network? Geller has some thoughts about that too:
“If you don’t live on a neighborhood Greenway, you may not know that there’s a bicycle transportation network in your neighborhood that you can access… our bikeway network is a little bit hidden to new people coming to town.”
The last of Geller’s theories I’ll share today is related to the one above and I haven’t heard it talked about a lot yet: He thinks it’s just too easy to drive in Portland.
“Depending on where people are moving from, people are moving here from areas where it’s much more difficult to drive, and Portland remains a very easy city in which to drive,” Geller explained. And he continued:
“The congestion here isn’t bad, there’s relatively inexpensive parking… despite complaints you hear, parking is plentiful here. And so it’s possible that Portland is just too easy a place to drive, it’s a very attractive means of transportation, it’s effortless, it’s relatively quite safe — an urban driving paradise for people who are accustomed to congested cities they come from.”
I think all of Geller’s theories are very important pieces to the puzzle. They also lend themselves to a road map on how to turn these trends around: make driving less attractive, build more high-quality bikeways more quickly, defend greenways against drivers, build a stronger culture around cycling, and so on. Even with these solutions seeming like obvious steps, it might take some hand-holding to help city officials connect the dots.
At a city council meeting one day after Geller made this presentation at the BAC, a former BAC vice chair, David Stein, testified about it in front of Mayor Ted Wheeler and other councilors. After hearing Stein’s concerns about the cycling decline, Mayor Wheeler said, “I’ve often wondered if safety is really the primary question here, or whether there isn’t something else. I just don’t know.” (Also at that meeting Wheeler said he would visit a BAC meeting last fall, but that still has not happened.)
And after sharing his insights at the meeting, Geller himself seemed to not know the best way forward (or at least he’s unwilling to share them publicly). “It’s hard to know what to do because we don’t yet have a grasp on… what are the barriers to increasing bike use?”
Geller knows. PBOT knows. City Hall knows. The question is, will they have the guts to put that knowledge into action?
In order to create a smooth connection to the new greenway from the Naito bikeway, PBOT also made some big changes to NW Overton between 9th and 10th avenues — removing most of the car parking and adding plastic safety posts to create short post-protected bike lanes on both sides of the street. This bike infrastructure also prevented auto traffic from driving westbound on this stretch of Overton.
Ah, those plastic safety posts: we hardly knew ye!
As those of you who followed the Overton saga know, these changes didn’t last long. Only a month after they completed the street redesign, PBOT got cold feet. One reason for this might have been complaints about losing parking spaces from owners of a nearby business and residential tower.
Well, the car parking is back on Overton, and people driving can, once again, travel in both directions. As a result, most of the bike-friendly changes to the street have been reduced to mere sharrows. There are still some protective posts on the south side of Overton near 9th, but their placement so close to a parking lane doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Looking east on Overton toward 9th.Looking east on Overton toward 9th.
In order to bike behind these posts for a few feet, you’d have to travel through the parking door zone, requiring a sharp turn if there’s a car parked behind the posts. Although it seemingly offers some protection for people against drivers taking a right from Overton onto 9th, I saw several people biking in the car lane instead of using this piece of infrastructure.
While less-than-ideal biking conditions on one block of Overton may not make or break someone’s commute, what happened here still matters — especially in light of the city’s recent bike ridership report. If we want more people to ride bikes, we should maintain every piece of bike infrastructure we have. And the fewer cars and drivers we have in the system, the better.
NW Overton is located in one of the densest, most walkable and transit-rich parts of the city, where it should be the easiest to convince people to look for alternatives to driving cars. The Overton saga was bad for morale, and it resulted in a street that (to this reporter at least) is less comfortable to ride on than it should be.
Facing east on Pettygrove. Westbound view.
On the other hand, things are looking a bit brighter up on Pettygrove, where PBOT completed a section of the NW Pettygrove greenway project between 11th and 12th. Now, this stretch of the street only allows westbound car traffic, and PBOT has installed a short post protected eastbound bike lane similar to the one that used to be on Overton.
