Portland Considering Toll Roads to Relieve Traffic Congestion
Long the darling of rail proponents, Portland, Oregon is now considering public-private partnerships to relieve traffic congestion. For all of its love affair with light rail and smart growth, traffic congestion in Portland is reaching crisis proportions. The Urban Growth Boundary was recently expanded because a referendum restricted further densification (Page 5 of this PDF file) and money diverted to rail, because rail is so expensive, has resulted in very little being spent to improve and augment highways and roadways. This has lead to the traffic congestion crisis. Now with new areas being considered for more housing construction the stress on the existing infrastructure will only increase. Thus the consideration of toll roads.
On Wednesday, state transportation officials unveiled four proposals from companies for three projects meant to relieve congestion: a bypass through Newberg and Dundee, widening of the southern portion of Interstate 205, and a new road from I-205 toward Damascus.
The article also notes:
About a half-dozen states have built such road projects, and a dozen more have legislation allowing the partnerships, said Jim Whitty, who manages the private-public program authorized by the 2003 Oregon Legislature.
What the article doesn’t mention is that a good portion of these projects in other states are High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes. This is really the most effective usage of toll roads for reducing traffic congestion.
Also ,this is not something that government is forcing down the throats of the populace. To the contrary:
Newberg Mayor Bob Stewart said surveys show support for tolls as a way to avoid a downtown clogged with commuters, truckers and tourists headed to wineries and the Chinook Winds and Spirit Mountain casinos.
Finally there is a telling quote by a public official:
“The obvious thing is making sure the process is transparent as possible . . . or else they never will accept it.”
Gee, you suppose that could ever happen here? To read the whole article go here.