Portland Transport: July 2010 Archives

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July 30, 2010

CRC Independent Review Panel Releases Report

The (PDF, 2.3M) recommendations of the Independent Review Panel for the Columbia River Crossing are out. I have not had time to review them yet, but both the Governor and Mayor Adams are already spinning it.

Posted by Chris Smith at 4:08 PM | Comments (64) | Permalink

July 29, 2010

Metro Analysis Shows Tolls and LRT Curb CRC Sprawl

Metro has completed a new growth forecast of population and employment, looking at various configurations of the Columbia River Crossing.

While their modeling confirms that a bridge with no tolls would increase housing growth in the northern parts of Clark County (growth at the edge of the region - aka sprawl), the combination of Light Rail and a toll of $2 each way (at rush hour) is apparently sufficient to keep housing growth comparable to the no-build scenario.

In my mind, this emphasizes the importance of agreeing now on a governance structure that will manage the bridge, and its tolls, to ensure that if the bridge is built it is managed to the goals that all the sponsors endorse as part of the project approval.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:58 AM | Comments (12) | Permalink

July 28, 2010

Putting NextBus to Shame

Via PriceTags:

I love this concept that would tell you not only when your transit or passenger rail vehicle is approach, but which sections are least crowded and where you can board with your wheeled vehicle of choice.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:37 AM | Comments (12) | Permalink

July 27, 2010

MTIP Time Again - Your Chance to Comment

The MTIP (Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program) is a rolling 4-year plan for how transportation funds will be spent in the region that is updated every two years. The 2010-2013 Plan is now in development and Metro is seeking comments.

The dust-up a few weeks ago about active transportation versus freight was part of this process, as JPACT was providing policy guidance for how to split the flexible funding portion of MTIP (only a few percent) between modes.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:55 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

July 26, 2010

Recalibration? Milwaukie Light Rail gets 50%, not 60% federal match.

TriMet issued a press release today noting that the FTA has expressed strong support for the Milwaukie Light Rail project, but only committed to a 50% match, rather than 60% as has been customary in the past for light rail projects in our region.

The reasons listed were:

TA New Starts share could be no greater than 50 percent for a project over $1 billion
There is tremendous demand for the New Starts program, and FTA did not want to create a precedent for a federal share above 50 percent for a project over $1 billion
The US Department of Transportation's budget has not increased and the Transportation Reauthorization Bill is not moving forward
There is no anticipated increase in most domestic spending, as directed by President Obama

TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane is quoted in the press release as saying "Over the next few weeks, we'll be working with our project partners to recalibrate the project to fit within these new funding parameters".

I wonder if this recalibration might also be an opportunity to reassess the idea of bonding future operating revenue to pay for capital construction?

Posted by Bob Richardson at 11:15 AM | Comments (128) | Permalink

An Intelligent View of Congestion with a Digression to Emergency Vehicles

Over at Human Transit, Jarrett has an excellent discussion of the relationship between road congestion and transit, focusing on why transit will generally not reduce congestion, but is still a worthwhile investment for improving mobility and economic activity.

The only point I might add is that over the long term good land use planning is also an effective tool to manage congestion (it can't happen fast enough to reduce congestion, but it can certainly help slow its growth over time, or allow development of new areas with radically less congestion than they might otherwise have).

I'm also intrigued by Jarrett's point that exclusive transit lanes are also very useful for emergency vehicles. I wonder if protected bikeways could be developed with the same benefit?

A reminder that Jarrett is visiting Portland tomorrow!

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:41 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink

July 23, 2010

Video Feature - Neil McFarlane Interview - Part 5

Here is the final segment in our interview with TriMet's new General Manager, Neil McFarlane.

Today our series concludes with a discussion of TriMet's future plans, some "big picture" issues, and... Michael's question!

The complete list and schedule, after the break:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Part 1: Introduction, Safety and Priorities	Part 2: Funding, Capital Projects and Budget Concerns	Part 3: Health Care, LIFT Service and the Fare System	Part 4: Mode Choice, Technology and Rider Involvement	Part 5: Future Planning, The Big Picture, and...

Correction: An earlier version of this post and video referred to "Lenny's Question" when, in fact, the question came from Michael. Correction to the correction: An apostrophe was rounded up and placed inside "Michael's".