As I pointed out in September, there is still work to do at the intersections between Pettygrove and busy NW streets in order for biking on this corridor to be a really smooth experience. But overall, I appreciate what PBOT has done on the Pettygrove greenway: unlike some other “bike streets” throughout the city that heavily rely on sharrows to deter car traffic, the city has installed quite a few physical diverters along this street to make it more comfortable for people biking.
This design really highlights the importance of built infrastructure when creating facilities that truly prioritize people on bikes. It would be impossible for a car driver to take the greenway for any longer than a few blocks at a time because so many streets are one-ways in different directions. So, hopefully, the future of PBOT’s design ethos is better represented by Pettygrove than Overton.
Last week, someone I follow online shared a story about something that happened on the bus and it made me realize how much I wanted to sit down and have a conversation with them. That person was Dan Christensen, who you might know as Bus Driver Dan on Twitter.
Dan is a real gem. I’ve known of him since 2008 when he garnered some controversial BikePortland headlines for what I’ll just say were some overly candid personal campaigns related to bike safety. His relationship with our community started off very rocky, but those were early days and people change, and all of that is now water under the bridge. I’ve followed Dan online since then and his Twitter updates and general outlook on life in our city always makes me feel better.
If you’re hoping for a technical conversation about transit policy or infrastructure projects, you might be disappointed with this episode. That’s not why I wanted to talk to Dan. I invited him to the Shed because I wanted to hear what driving a bus means to him, what he’s seen while “watching Portland on the big screen” (his description of the view from his windshield) for the past 16 years, whether TriMet’s bad rap has gotten to him these last few years, his assessment of how people ride bikes around his bus, and lots more.
Dan Christensen in the Shed, March 24th. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
A lot of people will say, ‘Well, you know, transit is only like 10% of the population,’ or whatever number they throw out. But what that doesn’t tell the story. Because it’s 10% now; but of young people, it’s like 90%. I don’t know anybody who grew up in Portland that didn’t take the bus at one time regularly. And a lot of it is older people who can’t drive anymore, or who have epilepsy or who have some sort of disability. To them, 90% is the bus.
He ended up sharing some great stories; like how his favorite part of taking the bus to Kennedy School as a kid (yes, that Kennedy School) was when his bus driver (whose name he still remembers) would take them on bumpy gravel roads, the bus driver who inspired him to leave a former job he hated, how he uses his power of observation and belief in nonviolence to do his job better, and much more.
And for those of you who always thank your bus driver before getting off, you’ll definitely want to listen all the way to the end to see if you pass Dan’s “backdoor test”.
Listen to the episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts. I’ve shared an edited version of the interview below and you can read a full transcript as a PDF here.
Did you take the bus to school? Or what was your first experience taking the bus?
I went to Kennedy grade school… The Kennedy School that’s now a bar and theater and everything. In fact, if you go in the back towards the parking lot, there on the wall is a class picture. I’m in the lower right hand side with the big head. I think my head was the same size in third grade.
I had to take a bus there. And I even know my bus driver was Mrs. Yost, everyone in the neighborhood knows that bus driver! She was fantastic! And if you were really good all week, she would turn off of Killingsworth two blocks early to go down the gravel roads and throw us all over the bus. We would bounce around and it was great.
Hearing that, it’s no too surprising that you had a good impression of what it would be like to be a bus driver. How did you end up working at TriMet?
I worked at a big bank that was prominent in the problems of 2006 to 2008. And so that was driving me nuts. And then I noticed that every night when I got off at Willow Creek to take the train home, there was a bus driver, and she was juggling these glow-in-the dark balls and just relaxing on her break and laughing. Everybody was interacting with her. Everybody was having fun. And I went, ‘I’m want that job. I want a job where on my breaks I walk out and it’s done.’
And that bus driver just retired at 47 years. I even gave her a big hug the other day. And yeah, just totally amazing. She just represents everything good about bus driving,
How has being a bus driver changed you?
