The bill for a study on a Salem streetcar, HB 3224, has enjoyed a strange enthusiasm.
Tonight the Cherriots Board will get a review of the Legislative Session from their Lobbyist.
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| HB 3224 was stuffed into a "Christmas Tree" bill! |
I had thought the bill for a Streetcar Study had died, and it had, but the provisions of the bill were stuffed into one of those end-of-session omnibus "Christmas Tree" bills.
So now we'll want to watch the study with great scrutiny, to see if it is a sober and level-headed analysis, or if it is lofted with hot air and enthusiasm.
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| Study of Portland Streetcar |
A Federal study of the Portland Streetcar had said its "aggregate unit cost" was $45 million per mile in 2016. Given the current environment of cost escalation, that could easily double to $100 million per mile today.
The annual budget for Cherriots appears to be about $50 million.
People are currently upset over the McGilchrist project at a little over $50 million.
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| Budget from May 25th meeting |
So it is very strange to consider the circumstances under which a streetcar would represent a good value.
Even at $45 million, a mile of streetcar could get you a lot of new buses and a lot of frequent service!
Additionally there is a threat a streetcar poses to cannibalize the Union Street Bridge and the dangers it poses to ordinary bicycling travel when wheels get caught on the rails. There are ways a new streetcar could degrade walking and biking.
A good study will be clear-headed about trade-offs and costs and not merely try to whip up enthusiasm.
Previously and elsewhere see:
- "As a new Streetcar Proposal is Floated, Close Scrutiny is Needed" (2022)
- "City Club Talks Streetcar - But are we Missing Simpler Solutions?" (2013)
- At Strong Towns, a mixed assessment in posts tagged "Streetcars."
- At occasional Cherriots consultant Jarrett Walker's Human Transit, also a mixed assessment in posts tagged "Streetcars."
Update, July 30th
Here it is in the paper. It's nice to see leaning into the history a little.
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| In today's paper |
6 comments:
While the capital costs could be paid in part with federal grants, the yearly operation & maintenance costs should receive equal consideration.
Over on one of the YouTube transit/urbanist channels, there was a short clip of one of the European cities trialing an insert that made it safer to bike over the tram rail lines. I don't recall which city, sorry.
The Capital Chronicle is reporting Governor Kotek will likely veto the appropriation -
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/briefs/oregon-gov-kotek-will-let-expanded-self-serve-gas-become-law-veto-salem-transit-and-sex-work-studies/
It is hard to argue with Kotek's assessment that a streetcar study was not "a top priority for the state."
In a separate piece on housing, "Kotek celebrates new housing laws but says more work needs to be done," she talked about the need for revenue at the City of Salem, and pushing that conversation sure seems more valuable than pushing for the streetcar study:
"Kotek said she didn’t speak to Salem leaders about their plans for the tax and that she understood why city leaders made the choice they did. Salem Mayor Chris Hoy, who attended the bill signing, crouched to duck behind other guests when a question about the payroll tax came up.
Kotek said she wants to have a conversation about the state’s role in paying for local government services in Salem because the state doesn’t pay property taxes on the property it owns in the capital city.
'I understand that they need to fund services, and part of the reason they’re doing that is the fact that the state government is in Salem, and they aren’t able to collect certain types of revenue because of the placement of state office buildings,' she said. 'Let’s have that conversation. My sense is signatures are gonna get collected to take that to the voters and then the voters are going to be able to decide if they want to go down that path.'"
Added clip from Sunday paper.
For context, $150 million (let's say $200m+ at least now) vs. $8000 million for single Vancouver/Portland highway expansion.
So we could fund 40 streetcar lines of this size for the cost of a single highway expansion.
I wish Governor Kotek and the Democrats in Oregon would prioritize real commuter rail in the Willamette Valley. How is it they're talking for 10 plus years and haven't broke ground? But they've found money for the Donald exchange, the Abernathy bridge and all the work on 26, not to mention all the money on studying widening I-5 through Portland and "fixing " 22 west of Salem.
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