Posted by Bob Richardson at 9:44 AM | Comments (31) | Permalink

July 22, 2010

CRC Money Pit Grows by $42M

Planning for the Columbia River Crossing, already approaching $100M, will apparently get a $42M injection from Senator Patty Murray.

Anyone want to start a pool on whether planning costs for this bridge will exceed the actual construction cost of the Sellwood bridge?

Posted by Chris Smith at 9:27 AM | Comments (6) | Permalink

Video Feature - Neil McFarlane Interview - Part 4

Here is the next segment in our interview with TriMet's new General Manager, Neil McFarlane.

Today's installment takes a look at transit modes such as BRT and future technology, and discusses issues related to rider involvement in agency decisions.

The complete list and schedule, after the break:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Part 1: Introduction, Safety and Priorities	Part 2: Funding, Capital Projects and Budget Concerns	Part 3: Health Care, LIFT Service and the Fare System	Part 4: Mode Choice, Technology and Rider Involvement	Part 5: Future Planning, The Big Picture, and...

Posted by Bob Richardson at 8:20 AM | Comments (7) | Permalink

July 21, 2010

A Few Quick Links for the Day

Posted by Chris Smith at 4:07 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Video Feature - Neil McFarlane Interview - Part 3

Here is the next segment in our interview with TriMet's new General Manager, Neil McFarlane.

This time, we discuss TriMet's health care obligations, the financial future of LIFT Service, and whether and how to replace the current fare system.

The complete list and schedule, after the break:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Part 1: Introduction, Safety and Priorities	Part 2: Funding, Capital Projects and Budget Concerns	Part 3: Health Care, LIFT Service and the Fare System	Part 4: Mode Choice, Technology and Rider Involvement	Part 5: Future Planning, The Big Picture, and...

Posted by Bob Richardson at 1:14 AM | Comments (15) | Permalink

July 20, 2010

Transit App Comes Out on Top at CivicApps Awards Ceremony

This evening, Andy Wallace's PDXBus iPhone app was "best of show" at the CivicApps awards ceremony.

[Disclaimer: I was one of the judges.]

The app includes real time TriMet arrivals and a host of other features:

Bookmarked stop locations
Stop lookup by line
Nearby stops (using the phone's GPS)
Transit Maps
A trip planner

Congratulations, Andy!

Posted by Chris Smith at 10:32 PM | Comments (4) | Permalink

Video Feature - Neil McFarlane Interview - Part 2

Here is the next segment in our interview with TriMet's new General Manager, Neil McFarlane.

[Corrected] Today's Topic: Funding, Capital Projects and Budget Concerns.

The complete list and schedule, after the break:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Part 1: Introduction, Safety and Priorities	Part 2: Funding, Capital Projects and Budget Concerns	Part 3: Health Care, LIFT Service and the Fare System	Part 4: Mode Choice, Technology and Rider Involvement	Part 5: Future Planning, The Big Picture, and...

Posted by Bob Richardson at 7:24 AM | Comments (22) | Permalink

July 19, 2010

Full URS CRC Report

I haven't had a chance to read through it yet, but here it is (PDF, 4.4M) for your reading pleasure.

Posted by Chris Smith at 1:49 PM | Comments (11) | Permalink

T4America Chief in Portland Tomorrow

James Corless, Director of the Transportation for America Campaign, is in Portland tomorrow and 1000 Friends of Oregon is hosting a reception.

Posted by Chris Smith at 9:44 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Video Feature - Neil McFarlane Interview - Part 1

Last week, we sat down with TriMet's new General Manager, Neil McFarlane, for an interview featuring your questions.

We have over 40 minutes of material. So that people can digest this via YouTube and comment, the interview has been divided into five segments, the first of which is shown today:

This segment provides some background and context, and gives Neil a chance to speak about his priorities. There's not much Q&A here -- reader questions begin in the following segments.

The complete list and schedule, after the break:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Part 1: Introduction, Safety and Priorities	Part 2: Funding, Capital Projects and Budget Concerns	Part 3: Health Care, LIFT Service and the Fare System	Part 4: Mode Choice, Technology and Rider Involvement	Part 5: Future Planning, The Big Picture, and...

Posted by Bob Richardson at 9:01 AM | Comments (24) | Permalink

Corridor Tolls for the CRC?

Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt proposed corridor tolling for I-5 as a Columbia River Crossing financing tool at Friday's work session.