Well first of all, I learned more about the city than I ever thought I knew. You learn far more about Portland than you ever thought you’d know… So that’s been one of the fun things is all of a sudden, I know all these little nooks and crannies of the city that I didn’t have a clue existed before. Even after the couple years after I first talked with you, I was still learning. And that hasn’t stopped. I’m always learning. And that’s kind of the fun part of being a bus driver.
And you’re open to it. It’s something that you embrace? You could just close it out and just do your job.
I think that there are drivers who do that to survive. But my coping mechanism is engaging. That’s how I feel better.
So to you, the job is to embrace it not to shut it out?
Yeah.
Do you mind if I read a little thing you wrote the other day on Twitter? I love the little stories you tell. Here it is:
“Meeting people where they are. It’s not just a growing buzz phrase. It’s an essential tool. A rider in tears admitted she missed the hospital stop because her father was in his last hours, and she was afraid. A lady on the bus I called Ms. Flower came over and embraced her, then asked, ‘Is it okay, if we say a prayer for you?’ At the far end of my run, with time to spare, I secured the bus and joined the others crowding around. Ms. Flowers said a wonderful prayer. She empowered others with what she learned firsthand about grief.
Ms. Flowers held her hand until we returned to the hospital, and then gave her a hug before she got off the bus. She thanked everyone.
Understanding what people need and doing your best to meet them there. That makes you a better driver.”
You see the the hero there is Ms. Flowers. That was not about me. It was what I observed. And you know, I used to say, I’m a good storyteller. But I’m really an observer. So this is something I observed in the person who stepped out of her comfort zone to come over and say, ‘Hey, do you need help? Can I say a prayer for you?’ That person was reaching out to her. I supported that. But she was the hero of that story. To do that, for another person you didn’t even know. That was my hero.
How do you feel like your role as a bus driver impacted that situation?
I think people were surprised. I think a lot of bus drivers try to keep that emotional distance, and I don’t fault them. That is a defensive mechanism. But you know, I learned from people like this Ms. Flowers, that you got to have the courage to step out. You gotta say, even if it’s a mistake, even if it’s wrong, you know, there’s been times when I saw someone on the side of the street, and I stopped the bus and checked on them and they screamed at me. One through a half-eaten can of beans at me! But I’m still going to do it. You know, if I see somebody in need, I’m still going to do something.
But [in that story] she made the effort. And I felt my job was supporting her. When I got out of my seat, the other of the bus joined in. And the one guy says, ‘I’m an atheist,’ and he was crying as much as the rest of us were. Because it wasn’t about us, it was about their moment. And what it meant to that lady was phenomenal.
You also sort of believe that there’s something about the bus itself and the act of taking transit, that connects people? You wrote something that really stood out to me when you wrote, “Transit is all of us.” Can you connect the dots between that story and this idea that somehow transit itself — and the shared space of the bus — is important?
A lot of people will say, ‘Well, you know, transit is only like 10% of the population,’ or whatever number they throw out. But what that doesn’t tell the story. Because it’s 10% now; but of young people, it’s like 90%. I don’t know anybody who grew up in Portland that didn’t take the bus at one time regularly. And a lot of it is older people who can’t drive anymore, or who have epilepsy or who have some sort of disability. To them, 90% is the bus.
You’re passing through the bus at different times at different speeds in your life. And it’s different for everyone, but it touches everyone. Even if you never rode a bus, there’s somebody riding a bus to your job. So it is this micro-community in the bigger community. And it has its own rules. It has its own way. Like things people do on the bus, they don’t do just sit standing on the street or walking by each other.
It’s hard to extract what’s really going on. It’s easy to grab a headline. And it’s really easy if you’re one of the people on the internet going, ‘Oh, this is always happening all the time!’ But I talk to drivers who are assaulted and, and no one likes that. No one wants that. Everyone wants to stop that. But it’s not the defining quality of transit, and of people on transit.
I wonder, though if it weighs on you that how some people act on the bus has changed. A lot of people listening to this are thinking it might be less positive than the story you shared. You certainly know that the reputation of transit has not been good these last few years. Does that matter to you? Does it weigh on you at all?
