But the eye-opener for me was to hear a panelist from ODOT say that they actually have a planning process to look at what facilities they will abandon if they can't maintain all the roads.

Good! Maybe they can get ahead of the curve and unload, now, the huge parcels of land they have locked up in our neighborhood, in the Central Eastside Industrial District.

I have lived in Hosford-Abernethy for 18+ years now, and for all this time to have massive parcels of land sitting vacant across the river from downtown, generating no property taxes, with broken sidewalks and fenced-off vagrant-and litter-attracting land...what's the point? Is part of ODOT's mission to land bank valuable industrial-zoned properties, and keep them off the tax roles?

Decommissioning the Marquam Bridge and Eastbank freeway would make available some of the most valuable land in the region for redevelopment.

This is part of the problem of subsidized systems also.

While people get used to paying a lower price even though it costs far more for something (roadways, trains, mass transit) etc. it makes them much less likely to want to fund something in the future because they are A: spoiled and B: under the false impression that something costs less than what it really does.

In turn people place a lower and lower priority on transportation funding and act as if it is something that is "owed" to them by society. The method of higher and higher subsidies continues and perpetuates this idealogy which is VERY bad for the market and for ANY possible resumption of the transportation industry actually being given BACK to the people and allowing businesses/people/trusts/concerns to run these things again under a self sustaining plan.

The best I can hope is that the prices for travelling start to recuperate from this egregarious subsidization & over reliance on roadways. With that transportation increases in price, the cost is actually defrayed and real interest will be created for society in general to be involved in these matters again.

While people get used to paying a lower price even though it costs far more for something (roadways, trains, mass transit) etc. it makes them much less likely to want to fund something in the future because they are A: spoiled and B: under the false impression that something costs less than what it really does.

I think this is highly theoretical. The fact is ttansportation system are inherently public. Even the so-called "private tollways" are part of a public transportation system. There is no market where decisions are made and there can't be. Getting the economic signals right is part of the solution, but we shouldn't start to believe that the market will solve all our problems.

If we want people to use transit, because it places less burden on others and on society as a whole, then it makes sense to wire the economic incentives to promote that behavior. If we want people to drive less during rush hour, then make it cost more. These are tools that can be used, but only after the decisions are made on what kind of public system you want to end up with.

The real problem is that because people pay for their vehicle and pay for their gas they think they are paying the full cost of their trip. That makes them very resistant to "government meddling" in their transportation choices.