The idea is to toll not just the crossing itself, but segments on either side of the river as well. The political motivation is to spread the costs across a greater set of users. The policy rationale is that drivers who user I-5 near the bridge - but don't cross it - still benefit from reduction in congestion.

If you threw in doing the same for I-205, I could feel some enthusiasm for this approach.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:34 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink

July 18, 2010

Sorry for the Disruption

If you've been frustrated trying to comment on a post, we apologize. We went through a database upgrade with our provider and have just now got everything sorted out.

Let the discussion continue!

Posted by Chris Smith at 8:13 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

July 16, 2010

Bikeability About More Than Bike Lanes

Via Pricetags:

A paper by PSU MURP candidate Nathan McNeil (PDF) analyzes "bikeability" and develops a Walkscore-style scoring system.

He specifically compares East Portland with more central parts of the City and gives East Portland an average score of 76 compared to 96 for more central neighborhoods. Among the points of comparison:

East Portland has a comparable density of bike lanes with other parts of the City
East Portland has a significantly lower density of bike boulevards than the rest of the City
Because the street grid is more disjointed in East Portland, someone willing to travel a mile by bike can only reach an area about 75% of the size of the area someone in central Portland could reach
Perhaps most tellingly, the density of destinations - places to bike to - in East Portland is about a quarter of that in the center of the City.

The title of the paper is a pretty clear pointer to the solution: "Bikeability and the Twenty-Minute Neighborhood". Portland is going to need to develop some neighborhood centers in East Portland before cycling can possibly be as strong as in other parts of the City.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:04 AM | Comments (5) | Permalink

July 14, 2010

Become the Activist You've Always Wanted to Be

The PSU/PBOT Traffic and Transportation Class is back for 2010!

I can't enthuse enough about this class, it has been the breeding ground for some of Portland's most successful transportation activists. If you haven't take this (free for citizens) class - sign up NOW!

Posted by Chris Smith at 11:21 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink

July 13, 2010

Video - TriMet Safety Review Press Conference

Yesterday, TriMet general manager Neil McFarlane held a press conference to talk about safety in light of this spring's tragic bus accident and the ongoing safety review that incident spurred.

Some of the big changes announced (more are pending the outcome of the review):

TriMet will create a new safety director position which answers directly to the general manager
A safety task force will be empaneled, to be headed by former TriMet general manager Tom Walsh
Restrictions on the use of personal electronics by transit operators will be expanded to mandate that any such devices must be turned off at all times while operating a vehicle

Video - Part 1 - Main Presentation

Video - Part 2 - Q&A

We will be including portions of these videos in our feature interview with Neil McFarlane to provide additional context.

Posted by Bob Richardson at 9:00 AM | Comments (22) | Permalink

Time for the Great CRC Reckoning?

From the project:

Project Sponsors Council and partners to discuss comprehensive package of draft recommendations July 16
VANCOUVER - The Columbia River Crossing Project Sponsors Council will review and discuss on July 16 a comprehensive package of draft recommendations resulting from a four-month collaborative process to address questions raised by Council members.

PSC members will hold a joint work session with their integrated staff from partner agencies to review analysis completed to date and discuss the recommendations. The draft recommendations, which include design of the Hayden Island interchange and I-5 bridge lanes, were developed by the integrated staff group based on a workplan that was approved April 23.

The work session will be held from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Southwest Region office of the Washington State Department of Transportation, 11018 NE 51st Circle, in Vancouver. It is open to the public. Meeting materials are available at: http://www.columbiarivercrossing.org/ProjectPartners/PSCMeetingMaterials.aspx.

The work session will include the PSC members, staff representatives designated by PSC as well as representatives from the ports of Vancouver and Portland.

The Council is expected to meet again in August prior to submitting its findings and recommendations to Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski.

The Project Sponsors Council is composed of representatives from the Oregon and Washington departments of transportation, cities of Portland and Vancouver, Metro, Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, TriMet, and C-TRAN, as well as two citizens who serve as co-chairs for the group. The governors of Oregon and Washington charged the PSC with advising the project on completion of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, project design, project timeline, sustainable construction methods, consistency with greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and the financial plan.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:48 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

July 9, 2010

Video - TriMet Hybrid Bus Press Conference

Videos from today's press conference announcing federal funds to purchase four hybrid buses for TriMet's Line 72, with TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D - OR-3), and FTA Deputy Administrator Therese McMillan:

Part 1 - Main Presentation

Part 2 - Q&A

After the press conference, I asked for some additional info via email:

The buses will be standard 40' length low-floor, not articulated. This is the beginning of the procurement process, no vendor or specific model has been selected yet. The local match will be 20%.

