sustaineugene.org   web    

 

Food Security
Regional Food Security
Food System Infrastructure
Urban / Rural Cooperation
Farmland Management
Fairgrounds Repair Project
Bean and Grain Project
Lane County Food Assessment
Transportation Choices
Peak Traffic and Peak Oil
Highway Bailouts & Finite Funds
Federal Bridges To Everywhere
$18 billion for Oregon roads
Lane County Request to ODOT
Regional Trans. Plan $817 mill.
Transportation Triage
Troubled Bridges Over Water
Spy Roads: GPS Mileage Taxes
Amtrak Cascades hi-speed rail
LTD Bus Rapid Transit
RV factories to make buses
Saving Oil in a Hurry
W. Eugene Parkway alternative
Bicyclist & Pedestrian Safety
Land Use: Urban, Suburban, Rural
Big Look task force
Regulation and Enforcement
Intelligent Urban Design
Big Boxes or Local Businesses
Block Planning
Reusing Parking Lots
Billboards Bans
Dark Sky laws: Light Pollution
Forest Restoration, Preservation
Cascadia's Original Forests
Peak Forests: Overcutting
Does Money Grow on Trees?
Long Rotation Forestry
Forest Biomass
Burning trees for electricity

Forest Biomass: liquid fuels
Wilderness and Biofuel Thinning
Clearcutting the Climate
Vision for Cascadian Forests
Public vs. Private logging
Federal Forests: USFS, BLM
Oregon State Forests
County Payments
City of Eugene Forests
Private Timberland Tax Policy
Clearcuts, Roads & Landslides
Herbicide Spraying
Forest Fires & Clearcuts
Ecoforestry examples
Non Timber Products
Value-Added vs Log Exports
Carbon Sequestration
Alternative Fibers (non-tree)
express your views
Eugene City Council & Mayor
Lane County Commissioners
Oregon State Legislature
Federal representatives
Media guides

Eugene Climate and Energy Action Plan: a mix of good intentions, greenwash and self-censorship

 

Disaster Planning and
the Long Emergency
Risk Mitigation with Permaculture
Cascadia Subduction earthquake
Volcanoes and inter city transport
A Damn Big Problem: Aging Dams
floods, hospitals and farmland
windstorms and urban forests
urban wildland interface and fire
fireworks
toxic spills: roads, rails, factories
The Long Emergency:
Peak Oil and Climate Change
Renewable Energy
and Green Jobs
EWEB's relocation to wetlands
solar power on every roof
wind turbines on the coast
wave energy and tidal power
methane biogas
algae (non-GMO?)
conservation, the first priority
Liquid Natural Gas - a new danger
Sustainabull: Greenwash
Sustainability Means Zero Oil
Carbon Credits Are Greenwash
Burning trees for electricity
Understanding Energy
Peak Oil and Climate Change
Energy Return on Investment
Electricity and Oil
Beyond Growth:
Ecological Economics
Peak Money
Steady State vs. Smart Growth
beyond the limits to growth
recession, depression, collapse
corporate welfare
Local Currencies
Green Building
Affordable Housing
Toxics Prevention and Cleanup
Bio & Myco-Remediation
Waste is a Terrible Thing to Mind
Union Pacific Railyards
Grass Seed Smoke
forest slash burning, plastic tarps
Formaldehyde from Plywood
Nanotechnology
Herbicides and Pesticides
Democracy and
Public Accountability
Education
U of O Arenas

 

"When politics enter into municipal government, nothing resulting therefrom in the way of crimes and infamies is then incredible. It actually enables one to accept and believe the impossible..."
-- Mark Twain, letter to Jules Hart, 12/17/1901

SustainEugene.org does not use "cookies" or other spyware to track visitors

to contact this website:
mark at permatopia dot com

 

$18 billion for more highways
Gov. Kulongoski and ODOT plans

Governor Kulongoski's "Transportation Vision Committee" released a report in November 2008 that called for $18 billion in new and expanded state highways. A couple of Portland based, foundation funded environmental groups were part of this committee, but they were merely window dressing to show that all points of view were supposedly considered. (1000 Friends, Oregon Env. Council, Environment Oregon)

No substantial increases in transit systems (outside of Portland) were mentioned in the report. Portland's light rail expansion is a good thing, but far more money is being spent toward expanding the interstate highway network than public transit.

Washington State is making some modest upgrades to the train tracks that the Amtrak Cascdes train uses to have better passenger rail service. The Cascades train can go 200 kph (124 mph), making it the second fastest train in the country -- but the tracks are not able to handle it. Money planned to widen I-5 should be used to upgrade intercity passenger rail.

 

http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/pdf/tvreport_final.pdf
"Transportation Vision Report"

A couple highlights:

$4.2 billion - Columbia River Crossing, wider I-5

$1 billion - Sunrise freeway, Clackamas County

$1.3 billion - I-5 / I-84 reconstruction, Portland

$2.1 billion - I-5 to Hwy 99, Tualatin-Sherwood

$2 billion - I-5 widening south of Portland

$600 million - I-5 widening, Salem to OR 34

$670 million - new Salem Willamette River bridge

$550 million - Newberg Dundee bypass

$100 million - North Corvallis Bypass

$200 million - Route 126 upgrade, Springfield

$250 million - Beltline widening, Eugene

$375 million - Route 62 freeway bypass, Medford

$870 million, US 97 upgrades, Bend-Redmond


Oregon's Environmental Groups are silent about ODOT's highway plan

www.oregonpriorities.org/increase-transportation-options/increase-transportation-options

The "Oregon Priorities" website from 1000 Friends, Environment Oregon and Oregon Environmental Council avoids mention of ODOT's plans to spend $18 billion to expand Oregon State Highways. They are also silent about Kulongoski's "Mileage Tax" proposal, which would track all trips to charge taxes on a per-mile basis. This surveillance system would reward speeders (who use more fuel) and SUV owners. Gas taxes are a less intrusive way to fund transportation projects than creating "spy roads" to monitor everyone's travels and charging Hybrids the same as Hummers.