The package includes major updates to big east Portland arterials like this one.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

In what’s being hailed as an unprecedented moment for regional transportation reform, Metro Council voted unanimously on Thursday to adopt the Get Moving 2020 plan and send it to voters in November.

Centered around 17 “investment corridors,” the plan could pump nearly $8 billion into regional transportation infrastructure and programs over the next 20 years. If approved, the measure would start generating revenue in 2022 with a 0.75% payroll tax paid by employers of businesses with over 25 employees. (UPDATE: A last-minute amendment exempts all state and local government agencies.) Metro’s latest pitch has framed the proposal as a massive jobs package that will put over 37,500 people to work with high-paying construction and consulting jobs.

Metro spent over 18 months negotiating the details of this package. While it’s not perfect and has received very mixed reviews from transportation reform activists, the overall feeling seems to be that the myriad benefits of the “good” projects and programs far outweigh the few “bad” projects that made the cut.
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Climate change activism group Sunrise PDX is hosting an info session tomorrow (6/17) on Metro’s Get Moving 2020 transportation funding bond measure.

It’s been easy to forget with the pandemic and protests dominating the news since March, but Metro still hopes to put this measure on the ballot in November. If all goes according to plan it will raise $3.1 billion for infrastructure projects, including $975 million for the new SW Corridor MAX light rail line.

“Now more than ever the intersectionality of environmental justice, racial justice and transportation justice is a major key in how our city proceeds with its priorities,” reads a description of the event. “Feedback about the anti-oppression and community engagement portions of this bond will be an especially important part of how we move forward.”
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The task at hand.

Now that Metro’s 2020 Transportation Funding Task Force has decided which projects to fund, they need to figure out how to pay for them.[Read more…]

Another dangerous ODOT highway that runs through our cities. Another tragic consequence.
(Photo: Washington County Sheriff’s Office)

Policymaking can often feel far-removed from our everyday lives. Then there are times when we can connect current policy debates with matters of life-and-death with a short, straight line. This is one of those times.[Read more…]

The Getting There Together Coalition, a group of 50+ member organizations that was formed in 2017 to influence the Metro transportation investment package that will be sent to voters in 2020, says the recommendation by Metro staff on how to spend the first $3.1 billion in new revenue is too timid.

“If the Task Force and Metro Council really wants to see transformational impacts through this measure (to be clear: we do), the Coalition recommends turning T2020 into a transformative first step in addressing our region’s transportation needs by doubling down on the corridors where the needs are greatest, and removing from consideration projects where the needs and impact do not match the values above,” wrote the Coalition’s lead organizer Walter Robinson II in a copy of written testimony to be submitted to the Transportation Funding Task Force for their meeting Wednesday night. [Read more…]