At last Thursday’s JPACT meeting, ODOT and TriMet presented their thinking about projects for the RTP update (PDF, 559K). ODOT expects about $710M to be available for highway modernization projects (in the period from 2011 through 2035) and sorted out their priorities for those funds. They also presented ‘Ilustrative’ and ‘Refinement’ project lists for what…

JPACT has voted to slow down the process for the Regional Transportation Plan update. Instead of being adopted at the end of 2007, the planning will go through June 2008. In general this is good news, allowing more time for scenario development and modeling (we were at real risk of being forced to pick from…

Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan update process has moved into the project solicitation process. Interestingly, unlike past cycles, Metro is asking for submissions under two different ‘tracks’. The first track is the traditional regional mobility focus. The second track has a community-building focus. I found this encouraging (more of a focus on access, rather than mobility).…

I must say, the update of the Regional Transportation Plan is turning into quite the little contretemps. A few weeks back the Federal Highway Administration made it clear they thought Metro was departing planet earth. Now apparently, it’s ODOT’s turn. As reported in the Tribune (scroll to the lower part of the piece) ODOT distributed…

Metro Council President David Bragdon and several Councilors had an op-ed in Friday’s Trib with their response to criticism about the approach to the Regional Transportation Plan update.