Cash is roadblock for road upgrades

Costs of congestion are well-known, but fixes go unfunded

By Jim Redden

The Portland Tribune, Dec 9, 2005

Although traffic congestion is hurting businesses throughout the Portland area, transportation officials say they have no money to begin building the new roads or additional lanes that could speed shipments and deliveries.

Approximately $630 million is spent on transportation projects and operations in the metropolitan region every year, split almost evenly between road and mass transit projects.

But, according to officials, the road money is not even enough to pay all maintenance needs, and most of the transit money cannot simply be shifted to roads because of transportation funding policies.

“We have to be realistic and admit we’re not going to be able to substantially increase our transportation budgets. The voters are not willing to pay more money for more construction projects,” said Rex Burkholder, a member of the Metro Council, the regional government charged with setting transportation funding priorities in most of Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.

Burkholder chairs a committee that is preparing to update Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan, a document approved by the council that sets spending priorities for the next 20 years. The review is expected to result in the council’s approving a revised plan by December 2007.

“The list is already much larger than we can afford,” Burkholder said.

A recent report found that congestion is a real and growing problem throughout the metropolitan region. It identified 18 transportation bottlenecks in the three counties that are hurting the economy.

“Congested corridors are everywhere. Not just in Portland, not just downtown, but everywhere Ñ which means that it affects businesses and residents everywhere,” said Glen Weisbrod, president of the Boston-based Economic Development Research Group, which conducted the study, titled “The Cost of Congestion to the Economy of the Portland Region.”

According to Weisbrod, the problems will worsen as more people move to the region. Metro, the regional government charged with managing growth, predicts that around 1 million more people will settle in the Portland area by 2025.

“Congestion-related problems can be expected to worsen exponentially. The more vehicles you put on the road, the greater the problems that are caused by accidents and other delays,” he said.

Despite the consequences, a draft Oregon Transportation Plan released late last month predicted state spending will not keep up with population increases that are already straining the road system. Oregon voters have repeatedly defeated ballot measures to raise the state’s 24-cent-per-gallon gas tax, the primary transportation funding source.

“About $1.3 billion more in revenue per year is needed to maintain and expand the publicly owned components of the state, regional and local transportation system,” said the draft report, which will be finalized next year.

The report said that up to $8.1 million a year in state funds can be shifted from transit to road projects Ñ a small fraction of the current road needs.

The Portland Office of Transportation is already facing a $5.5 million shortfall in next year’s budget. The deficit is projected to grow to $11 million in the following five years because of an anticipated reduction in state gasoline tax money.

The office will sponsor a public forum to discuss the potential shortfalls from 5:30 p.m to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Plaza Conference Room of the World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St.

According to Burkholder, transportation leaders need to consider such ideas as charging tolls for driving during rush hours, which would discourage unnecessary vehicle trips at peak travel times.

“The world has changed, and we need to be creative,” he said.

A big list of problems

The congestion study was funded by local governments and businesses on behalf of the Portland Business Alliance, Metro, the Port of Portland and the Oregon Department of Transportation. It grew out of a Transportation Investment Task Force appointed by former Metro Executive Mike Burton in 2002.

The study group that commissioned it was co-chaired by Jay Waldron, a Portland attorney who serves as president of the Port of Portland Commission, and Steve Clark, president of the Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers Inc.

As part of the study, Weisbrod’s group identified 18 routes or intersections of significant congestion scattered throughout the region. Some of them were identified though interviews with executives at 16 area businesses that rely on deliveries or shipping. Others were named by Metro.

The areas included such lengthy transportation corridors as Interstate 5 north through Portland, all of Interstate 205, Southwest Scholls Ferry Road and St. Helens Road from Portland past the St. Johns Bridge. The executives and Metro also identified such specific intersections as Southeast Powell Boulevard and Foster Road, Southeast Sunnyside Road and Oregon Highway 212, and Southeast 282nd Avenue and Troutdale Road.

Weisbrod said the congested routes and intersections were especially significant for businesses that depend on traffic moving through them.

“The economic consequences are dramatic and substantial,” he said.

Cash has strings attached

Finding solutions is complicated because transportation improvement projects are funded and administered by different governmental entities. For example, most of the federal money used for regional light-rail construction is only available for transit projects. If TriMet did not use the money, it would go to a transit agency in another city.

“There are a lot of layers to the decision-making because there are different sources of money, and most of them have restrictions about how they can be used,” Burkholder said.

Transit is also a consideration because of state and regional land-use policies that call for transportation projects to support high-density, mixed-use developments. This priority is set forth in the goals enforced by the state Land Conservation and Development Commission and Metro 2040 Growth Concept, which is intended to govern regional growth for the next 35 years.

This emphasis is clearly stated in the Oregon Transportation Plan that will be finalized next year. One of the policies said: “It is the policy of the State of Oregon to increase access to goods and services and promote health by encouraging development of compact communities and neighborhoods that integrate residential, commercial and employment land uses to help make shorter trips, transit, walking and bicycling feasible.”

This goal is repeated in much of the literature produced by Metro, including an explanatory brochure titled “Funding regional transportation priorities,” which says, “The 2040 Growth Concept defines the region’s policy for encouraging development in existing industrial areas and centers. Centers are higher density centers of employment and housing that are well served by transit to form compact areas or retail, cultural and recreational activities in a walkable environment. By directing development to these areas, the impact on existing neighborhoods and on surrounding farm and forest land is minimized.”

Traffic mounts all over

The Portland area is not the only metropolitan region in North America struggling with congestion. Far from it. According to Weisbrod, at least eight other regions in this country and Canada have recently completed studies on the economic impact of congestion. They include Atlanta; Chicago; Los Angeles; Milwaukee, Wis.; Toronto; Vancouver, British Columbia; the Everett-Seattle-Tacoma area; and the Houston-Dallas-San Antonio-Austin, Texas, area.

The local study did not propose specific solutions for Portland’s problems. Waldron said the goal was to define the area’s problems and call attention to their social and economic costs. Some of the studies in the other cities included detailed proposals for new or expanded freeways and rail systems, developing or designating truck routes and the use of high-tech traffic management systems.

Financing these projects is a challenge for all of the areas, Weisbrod said. As a result, the other studies proposed a variety of funding options, including tolls that are increased during peak driving hours to discourage discretionary trips.

“Examples from around North America also illustrate the range of policies and programs that can be adopted to minimize future congestion. They include capital investments to increase the capacity of highway and transit systems, transportation system management and prioritization strategies to enhance the efficiency of existing facilities, and pricing schemes that shift demand so that traffic most needing a facility can still move efficiently while other traffic is shifted to alternative times, facilities or services,” the report said.

Burkholder agreed.

“All of these ideas need to be part of the mix,” he said.

The congestion study is online at www.metro-region.org/article.cfm?articleid=16673.

jimredden@portlandtribune.com