On the road from Philomath to Corvallis: Stop and go on June 12, 2024, as usual on most afternoons.
In Albany Tuesday, Oregon legislators are going to hear about our highway problems in the mid-valley. The biggest problem is heavy traffic and congestion at certain times of the day.
The choke points or trouble spots come readily to mind:
— Highway 20 going into Albany over the Ellsworth Street Bridge, overwhelmed by traffic several afternoons a week.
— Highway 20/34 between Philomath and Corvallis, where on some afternoons traffic queues for what seems like a mile because of the cross street signals in Corvallis.
— Interstate 5, where stop-and-go travel sometimes stretches for miles, especially heading north from Albany.
“More highways,” the cry goes up. “More bridges.” “More lanes.”
ODOT says it doesn’t have enough money for more highways, bridges and lanes. Even if it did have more money, the department’s snail-like pace means nothing would get built for a generation.
Preparing for the 2025 legislative session, the Joint Committee on Transportation is holding meetings around the state. Tuesday (July 16) the group is in Albany for a tour and then, at 5 p.m., a public hearing in the Tripp Theater at Linn-Benton Community College. The topic: “ODOT Transportation Funding Review.”
The gas tax gas served Oregon well for over a century. Nothing comes close in revenue, ease of collection, or fairness. The regulators in charge of Oregon have decided to phase out cars with combustion engines after 2035, so they’ll have to come up with some other way of collecting money for roads.
If they don’t find a way, in 20 or 30 years driving in Oregon will be such a pain that people will want to stop driving. Maybe that’s really what the regulators want. (hh)
I heard part of the discussion on ODOT’s lack of money on the radio today. They do not have the money to fix the bridges and roads. Yes, the gas tax does not generate the money it used to. And, we have inflation at all levels of life, so projects to fix roads and bridges cost way more now. And, it is the little guy and the middle guy (and gal) who pay taxes of all kinds. The rich get around paying their fair share. So, get used to bad roads and bridges. The bad bridges are even scary. Oh, there is some discussion of taxing Amazon for the number of trips their delivery trucks make. Of course, if that happens, Amazon will pass that on to the consumer.
I am not optimistic, sadly. This involves government types, who never met a hearing, or similar, that they could not pass up! Rather than actually fixing a problem, it simply gets discussed and analyzed forever, and nothing gets done…example: many roads are terrible, and the potholes are not fixed! But they are very adept at talking and passing the problem along, never actually getting things fixed. Disgusting,
State and local governments will not increase capacity, so the inevitable solution is to let government do what it does best – tax – meaning peak-hour tolls.
Set them high and collect them electronically. And for goodness sakes, don’t restrict how state and local governments can spend the money. So many essential services (like splash pads) to provide, so little money.
Or, live with traffic congestion. It’s going to get much worse, so be thankful it’s only horrible today.
One word.. Overpopulation!!!
The idea that depopulation will end human misery and traffic congestion may be a tough sell.
For example, who will decide what the population must be? Who will decide how to achieve depopulation? The Feds? The State? The City Council?
Will forced sterilization (without consent) be imposed? Will government intentionally spread infectious diseases or famine? War?
Given your one word causation of the traffic problem, I assume you will be at the head of the depopulation line. Most of us will looking for other solutions.
I am at the head thank you. I’ve chosen not to contribute to overpopulation by not having kids. More people should follow my lead!
Richard S. Sounds like a comittee. If you want to see something needing to be done, not get done, form a comittee to discuss it. just my opinion, pat
In Albany, this includes:
Airport Advisory Commission
A-M Joint Water/Wastewater Management Committee
Arts Commission
Audit Committee
Budget Review Committee
Building Board of Appeals
Community Development Commission
Economic Development Advisory Commission
Hearings Board
Human Relations Commission
Landmarks Commission
Library Board
Parks, Recreation and Tree Advisory Commission
Planning Commission
Public Safety Commission
Tourism Advisory Committee
Transportation Advisory Commission
Housing Affordability Task Force
It appears the “Transportation Advisory Commission” is still in discussion…
ODOT is a bureacracy run amuck with approximately 5,000 employees who by their own admission have bullt one new road in the last 40 years. The solution is to eliminate 3,000 employees, pass a revenue bond measure to cure our road problems using outside engineering, and use the savings from the eliminated employees to make the payments for the massive road improvement needed. At a minimum, these savings would exceed $300 million and by eliminating such things as building a new Columbia River bridge on I5, you would save billions as Portland wants to build the bridge so they can add light rail to Vancouver. As light rail has already used upwards of $8 billion in road funds, enough is enough.
Responding to congestion by adding more lanes has never worked. Look at Texas, or California. Instead, maybe we could imagine a future where more people can live without so much driving, and do without any cheap driving.
$300 mill for road improvements? give me a break, we could build a whole buncha ev chargers and traffic cams for that kinda money
But-cha ain’t gotta nuff power in the ‘lectric grid to supply ’em, and that would cost a lot more than $300 mill to build.