In Thursday’s meeting of the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT), members voted to spend more than $10.6 nearly $14 million on bikeways, sidewalks and trails.
This sets a record for the Regional Flexible Funds, from which this money is allocated – last year the committee voted to set a minimum bike and pedestrian funding level at the historical average of $7.2 million. Trails advocates feared that the “minimum” might be treated as a “target.”
But on Thursday morning JPACT members clearly showed that they heard the desire expressed by this region for active transportation investment and they voted for spending not just $7.2 million but nearly half of the available funds on bike projects.
The BTA, in our testimony and in our grassroots and lobbying efforts, asked first the Transportation Policy Alternatives Committee (TPAC, which advises JPACT), and then JPACT itself to spend 1/2 of the funds on bike projects, and to fund a specific list of projects.
We couldn’t be happier that they did BOTH!
The active transportation projects JPACT voted to support this morning are:
–A NE/SE 20s bikeway in Portland
–A length of the Westside (Powerline) Trail in Washington County
–The Willamette Greenway Trail in North Portland
–The French Prairie Bike/Ped Bridge across the Willamette in Clackamas County
–Continuation of the 40-Mile Loop in Fairview
–The Council Creek Trail from Hillsboro to Banks
–The Red Electric Trail in Southwest Portland
–Pedestrian improvements and a bike lane on McLoughlin Blvd in Oregon City
This decision isn’t final – the Metro Council will take JPACT’s recommendation and either approve it or amend it – but it is likely to go forward unaltered.
Now what we all need to do is say “Thank You!” to JPACT members who made such a good choice with these limited dollars. Do any of these names look familiar? If you live or work in their districts, please email them to say “Thanks!”
Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder (JPACT Chair)
Metro Councilor Kathryn Harrington
Metro Councilor Carlotta Colette
ODOT Region 1 Manager Jason Tell (who had the original idea of a bike/ped “minimum” and then helped “maximize” it today)
Portland Mayor Sam Adams
Clackamas County Commissioner Lynn Peterson
Multnomah County Commissioner Ted Wheeler
Washington County Commissioner Roy Rogers
Lake Oswego Councilor Donna Jordan
Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis
Tigard Mayor Craig Dirksen
TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen
Nina DeConcini, DEQ
Bill Wyatt, Port of Portland
Don Wagner, Washington State DOT
Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard
Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart
Thank you for all of your work on this, Michelle, Karl and the rest of the BTA. …and yes, a thank you to all of those above is definitely in order.
(fyi, the links to the Metro description pages are no longer valid–I discovered same when trying to blog them yesterday morning)
Thanks Scott, I’ll remove those links. Too bad they didn’t leave them up longer so we could drool over them.
This is encouraging news – to see this level of $$ invested in bicycling and pedestrian projects spread throughout the region.
It’s also another example of our individual BTA membership dollars at work and the amplified impact of smart devoted advocacy. Thank you for your work on behalf of a healthier better future.
Thanks for the work involved in getting this done. It is going to be wonderful to see these improvements. I live in Southwest so many of these will be nice for transportation and for touring.
Thank you all for all of your hard work. My husand and I love to ride our bikes and are excited about all of the projects.
Great news about the Red Electric! That will be an awesome and much needed trail.
btw – got some appreciative comments and feedback from the elected officials I sent thank you emails to…. our thoughts count, sometimes dramatically, sometimes incrementally.
This is pathetic because there are so many things that are needed right now that trivialize this.
Maybe when the stock market was at 14000 this would have been a good idea, but now?
It’s a disgraceful use of government funds.
Given that bike facilities are among the cheapest, most cost-effective, yet high job-generating forms of transportation investments, these tough times are a particularly good time to invest in bike facilities.
Its good to note that while the proposed French Prairie Bridge is in Clackamas County, its just south of the Washington County line and will directly serve Tualatin, Sherwood, Durham, King City and Tigard in Washington County.