URGENT: Make a difference in Oregon’s transportation future
Contact your state Senator now!
It’s not too late to make a difference in the transportation bill – HB 2001 – that is moving through the Oregon legislature. The BTA is urging bicyclists, health advocates, environmental stewards, and business representatives to contact their state Senators (this form makes it easy) and ask for a better transportation package.
We believe we still can:
1. Increase funding for healthy transportation by
- Increasing the minimum funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure from 1% to 1.5% of highway spending, and
- Putting money in the newly proposed Urban Trails Fund.
2. Create new funding for bicycles and pedestrians by excluding the $192 million earmark for Newberg-Dundee Bypass and redistributing those dollars to non-highway projects.
DETAILS
After learning that the transportation package before the Oregon Legislature had been transformed into a program that included $840 million of earmarks for highway projects, the BTA asked you to contact your legislators and ask for a compromise. We also joined a coalition of sustainability organizations to decide upon four amendments to the bill that we believed would accommodate Oregon’s need for non-motorized transportation, public transit and land use planning policies alongside traditional highway funding.
Thanks to your help and support, we were successful in achieving some – but not all – of our top priorities.
The package that passed out of the Oregon House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 27 included measures that the BTA supports. The bill established the Urban Trail Fund and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation; it also promised a $1 million seed, though the source of that initial fund has not been specified.
The Oregon Transportation Commission also passed an emergency rule allocating $24 million of federal flex funds to non-highway transportation, including transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects.
But we believe our Oregon legislators can do better. The package still includes $840 million in earmarked highway projects, and while we realize that well-maintained roads are necessary for the movement of people and goods, we cannot support such massive freeway expansion projects without a strong public priority setting process. The sore thumb of these earmarked projects is the Newburg-Dundee Bypass. It is a project that has not yet received any funding or priority outside of this bill.
ACTION
We have a small window of opportunity to make changes before the Senate passes the bill. Please contact your state Senator TODAY about supporting the following two amendments:
1. Increase funding for healthy transportation by increasing the minimum funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure from 1% to 1.5% of highway and street expenditures and putting money in the new Urban Trails Fund.
2. Exclude the $192 million earmark for Newberg-Dundee Bypass. In April, Governor Kulongkoski said, “Having the Legislature choose the transportation projects that will be funded is not the Oregon way.” On a long list of highway projects, the massive Newberg-Dundee earmark stands out for disproportionately serving the interests of a few Oregonians at the cost of improvements that would benefit the entire state.
The balanced transportation program outlined in the original Jobs and Transportation Act — a bill that the BTA fully supported and served today’s needs to maintain, preserve and carefully expand the transportation system while making important strides toward an integrated 21st century network—is still in reach. Do your part to maximize job creation and economic development, modernize the transportation program, and restore balance to HB 2001.