That doesn’t matter to me at all. I try the best I can. I’ve been assaulted. I’ve had problems. But there’s so much to unpack there. Because it’s it’s a simple and easy question to ask. But there’s a lot of layers to it. Because first of all, humans are negatively biased. We’re built with that. You know, ‘Plane lands safely. News at 11,’ you never hear that, right? That’s an old joke. You know, the person that said there’s no lions between here and the waterhole, they got eaten!
No one asks the real question, which is, ‘How violent is our society?’ And, you know, the bus has a slice of society on it. So if there’s violence in society, there’ll be violence in transit. So is transit dangerous? Well, compared to what? Is it compared to just walking down the street? You’re around 300 people on the bus. Are you safer than around 300 random people, you know, standing around a 7/11 at night?
It’s hard to extract what’s really going on. It’s easy to grab a headline. And it’s really easy if you’re one of the people on the internet going, ‘Oh, this is always happening all the time!’ But I talk to drivers who are assaulted and, and no one likes that. No one wants that. Everyone wants to stop that. But it’s not the defining quality of transit, and of people on transit.
Is that part why you share what you do online? To try to and infuse the narrative with something more beautiful or more positive than what people are usually hearing?
I would say this: I have a name for the negative people on Twitter, I call them ‘hose pipes’. They just blow out of a hose, like, anytime something negative happens, they’re ready to jump on board… I observe this negative thing happening, but you’ve got to saw these in half: observation and solution. No city has ever been made better buy people withdrawing. So it gets to a point where you’re just reiterating this avalanche of negativity and that’s never going to fix a city.
Do you think some of your driver colleagues have withdrawn or stopped driving because of some of this negativity?
I don’t know many people that have left just because of that. There could be… I find that people who’ve been disconnected from driving for maybe a decade are far more negative about what’s going on than the drivers I know who are actually doing it now.
OK, switching gears a bit, are there things that bike riders do that make your job harder? Easier?
Well let’s start with 15 years ago, when biking was just booming. I saw a rift between what I call professional commuters — they paid attention, they had lights, they had helmets, they took defensive action, they weren’t worried about who has the right-of-way as they were about just doing what was safe. And then there was a whole bunch of new people who were just starting on that path. So if there were problems, it wasn’t like, this is a problem of all cyclists, it was a problem of these people are starting on this path… they took more risks. And what it did is it sort of put the danger on onto someone else’s plate. When you aren’t riding defensively, you’re basically handing someone else the the gun pointed at your head. And so that was frustrating to a lot of commercial drivers because our vehicles are no joke.
I always joke that the problem is with buses is they named them wrong. They named him too nicely. “Bus” sounds nice. If they would have called it the “crush you kill you” people would treat it a little bit different… It’s no joke. It’s no joke. And people in general — not just cyclists but people walking, people in cars — take more risks around heavy buses, because they anticipate that drivers are going to account for that.
I always joke that the problem is with buses is they named them wrong. They named him too nicely. “Bus” sounds nice. If they would have called it the “crush you kill you” people would treat it a little bit different. It’s no joke.
What about Pedalpalooza? What happens in the summer with those big group rides when there are 500 bike riders rolling by?
Yeah, they’re a different animal. They behave differently and sometimes wrongly, but you know it doesn’t last long. You don’t get Pedalpalooza all day, every day. So I don’t mind waiting.
Between drivers and people on bikes, is there one that makes your job harder or easier? Which, which one is more frustrating to you to drive around?
Well, I’m a little biased now. Because the route I’m on has precious few bikes. The few people that are regular commuters out there, I know and have nicknames for them. I got “yellow top” and “speedo”, and all sorts of them. I’ve kind of got used to the handful of regular riders.
To keep my head in the game, I pretend everybody’s at the lower-end and worse. That way, I’m driving defensively. I’m anticipating, I’m leaving space for everyone. I assume that it’s this person’s first day on the road or the first time they’ve been on a bike. And I am pleasantly surprised when that’s not the case. I tend to get not get into grouping [road users together]. Because then you’re lowering your guard right? And you shouldn’t do that you should always say, ‘I’m here. I’m focused. These people I’m going to assume they don’t know,’ right? And when they do, I’m the first one to wave or at a light stop and say thank you. I love it.
