Chris Smith

Farmers market cyclists

Gorgeous Saturday morning for the #farmersmarketride. Join us next week and every week: https://www.shift2bikes.org/calendar/event-21430

People who hate homeless people don’t realize that anti-homeless measures in urban planning make public spaces measurably worse for everyone who uses them.

Protect your local diverter

Readers respond: No sense in starting Rose Quarter project Letters to the Editor can be submitted to letters@oregonian.com with full name and place of residence.

"It is nonsensical to waste money spreading more pavement when we are failing to find adequate funds for maintenance."

we missed this great letter by @aortarail.org's Dan McFarlane, published in the Oregonian last week:

www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2025...

Connor's doing this *after* waking up at 3 AM and working a shift as a baker. They're doing absolute legend shit to keep our neighborhood safe 😤.

Seems that the mayor's office finalized their canned response.

I’m feeling spicy about diverter removal

Lawyer claims groundbreaking for I-5 Rose Quarter project would be illegal Can ODOT break ground on an illegal project?

"Lawyer claims groundbreaking for I-5 Rose Quarter project would be illegal"

Thanks to @bikeportland.org for the coverage.

Is ODOT going to break the law starting a gajillion dollar freeway expansion without the money in hand to pay for it? #orleg #orpol

bikeportland.org/2025/08/06/l...

Lowkey implication is that police need to speed through here to pursue criminals, which seems like a bad idea in a dense neighborhood.

Public safety means protecting people from traffic violence, too.

Big projects, bigger problems: Oregon bridge, highway efforts face delays and steep costs As Oregon lawmakers prepare to return for a special session focused on transportation, the Rose Quarter and other high-profile projects are on the back burner.

It is journalistic malpractice to talk about freeway expansions reducing congestion without mentioning that, scientifically, that has been proven false many times. This is on par with both-sidesing climate change.
www.opb.org/article/2025...

AAA estimates the average cost of owning a car is $12,297 a year, and recommends drivers spend no more than 10 percent of their income on car costs. This means you should make 120K to afford the average cost. Median *household* income in the US is $77K. The math just doesn't work.

Big projects, bigger problems: Oregon bridge, highway efforts face delays and steep costs As Oregon lawmakers prepare to return for a special session focused on transportation, the Rose Quarter and other high-profile projects are on the back burner.

The mega-project era ends not with a bang, but with a whimper.

https://opb.org/article/2025/08/05/oregon-interstate-5-205-bridges-highways-efforts-delays-costs-transportation/ reality begins to settle in…

Readers respond: Special session must reach transportation solution Letters to the Editor can be submitted to letters@oregonian.com with full name and place of residence.

"The real financial crisis is ODOT’s excessive spending and dramatic cost overruns on a handful of billion-dollar-a-mile highway expansion projects."

@cityobservatory.bsky.social's Joe Cortright published an op-ed in the Sunday @oregonian.com: #orleg #orpol

www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2025...

Opinion: ODOT’s crisis is a spending problem, not a revenue problem ODOT's problems stem not from declining gas tax revenue – which is higher than it was five years ago, but from its excessive spending and dramatic cost overruns on a handful of mega projects, writes economist and No More Freeways co-founder Joe Cortright. ODOT and elected leaders are now effectively holding employees and the public hostage to get more money.

Opinion: ODOT’s crisis is a spending problem, not a revenue problem

Dark blue graphic featuring a photo of Je Amaechi as part of the 2024-2025 Strong Towns Cohort.

Dark blue graphic featuring the short bio of Je Amaechi as part of the 2024-2025 Strong Towns Cohort.

Meet our inaugural Strong Towns Cohort! The cohort is a community where Strong Towns advocates can connect, learn, and work. Here’s Je Amaechi from Portland, Oregon!

Applications for our 2025-2026 Cohort are open through September 29—join us! buff.ly/SU7mcH5

When I say I live in a "good neighborhood," what I mean is that the grocery store is three blocks away, I can smell my coffee beans being roasted from my back yard, and I can get German baked goods, Oaxacan tacos, and East African lamb stew without walking more than a block.

the good kind of induced demand

What's next for the Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion?

tl,dr: the project is still hosed.

Read our statement on last week's OTC vote, signed by @neighbors4cleanair.bsky.social, @eliotneighborhood.org, @bikeloudpdx.bsky.social, + Families for Safe Streets

nomorefreewayspdx.com/2025/07/30/w... #orpol

Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year Helsinki has completed 12 months without a single traffic fatality, a milestone credited to lower speed limits, safer infrastructure, and years of consistent planning, officials say.

Helsinki Pop: 690,000
Annual Traffic Deaths: 0

Portland Pop: 635,000
Annual Traffic Deaths: 58

Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year - Helsinki Times share.google/2F7BuWrzYW1A...

Op Ed: It's Time to Pause Highway Construction Nationwide and Try Something New — Streetsblog USA We don't have to swear off highway construction forever to make a dent in car dependency. A new report calls for a temporary moratorium on asphalt — and outlines how to get there.

We don't have to swear off highway construction forever to make a dent in car dependency. A new report calls for a temporary moratorium on asphalt — and outlines how to get there.

Cyclists including young families!

A reminder that the #farmersmarketride is family-friendly! Join us next week https://www.shift2bikes.org/calendar/event-21429 and every week the market is open.

Rose Quarter freeway project construction to begin in August despite $1.5B funding gap

TriMet will reduce service, make layoffs to close $300 million budget gap

These two headlines provide a nice little snapshot on how politicians are handling transportation governance is in progressive, blue state Oregon. #orleg #orpol

EBike store also services Bosch and is a bit closer to you

the funny thing about transportation policy is that the obvious fix is to stop wasting absurd sums of money on highway widenings that just make traffic worse but for some reason state DOTs are incapable of understanding that

Never been studied, that’s why we need an EIS considering a substantive set of alternatives.

Without Hulk Hogan, Peter Thiel would not have been so effective in media-suppression

Without Peter Thiel, we wouldn't know today's Musk or JDV

Without Musk, we wouldn't have DOGE (and would still have Park Service, State Dept, NIH, etc)

So we note Hulk Hogan's passing, as we might Roy Cohn's.

IBR tolling authority goes back to legislation from CRC days, well before HB2017. I’ll be watching the legislation carefully.

OTC sent out an email announcing the meeting Tuesday at 4pm (and it included the wrong date!) and gave us only until Wednesday at 12pm to send comment / sign up to testify, and we still managed to get roughly 80 people to send them a fist-shaking email. Should be a fun day of testimony tomorrow!

I-5 Rose Quarter megaproject at inflection point as commission weighs options After years of dangling by a thread, the project faces a moment of truth.

"Should ODOT keep driving this car down the road even as the wheels come off? Or is it time to pull over and reconsider if the trip is even worth taking?"

Huge meeting tomorrow could decide fate of I-5 Rose Quarter.

bikeportland.org/2025/07/23/i...