Portland's Pricey Bike Plan
4 February 2010 - 10:00am
The City of Portland is considering its 2030 Bike Plan today. Some question whether the $613 million price tag is worthwhile.
"It's easy to green-light America's most ambitious investment in bicycling when it would be funded down the road. But according to city transportation officials, the plan to build 681 miles of new bikeways over the next 20 years will eventually cost $613 million.
By comparison, the MAX Green Line cost $575 million, and all transportation projects in the metro area add up to about $630 million a year. "
But Mayor Sam Adams is standing behind the plan, arguing it will play a major role in transforming the city's neighborhoods into more livable and sustainable places.
Source:
The Oregonian, February 3, 2010
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"This ends up being, to be sure, a second best alternative, but it's better than the third best alternative, which is to do nothing." -- Jerold Kayden
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Fabricated controversy
Once again, the Oregonian has attempted to fabricate controversy where none exists. They repeatedly interview the pathetic Cascade Policy Institute, a front for libertarian/conservative views, to find criticism of a progressive plan or topic because little to no criticism exists within the city. This is an organization that manipulates data to tell the story they want others to hear.
The Bike Master Plan currently isn't anywhere near fully funded and it guides the City's investment in bike infrastructure, but it doesn't mandate that the City take money from other sources. In fact, the price tag provides enormous bang for the buck, as past bike investments in this City have shown.
This is the same newspaper that now sells ads to cover the front page - probably because no one is actually interested in what they report.
Too expensive?
$613 million towards 680 miles of bikeways, versus $575 million towards 10 miles of light rail? Portland's current 300-some miles of bikeways for about the same cost as 1 mile of urban freeway? Which is too expensive? The same people who are railing against this plan are pushing hard for a $4 billion freeway bridge to replace a perfectly functional existing bridge that could easily be supplemented by a small bridge to ease commercial traffic.
Remember too, that this is a 20 year plan, that makes no commitments to spending, it simply sets goals the city would like to achieve.
That Oregonian article is nothing but biased and inflammatory. I hope people reading this will take time to look at facts which are not presented there.
http://www.portlandize.com/2010/02/portland-bicycle-plan-2010.html
Mayor Sam Adams said that
Mayor Sam Adams said that Portland can't afford NOT to implement its plan. Here's to a city who enjoys taking leadership on forward-thinking initiatives, and not "solutions" that exacerbate the problems they are meant to solve, i.e. highway infrastructure.