ODOT claims that its policy is “fix-it first” maintaining the highway system. But it is spending vastly less on maintenance and restoration than is needed to keep roads and bridges from deteriorating It blames the Legislature for not prioritizing repair…
Metro Council voted on July 14th to wave on the proposed “Interstate Bridge Replacement” project which is really a bloated, 5 mile long, 12-lane wide freeway that will cost $5 billion and likely much more. It’s a scene-for-scene remake of…
Ignoring the Coast Guard dooms the I-5 Bridge Project to yet another failure The Oregon and Washington DOTs have again designed a I-5 bridge that’s too low for navigation In their rush to recycle the failed plans for the Columbia…
The Coast Guard has told Oregon and Washington that a new I-5 bridge must have a 178-foot vertical clearance for river navigation–vastly higher than the 116-foot clearance the state’s have proposed A fixed span with that clearance would be prohibitively…
What City Observatory did this week The economics of fruit, time, and place. It’s berry time in Portland, and that got us thinking about how special local products are in defining quality of life. Recently, Paul Krugman, fresh off a…