Portland State University Center for Transportation Studies Spring 2007 Transportation Seminar Series Speaker: B. Starr McMullen, Professor of Economics and Agricultural and Resource Economics, Oregon State University Topic: Pros and Cons of a Vehicle-Mile Tax When: Friday, May 11, 2007, 12:00-1:30 pm Where: 204 Urban Center

Well, Ron Sims is suggesting that the concept be examined. Still, for Seattle, that’s pretty bold. Can we get some of that kind of boldness down here?

Business Week has a great article (“Roads to Riches”) this week on the sell-off or leasing of public infrastructure to private companies. Bottom line, it’s a GREAT investment opportunity. The reason why it’s such a great investment is exactly the fatal flaw from a public point of view: the ability to increase tolls sharply. The…

In Sunday’s O, Jim Mayer takes a look at the pilot test for a VMT tax that we discussed here. Jim reports that there are apparently problems with the radios for uploading the info. The system can’t always tell what pump the vehicle is at.

Via Planetizen. An article in the LA Times bemoans sinkholes resulting from aging sewer lines (of course we had our own recent example of that in Portland). I think this is emblematic of a much larger problem: we simply aren’t funding maintenance of key civic infrastructure including roads, bridges, water and sewer lines, schools and…