🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏
Love ’em or strongly dislike ’em, this is our state DOT.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and their policy-making arm the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) have proposed sweeping changes to how the state allocates transportation dollars and who gets to decide how those dollars are spent. The proposals come with a short timeline and advocates and elected officials in the region want several key changes … Read more
A meeting back in June helped highlight safety concerns at the intersection.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) It looks likes years of citizen activism might finally bear fruit. Yesterday, Betsy Reese — the co-owner of the Paramount Apartments situated on the peninsula formed by the intersection of N. Broadway, Flint, and Wheeler streets near I-5 — announced … Read more
They’re already crunching numbers in Salem.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) Congress officially passed a new, two-year transportation bill today. As I shared yesterday, it’s regarded by active transportation advocates as being downright bad. Even Portland Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who was on the conference committee that hashed out the final bill, calls its passage “strangely anti-climactic” (I … Read more
EV incentive programs should not leave out bikes.(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland) Last week the Oregon Department of Transportation announced the availability of $4 million in incentives for electric trucks. The money comes from the federal government’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program and it’s aimed at, “encouraging the purchase of zero-emission urban delivery trucks.” … Read more
Seeing green on SW Barbur.(Photo: Alan Love) I’ve got a couple of news tidbits from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) that have piled up in my inbox so I thought I’d share them all at once. From a new job opening in their Active Transportation section to the installation of their first-ever green colored … Read more
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland) A proposal to amend a powerful state transportation planning law would have had chilling effect on the development of bikeways in cities throughout Oregon. But thankfully, because of the swift action by active transportation advocates, the City of Portland, and Metro, the director of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) decided … Read more
ODOT Director Matt Garrett, photographed in Salem.(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
The director of the Oregon Department of Transportation, Matt Garrett, in his office in Salem.(Photos © J. Maus)
“Typically project scopes of work are influenced by the funding stream. This does not always lead to the best solution to the problem.”— ODOT We’ve been reporting on an evolution away from a freeway-first mentality and toward a mode-neutral approach that’s been taking place at the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) over the past year … Read more
ODOT Director Matt Garrett is moving forward with changes at the agency. Back in July I shared that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) had embarked on a major organizational shift with the creation of a new Active Transportation Section. A memo from ODOT Director Matt Garrett sent to staffers on Tuesday, and a new … Read more
Chart of ODOT’s Capital Program falling off a cliff in the next few years. A memo from Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Director Matt Garrett and ODOT Highway Division Manager Paul Mather to a state Senate committee back in November outlines a dire funding forecast they say will lead to a five percent staff reduction … Read more
Detail of proposed improvements to SW Barbur Blvd. ODOT has whittled down a list of 89 “non-highway transportation projects” vying for $21 million in federal flexible funds, to just 35. Three City of Portland projects have made it onto the second round; but unfortunately, a project that could have built the first segment of the … Read more