The Mid-Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation, a local committee advising the Oregon Transportation Commission and ODOT, meets on Thursday the 6th, and they'll get an update on the Center Street Bridge seismic retrofit.
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| Nothing more in the meeting packet, alas |
There's no additional information in the meeting packet, so there's nothing more to say at the moment. Still, even just as a "hello, I'm still here," kind of notice, it's nice to see. The significant detail is "construction year is estimated to be in 2025." That doesn't sound very confident, however, and since the last cost estimate is from 2019, cost escalation will very like a complicating factor. Maybe there will be more to say later.
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| On Updating the Freight Plan |
They'll also get an update on the Oregon Freight Plan and the project to revise it. MWACT's area is all of Yamhill, Polk, and Marion counties, so there are strong agricultural and rural interests on it.
But freight interests need a better countervailing force. On freight's dominance BikePortland has a good recent piece, "Oregon’s rogue freight advisory committee might have finally overstepped" and an older piece from 2012, "Advocates help push back alarming freight power grab in Salem."
The solution for easing freight is fewer drive-alone trips and shorter drive-alone trips. To focus reducing demand for drive-alone trips. But freight always wants more lanes, wider lanes, and speedier lanes. They want more roadway supply and they want pesky non-auto travelers out of the way.
Freight needs some counterweight and curbing.
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| This map of freight routes shows the SRC (draft Chapt. 4 of the 2023 MTP) |
More specifically, freight interests might provide for a way to smuggle in an attempt to revive the SRC. You may recall earlier this year that the draft Chapter 4 of the forthcoming 2023 Metropolitan Transportation Plan still contained reference to the SRC in a map of freight routes. The routes are also on some of our busiest arterial streets that need protected bike lanes. Even now, the new proposed cross-sections for McGilchrist do not show protected bike lanes for the full length. Freight has not been a very helpful partner in modernizing road design for the 21st century, and often opposed those efforts. And ODOT has too often obliged.
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| Innovative Mobility |
Finally, they'll hear an update on the new Innovative Mobility Program. It's still being built-out, but a basic FAQ says:
What kinds of services will the Innovative Mobility Program Fund?
The program can fund many transportation related activities including (but not limited to):
- Pedal and Electric bike lending libraries and bike shares
- Electric scooter shares and lending libraries
- Transportation wallets
- Subsidized fares
- Carpools and Vanpools
- Equipment (e.g. bike locks and helmets)
- Infrastructure (e.g. bike racks, safety signage, more accessible transit stops)
- Training and information (e.g. bike and scooter training, safety training, navigation training)
If you have an idea, there are funds available! See the ODOT site for details. BikePortland also has a couple of notes:
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