At peak times, as many as 29 individual buses operate simultaneously on the #72 route. So by my math, a typical 72 rider at peak will have about a 14% chance of hopping on one of these new buses.

As I mentioned in the open thread, in our upcoming interview with Neil we will be following up about policies and timelines for upgrading the bus fleet. In the meantime, TriMet offered this statement:

"We have one of the old bus fleets in the country, and it is one of Neil's priorities to upgrade the fleet."

Posted by Bob Richardson at 12:16 PM | Comments (24) | Permalink

Reflecting on Yesterday's JPACT Vote

It's the first time I've ever seen multiple twitter streams covering a Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) meeting!

For those of you who haven't been following the blow-by-blow, freight interests in the region banded together, hired a PR agency to brand their efforts, and made an attempt to shift a significant portion of discretionary transportation funds from active transportation (bike and pedestrian projects) in the name of aiding the economy.

By a narrow 7-6 vote, active transportation funding was preserved. Here's how the votes broke down (you can read additional coverage at BikePortland.org):

Yes

Harrington, Metro Council
Burkholder, Metro Council
Fish, City of Portland
Stuart, Clark County
Burkman, City of Vancouver
McFarlane, TriMet
Kafouri, Multnomah County

Bill Wyatt, Port of Portland
Craig Dirksen, Mayor of Tigard
Jason Tell, ODOT Region 1 Director
Roy Rogers, Washington County Commissioner
Ann Lininger, Clackamas County Commissioner
Shirley Craddick, Gresham City Councilor

Abstain

DeConcini, DEQ
Wagner, WSDOT
Jordan , Cities of Clackamas County
Collette, Metro Council (JPACT Chair)

Here are some observations on this turn of events:

During a down economy, making any kind of linkage to jobs is very powerful - how do we make this connection for bike and pedestrian projects?
Two representatives from the Washington side of the river, where this money will NOT be spent, were critical to the winning majority.
Shirley Craddick will be joining the Metro Council in January, replacing Rod Park (I served with Shirely on MPAC, and respect her very much, but disagree on this vote).
The representatives from Metro, elected regionally, continue to be more progressive on active transportation than local government officials - making me suspect that our region would not have progressed as far as we have without our unique elected regional government.
The non-elected governments (TriMet and the Port of Portland) split their vote - it was good to see the new TriMet General Manager, Neil McFarlane voting for active transportation.
If City Club's recommendations for reform of JPACT's membership were followed, I'm not sure how this vote would have gone - under the suggested proportional voting by population, Portland and Multnomah County would have had more sway, but the Washington State and TriMet votes would not have existed (nor would the No votes from the Port and ODOT).

Fascinating...

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:10 AM | Comments (17) | Permalink

July 8, 2010

Four Streetcar Systems Funded for $25M each by Feds

USDOT announced $293M in "Urban Circulator" grants today and Streetcar proposals in Fort Worth, Cincinnati, Charlotte and St. Louis each nabbed $25M.

Analysis at the transport politic.

Hopefully Oregon Ironworks has already dispatched sales teams...

Posted by Chris Smith at 9:57 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Transportation Blogger Coming to Town

From Metro:

Dear MPAC, JPACT and TPAC Members, Alternates and Interested Parties:

Please join Council President David Bragdon in welcoming Jarrett Walker to Metro for a brown bag presentation focused on transportation planning options. Jarrett Walker is a transit planning consultant and the author of the popular transit weblog humantransit.org.

What: Jarrett Walker Brown Bag Presentation- A field guide to transit quarrels

When: Tuesday, July 27th, Noon to 1pm

Where: Metro Council Chambers- 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97232

Please contact Kayla Mullis at kayla.mullis@oregonmetro.gov or by phone 503-797-1560 with any questions.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:51 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink

July 7, 2010

KBOO Bike Show: Cycling in Italy, Bikes and Sewers

Listen to the show (mp3, 26.3MB)

Elle Thalheimer (Lonely Planet Cycling in Italy) and Daniel Sharp discuss cycling in Italy and the Giro d'Italia.

