With a little bit of creativity, HB2017's promised freeway improvements could be delivered immediately for just the cost of paint and a bit of asphalt. It would look something like this. The promised improvements were: - Address Rose Quarter congestion - Improve north-south vehicle flow

OTC votes 4-0 in support of Rose Quarter "Option 4" put forward by Albina Vision Trust. Option calls for discussion over next 3-4 months between ODOT, AVT, and partners to find a consensus set of investments that would split the $167 million on hand equally between highway and community aspects.

Recommendation from the 2005 Freeway Loop Study: "Complete Master Plan Before Major Investment." (Maybe we should do that?)

Interesting and revealing exchange at today's OTC meeting regarding the Salem Center Street Bridge Seismic Retrofit Project. At issue: The authorization of an additional ~$100 million to cover project cost increases. Commissioner Chang starts it off well:

The reasoning given here for ruling out highway cover width reduction makes no sense. Shoulders are routinely used as temporary travel lanes during construction. A cap designed for three lanes and standard shoulders in each direction would have adequate width for four temporary lanes on one side.

The wholesomest thing I've read in a long time. Wendell Berry and Nick Offerman hanging out drinking bourbon makes me so happy

Iconic

Apropos of the IBR project's presentation to the Portland City Council Transportation Committee next week: A thread. About half of the IBR's planned $7.5B budget is dedicated to replacing the current bridge and building the necessary approaches, including the SR-14 interchange.

One reason for the high cost of the Rose Quarter project is that it has essentially been designed by committee. Pieces have been added, taken away, and moved around. Whenever this is done, the other pieces are all iterated to accommodate the change. But there's little evidence that big-picture