Quarries are in the news lately, and they have impacted many around the area. Unfortunately, it's difficult not to think that the increase in demand for aggregate is related to our thirst for roads.
Last year the legislature passed a large transportation package,
House Bill 2001. In 2008, Salem area voters passed the
Keep Salem Moving road bond.
These very large public works packages of road building and road expansion drive a significant increase in the need for aggregate. It can hardly be a coincidence, therefore, that three quarries have been proposed in Marion County this past year:
White Cloud property on Skyline Road in May 2009
Expansion of an existing quarry at
8425 Windsor Island Rd in Keizer in September 2009
And this morning comes news of approvals for
another one near Stayton.
Unfortunately, these projects impact adversely our homes, our neighbors, our recreation sites, and our quality of life. But they are an indirect cost of our wish to expand the roadway system.
One way to reduce our hunger for new sources of aggregate is to reduce our reliance on road expansion and the drive-alone auto trip. If we all used our cars less, and instead car-pooled, used public transit, biked, or walked, we would more efficiently use and better conserve the roads we already have. Freight, after all, moves just as efficiently on less crowded roads as on bigger roads. Then we could reallocate tax moneys to other kinds of projects that would better improve our lives and not be rendered obsolete as oil and energy become increasingly expensive.