Evan Ross and Alex Phillips talk about summer recreational riding in Portland and Oregon.

Mark Lear and Catherine Ciarlo from the City of Portland and Sarah Mirk of the Mercury overview the confluence of bioswales to treat storm water with bike boulevards.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:30 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

What if the CRC Thought REALLY Big?

A reader passes along this suggestion that we could emulate Turkey and build a tunnel all the way under downtown Portland into Vancouver.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:16 AM | Comments (20) | Permalink

July 6, 2010

The $100K Pin to Prick a $100M Balloon

It may be the best $100,000 the City of Portland has ever spent.

Mayor Adams commissioned URS to take a second look at the Columbia River Crossing project data. There full report is due imminently (I'm trying to get an electronic copy) but a summary memo has been circulating for the last week or so (including at the Freight Advisory Committee and the Mayor's Transportation Cabinet). The Oregonian has found an electronic copy of the memo (PDF, 418K).

The top line takeaways from this report are:

The 10-lane bridge functions essentially the same as the 12-lane configuration. URS recommends a maximum configuration of 10 lanes (i.e., suggests eliminating the option of re-striping for 12 lanes at a later date, saving about $50M on the cost).
An 8-lane configuration would match the performance of the 10-lane configuration if demand management could reduce traffic volumes by 22% (CRC staff would hasten to point out that this 22% is in addition to the 15% demand reduction the project already forecasts via tolling - although they tend to get the math wrong and call this a 37% overall reduction - it's actually 34% [.85 x .78 = .663]).
The current choke-point at the crossing effectively serves as a 'meter' preventing congestion at the Rose Quarter. If this metering effect if removed, there is potentially a traffic jam extending from Rose Quarter well into Washington State.

The last point has the Mayor particularly concerned - what are the economic impacts on the City and the region if we lose mobility throughout North Portland during the AM peak?

The immediate effect is that the conversation now shifts from whether 10 lanes is sufficient to a discussion of 8 versus 10 lanes.

What's remarkable is that the project spent $60M in planning money convincing us that nothing less than 12 lanes would suffice (and has spent another $37M since figuring out how to reduce this to a mere 10 lanes). It only took 1 tenth of 1 percent of that money to inject some reality into this decision...

URS continues to study alternatives to the Hayden Island interchange.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:59 AM | Comments (12) | Permalink

July 5, 2010

How Does Tim Levitt Really Feel About Tolls on the CRC?

Hard to tell from this TV performance (via the Oregonian commuter blog) from the Vancouver Mayor.

I think he opposes them but believes they are inevitable, and after he loses the fight, it won't be his fault that someone else votes them in.

Apparently that passes for leadership on this sorry project.

Posted by Chris Smith at 12:27 AM | Comments (7) | Permalink

July 4, 2010

Open Thread for July, 2010

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Posted by Bob Richardson at 5:05 PM | Comments (55) | Permalink

July 2, 2010

Thursday Morning at the Matt and Paula Show

Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to sit in on the first half of the Portland Freight Advisory Committee meeting. As I previously reported, ODOT Director Matt Garrett and Washington Secretary of Transportation of Transportation Paula Hammond were the featured guests, discussing the Columbia River Crossing.

The format was interesting, it felt a bit like Committee Chair Corky Collier was interviewing two folks on a talk show (with questions from the audience thrown in).

While Director Garrett is a familiar face, this was the first time I've heard Secretary Hammond speak, and I found a number of her comments interesting:

The financial plan for the project is held together with "string, failing wire and duct tape"
The project will be looking for $500-600M from each state legislature
She spoke favorably of variable pricing and noted that Washington is using pre-construction tolling to help finance other projects
Washington does not have a constitutional restriction on use of toll revenues, and allows tolling as a demand-management tool, not just for project finance. Priorities for use of toll revenue are repaying construction financing and operation and maintenance of the facility. Use for demand alternatives (e.g., transit) is still an open conversation in the Washington legislature

I was also struck by one comment from a committee member. The $400M appropriation (earmark) the project will be seeking from Congress would the the "largest such appropriation in history that went to a district other than one represented by the Speaker of the House."

Hey, we can dream, can't we?

Posted by Chris Smith at 11:57 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink