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RYAN GARDNER/Gazette-Times
The Oregon Department of Transportation is running into opposition to its proposal to designate Highway 99W for freight truck traffic. Local officials fear an increase in the number of trucks on the road through downtown Corvallis could cause problems for pedestrians and stifle the area's economic vitality. |
Local officials cite safety, business concerns over routing more freight through the downtown
By BECKY WALDROP
Gazette-Times reporter
The Oregon Department of Transportation has proposed designating Highway 99W, the north-south state route that bisects downtown Corvallis, for freight truck traffic.
The proposal is one of many additions to the state highway plan being recommended to the department's policy board, the Oregon Transportation Commission. The state is seeking additional routes to handle increasing truck traffic and meet the needs of the freight-hauling industry to efficiently deliver supplies and products to and from businesses.
But in following its motto of "Keeping Oregon on the Move," ODOT is encountering roadblocks with many of the proposed changes, including the 99W truck route between McMinnville and Eugene. Local government officials have raised objections and are asking the state to reconsider.
In an October letter, the Corvallis Area Metropolitan Planning Organization detailed its objections and suggested that the state look at other transportation alternatives, such as rail.
CAMPO Chairwoman Linda Modrell, who is also a Benton County commissioner, wrote that the designation would conflict with downtown Corvallis' approved status as a special transportation area.
"Such a designation would jeopardize pedestrian safety and other intents of the special transportation plan which are crucial to the economic vitality of the Corvallis downtown area," Modrell wrote.
The state recognizes special transportation areas as a factor for consideration in designating freight routes, noting that these places could be adversely impacted by heavy truck traffic.
"The freight route designation may … create conflicts with respect to downtown community development objectives," the state criteria say. "It may also impact highway sections that function as main streets to cities."
In the same document, the September 2004 Freight Route Analysis Project report, Highway 99W is listed as one of 26 possible freight routes recommended for addition to the highway plan. But there's no mention of the special transportation area designation in the state's list of key considerations for why it was recommended.
CAMPO's letter called the designation "unwarranted due to the very existence of Interstate Highway Five as a parallel route in the close vicinity."
State data on the amount of freight carried on the highway does not strongly suggest the need for it to be a designated truck route, local officials concluded.
Regional and national trucking companies wouldn't likely change their driving routes regardless of whether Highway 99W is designated for freight, said Greg Bethards, Albany manager for USF Reddaway, a division of USF Freightways.
USF Reddaway uses I-5 for its larger trucks, and smaller trucks are dispatched from 17 locations in Oregon for local deliveries, Bethards said. So, for his company, there would never be a need to make a delivery from Eugene to McMinnville using Highway 99W, he said, because there are Reddaway distribution centers in both Salem and Eugene.
"With us locally, it doesn't have a lot of bearing," Bethards said.
He speculated that any increase in truck traffic, should the highway be designated for freight, would likely come from the smaller private trucking companies that carry products such as logs and wood chips.
The Legislature in 2001 called for the study of additional freight routes.
More freight is moved by truck than by any other means, said Ali Bonakdar, director of CAMPO, with 78 percent of the total tonnage shipped nationally.
Historically, I-5 has handled most of the truck traffic in this region. But last January, the Oregon Transportation Commission directed ODOT staff to recommend additional truck routes.
Bonakdar doesn't dispute the importance of accommodating truck traffic, but an additional north-south route with the interstate less than 15 miles away doesn't make sense. It would also create unnecessary hazards and complications, he said.
"The difficulty about 99W is it comes through downtown Corvallis," Bonakdar said.
The state plans to make a decision on additional freight routes in May. The public has until January to comment on the proposals.
Comments can be mailed to Oregon Department of Transportation, Transportation Development Division, Planning Section, 555 13th St. N.E., Suite 2, Salem, OR 97301-4178. For more information, contact Robin Marshburn at 503-986-3696 or Robin.L.Marshburn@odot.state.or.us.
ON THE NET:
The Oregon Department of Transportation has information, maps and reports related to the Freight Route Analysis Project available online at egov.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP/FRAP.shtml.
Becky Waldrop covers public policy and education for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached at becky.waldrop@lee.net or 758-9510.
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