HIGHWAY ROBBERY
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Structural decay
appalls speaker
By Joan Herman
Of the Emerald
While in Seattle lor a hearing on the condition ot
Washington's bridges and highways, urban planner Mar
shall Kaplan was given a grand tour of the city's transpor
tion structures.
During the tour, "somebody punched a hole in one of
the wood pilings that holds the bridge up," Kaplan said.
"The damn thing went all the way through. The wood was
rotten."
So the curious tourist tried his experiment with another
wood piling. This time termites emerged.
"The mayor said 'We ll have to go over that bridge to
get to our appointment' and I said 'not on your life.’ "
So much for the tour.
Kaplan used this humorous incident to illustrate a
serious problem: the nation's infra-structure — urban pian
ntng jargon for highways, bridges, water distribution and
sewage treatment plants — needs some doctoring.
Kaplan, dean of the University of Colorado's graduate
school of public affairs, was the keynote speaker at the
Oregon Planning Commission's ninth annual conference.
During the Carter administration, Kaplan was deputy
assistant secretary for policy development at the depart
ment of Housing and Urban Development.
Kaplan spoke to the planners about a federally funded
study he is directing that examines 25 states' infra
structures, including their present and future needs,
resources and conditions.
Before the study, planners estimated that $3 trillion
would be needed to fill in the gap between anticipated
revenues and actual dollars allotted for infra-structure
needs through the year 2000.
Kaplan now estimates a gap of between $200 billion and
$400 billion. Although that figure represents a large range,
Kaplan said "it doesn't matter because it's a gap figure. It
suggests we have a problem from a policy standpoint. But
it's manageable."
Although more money is being used for infra-structure
development today, “the real dollars" have decreased due
to inflation, he said.
And solving the infra-structure development dilemma
will require innovative financing from the public and
private sector.
Federal air and water quality regulations must be ex
amined carefully as well, Kaplan said.
'T's obscene for the federal government to impose
standards without grants or aids to state and local govern
ments. I'm not questioning air and water quality standards.
We need them. But what is obscene is for the federal
government to mandate certain standards without helping
out to meet those needs."
Finally, federal, state and local governments must
devise long-range planning tools that can accurately
estimate infra-structure needs. No such tools exist now.
Kaplan suggested devising a capital improvement
budget, because “the federal government has put a lot of
money into infra-structure, but we don't know where they
put it and neither do they.”
, In closing, Kaplan coined the Virginia Slims cigarette
advertising slogan: "f think planners have come a long way
— but they have a long way to go.
"I'm asking you to look forward and build on what is
already a solid base here in Oregon."
Eugene wants highway funds
By Michele Matassa
(X the tnwraid
The State Highway Division is
deciding how to divide up a $933
million highway improvement pie
and Eugene city officials are crying
for a bigger piece.
But the reason they have to cry
now, says a highway division
spokesman, is because they
adamantly refused an offering more
than a decade ago.
/hat refusal came in the form of a
charter amendment saying Eugene's
citizens didn't want freeways within
the city and any future work would
require voter approval.
"They're after things now that 12
years ago they were dead set
against," says Jack Ayres, who is with
the Roseburg highway division.
What Eugene is "after" is an in
crease over its planned allotment of
$1.7 million in highway construction
funds, Mayor Cus Keller says.
Portland is receiving $200 million
and Salem should get about $35
million, Keller says. Even if the
highway division agreed to alt five of
Eugene's requested projects, the
total would only be $20 million, he
says.
Among those requests is a 4.5 mile
extension of 6th and 7th avenues
west to Highway 126 near Oak Hill.
Ayres does admit that the "we were
taken to task" at a State Transporta
tion Commission public hearing here
Wednesday night because "we have
not spent that much money in the
Eugene area."
Some 35 state legislators, city of
ficials and citizens turned out at that
hearing to testify against the
transportation commission and to de
mand more attention.
Ayres also admits Eugene city of
ficials have rotated since the charter
amendment was drafted, a factor
which may force the transportation
commission to rethink its position.
"If it's felt and if the dollars are
available, maybe we'll have second
thoughts,” Ayres says.
Meanwhile, Keller says the
statewide project would be “a
disgrace" if the highway division
doesn't respond to Wednesday
night's hearing.
Asked if he expects that hearing to
have an affect, Keller says "I think it
better help. I don't see how they can
keep ignoring us. They do have a
responsibility to this city.”
Apparently, Keller doesn't accept
the charter amendment and required
voter approval as an excuse for the
highway division's "ignoring”
Eugene.
Voters here want highway im
provements and would be willing to
vote for them, he says.
But Ayres disagrees, saying the
highway division is in a "catch-22.”
The division won't spend money
designing a project without advance
voter approval but voters won't ap
prove a project until it already is
designed, Ayres says.
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