Here Are the Streets and Projects Metro Is Considering for its 2020 Transportation Measure

MERCURY STAFF

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More buses on freeways, structural improvements to some of Portland’s most dangerous and congested streets, funding to kickstart a subway tunnel through downtown Portland—all of these ideas and more are on the table for a major transportation spending measure Portland area voters will consider next November

The measure is being planned by Metro, the regional agency that governs land use and transportation for Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties. Right now, it’s still very much in the planning stages—but some details are starting to emerge about what might be included on the measure, which is intended to serve the area for the next 20 years. Here’s a glimpse into what’s on the table.

Safer, faster, better

Metro is building the project list for the measure by identifying what it calls “corridors”—basically, roads that aren’t interstate highways but are crucial for car, bike, and bus commutes. Chances are you’ve used at least one of those roads in the last few days: Think Burnside, SE McLoughlin, the Tualatin Valley Highway, N Mississippi, SE Powell the Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, and NE MLK.

See all of the corridors—split by priority level—here:

Graphic from Metro; very high-quality image by Blair Stenvick.

Metro says its top two priorities when considering projects on these corridors will be traffic and safety (it’s probably not a coincidence that a lot of these corridors also appear on the city's map of the most crash-prone areas), but will also consider housing, future construction plans, environmental factors like asthma rates in the region, and the input of culturally specific groups when choosing projects.

One major hurdle for working on some of these roads, like Powell or the T-V Highway, is that they’re state highways, and therefore fall under state jurisdiction rather than local control. But Nick Christensen, a spokesperson for Metro, told the Mercury that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has recently started directing its staff to allow for more local design standards for state highways that run through urban areas. In Portland, that will mean less accommodation for cars and more room for cyclists and pedestrians.

“Anyone who’s walked along 82nd, taken a bike down McLoughlin or waited for a bus in a ditch along the Tualatin Valley Highway knows that these state routes are relics of a bygone era,” Christensen said in an email. “Local communities are best suited to address these arterials, and we are encouraged that ODOT is moving in that direction.”

Metro’s relying on Local Investment Teams (affectionately referred to as LITs, as in “that’s so lit”) made up of local stakeholders in its three counties, who will advise Metro on where the danger zones and traffic chokepoints are on their roads. Christensen said input from LITs will help ensure Metro can “get the trust of the voters of greater Portland” for the measure.

The LITs’ work will wrap up in September, at which point the Metro’s Regional Transportation Funding Task Force will build a project list based on their input.

Rapid transit

Metro staffers stress that because this measure is being built from the ground-up based on local input, they don’t want to publicly commit to funding any major projects yet. But there will probably be some funding for TriMet’s new Southwest Portland MAX line, which is planned to open in 2027.

Two projects that could make commuting by transit more feasible for those who live outside the city center are also on the table. Metro and TriMet announced in June that they are exploring the possibility of building a MAX tunnel through downtown Portland, which would cut cross-town travel times by up to 15 minutes, according to the Oregonian. This measure could provide some initial funding for a more rigorous study on the project—and Metro says it’s already received an overwhelming number of responses on a survey about the tunnel, a good indication that it’s a priority for Portland area commuters.

A much less flashy but just as impactful project that’s also being considered: running more buses on highways and other main thoroughfares like the T-V Highway and SE McLoughlin. Metro says it won’t necessarily follow the example set by CTRAN, the public transit agency in Vancouver, Washington, which runs a bus along the shoulder of State Route 14 when congestion slows down traffic in the main lanes. Still, running more buses on highways could “fundamentally shift regional transit,” said Tyler Frisbee, a Metro policy and innovation advisor.

Metro's Regional Transportation Funding Task Force will submit its ideas to the Metro board in late 2019 or early 2020. Metro doesn’t yet have a plan for whether the measure will be a bond, tax, or some other funding mechanism, and there isn’t a hard dollar amount yet, though it will likely be in the multi-billion range.