Portland Transport

Author: Chris Smith

  • Is there a Silver Lining in the Transportation Bill?

    The Oregon Environmental Council, which opposed the transportation bill along with other environment organizations, nonetheless has published a plus/minus analysis on the bill and finds about a half dozen positives: ODOT is required to develop a “least-cost planning” model, in consultation with local governments and metropolitan planning organizations, as a decision-making tool in the development…

  • When Did We Acquire Another Car-Sharing Provider?

    I snapped these last week. I’ve seen two or three of these downtown. The web site lists about a dozen locations in Portland. But I haven’t seen any kind of announcement or publicity from either the vendor or the City. Kind of strange.

  • Transportation Bill Passes State Senate

    The Business Journal is reporting that the transportation bill passed the Senate by a comfortable 24-6 vote (18 votes were required). The Governor will certainly sign it.

  • Lucky 13!

    That’s how many streetcars Oregon Iron Works now has orders for. In addition to six vehicles for Portland’s Streetcar Loop, OIW has just received an order for seven streetcars from Tuscon!

  • Mary Nolan is My New Hero

    Not that I didn’t respect her a lot before… Nolan (from Portland), the Oregon House Majority Leader, parted company with House Speaker Dave Hunt and voted against the Transportation bill. The bill passed anyway 38-22 (because it raises taxes, it needed a 36 vote super-majority to pass) (and somehow I suspect that if she had…