If there’s something you could tell bike riders out there to, you know, do a better job at or just keep in mind or is there anything you want them to hear?
I’d say the secret is that we all get home safe. Not laws, not rules, that you get home safe. That’s above all. I think a lot of cyclists have that feeling like, ‘Oh, of course I do that, I’m the most at risk.’ But you got to drive like that. You got to ride like that. You got to walk like that. You’ve got to be defensive at all times. And just make sure that it’s not a matter of speed. It’s a matter of life. That’s the only thing I focus on is life and safety on the bus… And that’s what really matters.
… It’s life. That’s very precious. And get out to it. You know, we’re getting into the summer times where people really get out and enjoy Portland. That’s great. Yeah, knock yourself out!
Okay, last question: Do you care if people say ‘thank you’ when they get off?
Yes and no. When they say ‘thank you,’ I always say, ‘thank you, my pleasure.’ That’s my tagline. But there is a test. And this has a horrible name. It’s called the backdoor test. We as social beings don’t like to draw attention to ourselves. People will walk by me and go ‘thank you’ upfront, right? That’s fine. It’s quiet. No one hears it.
The person leaving from the back door that yells ‘thank you driver!’ and breaks all the social barriers and says it loud enough for everyone to hear — that person is sending a different message. That’s what I count. I count the backdoor thank-yous. I like all thank-yous of course. It’s pleasant. It’s beautiful. But that backdoor thank-you, when you get the same amount of men thanking you as women, the same amount of Asian people, Russian people, Black people, white people, everybody’s saying ‘thank you’ from the backdoor, you’re doing something right. They’re breaking that taboo and being outspoken in public in front of people they don’t know, to thank the driver as they leave. I literally have counts of those. It’s like, I know I’m doing well, when those counts are high. Then I’m impacting people, because they’re breaking those barriers to say thank you.
This was an edited version of our conversation. Listen to the entire interview in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts. View a full text transcript below.
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Dr. Fraug on one of Portland’s greenways. (Photo: Mike Bennett)
With bike ridership in Portland going down, some point to the city’s “hidden” neighborhood greenway system as a reason more people aren’t cycling. Since many of the city’s most popular bike routes — residential streets that feature diverters and traffic calming measures to reduce rider stress — are out of sight, not everyone is aware they even exist.
Perhaps, the thinking goes, more signage on the greenways could help turn the tide. For that, we turn to north Portland artist and “public joy creator” Mike Bennett, who recently released some new designs to his roster of “Bennett Buddies” that we’d love to see taking up residence all over our greenways.
Bennett is the mastermind behind the iconic “slow down” street signs that feature famously slow animals like snails and sloths telling drivers to take their foot off the gas and get on their level. When these signs started to proliferate on Portland’s streets a couple years ago, we drew the connection between their popularity and the increase in driver speeding/lack of enforcement during the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the conditions on Portland’s streets haven’t improved much in that time, and people are still relying on yard signs to serve as de facto traffic enforcers. Even the City of Portland knows the value of signage to create an identity for greenways and has an aggressive yard sign program. At an informal gathering of bike activists Friday in the Lents neighborhood, BikeLoud PDX Board Member Aaron Kuehn shared draft designs of a new large sticker he’s creating for the group. It would be emblazoned with “Bike Loud” and the idea would be to stick it on traffic poles along good cycling routes to help others find their way.
Now Bennett and his new character Dr. Thadeus Fraug, a “self-diagnosed bicycle believer” who wants to keep his fellow “spoke-folk safe”, will add to that mix.
“With his highly visible ‘Bicycle Zone’ sign at his side, he’s a ribbeting reminder for drivers and an adorable addition to your neighborhood,” Dr. Fraug’s description reads. We envision him making his mark on greenways from NE Klickitat to NW Pettygrove as soon as possible.
Current signage on Portland’s neighborhood greenways is lacking, though it’s better on some routes than others. SE Clinton Street, for instance, features many orange bike street sign toppers and yard signs letting people know they’re on a greenway. But other greenway streets could really use a boost.
BikeLoud stickers and Bennett’s buddies won’t be able to fix Portland’s declining bike ridership on their own, but more awareness of where bike routes are certainly can’t hurt.
How will Oregon pay for a major expansion of the I-5 freeway between Portland and Vancouver (also known as the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program)? We’ve known for a while that the magic number for Oregon’s share would be $1 billion — that’s the amount the state of Washington has already pledged, and with a project estimated to cost as much as $7.5 billion, the federal government needs to see cooperation and a local match before they’re willing to award coveted infrastructure grants.
With the clock ticking and all eyes on Oregon, we finally know how our state plans to come up with the money: they want to borrow it.
Last Wednesday the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation revealed a plan to bond against $700 million in Oregon Department of Transportation state highway fund tax revenue (which comes from gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, and fees from freight trucks). The remaining $300 million would come from bond sales from the state’s general fund. The state would be on the hook to pay back these debts beginning in 2026.
Source: ODOTSource: Joint Committee on TransportationLeft: Chart showing where state highway funding goes. Right: The IBR funding plan.
The payback would hit ODOT funding in particular starting in 2032, when they estimate it would carve $50 million per year out of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. To put that debt into perspective, it’s almost the same amount ODOT spends on public transit statewide each year ($60 million). It would also add to ODOT’s already heavy debt load. Of the $782 million ODOT receives from the state highway fund each year, just over 20% of it — $163 million — goes directly to debt service.
Another element of the funding plan is that lawmakers would set a hard cap for the total cost of the project so that it may not exceed $6.3 billion. It’s worth noting that when ODOT released their updated cost estimate back in December, they gave a range of $5 to 7.5 billion and settled on $6 billion as the most likely number; so while that cap is right in line with ODOT’s own estimates, it at least puts up some guardrails about runaway costs and it could be seen as a small overture from lawmakers that they don’t trust ODOT with a blank check.
The funding plan reveals desperation from lawmakers as tensions continue to rise about how ODOT will stay solvent in light of an ever-expanding portfolio of megaprojects and an ever-shrinking pot of money to pay for them. ODOT is obligated by the legislature start a tolling program to help pay for projects like this one, but that process will be anything but easy as they navigate skeptics across the public and political spectrum.
The Joint Committee on Transportation will have to take up a bill this session to initiate their plan. According to stories from The Oregonian and OPB last week, that will happen in April. If it all goes according to plan, ODOT would issue the bonds in 2025 — the same year the Oregon Legislature plans to pass its next large transportation funding package.
While this funding plan hasn’t been scheduled for a public hearing yet, it will very likely be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday, March 28th) when ODOT leaders return to the Joint Committee on Transportation to brief lawmakers on their budget. The informational session is being continued from March 7th when lawmakers grilled ODOT about their spending priorities and left several questions unanswered.
Speaking of unanswered questions, the I-5 expansion and bridge replacement project has been dogged by them. Earlier this month the U.S. Coast Guard forced the project team to analyze a lift-span design, a move the project team hoped to avoid and that could sow further doubt and delays.
Adding to the cauldron of concern, lawmakers will also soon hear from activists who plan to descend on the capitol building on April 13th for what’s being billed as the Transportation Future Day of Action. The event is co-organized by the Just Crossing Alliance and is part of the “Right Size, Right Now!” campaign that seeks to convince legislators to re-think their approach to the IBRP project.
“We can’t let this behemoth bankrupt our state and our children’s climate future,” reads a statement about the event. “The current design is oversized and will suck up our state’s transportation funds for the next couple of decades and leave us without dollars to fill potholes, invest in safe streets and routes to school, or prioritize active transportation and public transportation. The current design is a five-mile freeway expansion that far outreaches the need for a safe, earthquake proof bridge and will increase traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.”
