2 • The Southwest Portland Post
EDITORIAL
April 2018
How will congestion pricing on Interstate 5 affect traffic on Barbur Boulevard
and our neighborhood streets?
OPEN FORUM
By Don Baack
Will a Barbur Boulevard light
rail alignment clog our Southwest
arterials with traffic diverted from
Interstate 5?
I asked Metro’s Southwest Corridor
team these questions recently. The
answer I received was very unsettling.
In effect, Metro says that the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement
rules spelled out by the Feds do not
require them to study what is likely
the largest strategic change to our use
of the freeway system since it was
built in the 1960s.
Metro says they do not plan to
study the impact on vehicle traffic of
congestion pricing before they decide
which route to locate the light rail line,
along Barbur Boulevard or closer to
Interstate 5. This is a bad decision!
Even the most uninformed person
in the Portland region will say that
if it costs more to drive on Interstate
5 during peak periods, many people
will choose to use alternative routes.
The alternative routes are Barbur
Boulevard and many of our local
arterials and guided by GPS, even
local streets.
In recent years, the state of Wash-
ington put a toll on one of the bridges
across Lake Washington. The daily
average traffic dropped from 103,000
cars per day to 68,000 cars per day, a
34 percent decrease.
Now imagine Barbur Boulevard
with 34 percent of the daily traffic of
Interstate 5 added to the volume it
already carries.
The 2014 average number of ve-
hicles counted by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation at Iowa Street
(the new bridge site) was 142,000 per
day.
Thirty-four percent is 48,280 ve-
hicles diverted onto Barbur Boulevard
and our local streets.
Now add in the additional conges-
tion of having light rail down the
middle of Barbur Boulevard from
Terwilliger Boulevard to the West
Portland Crossroads (Capitol High-
way, south).
Metro is not studying or even esti-
mating any change in the travel time
of their trains under these drastic
traffic increase conditions.
Their one track answer is that,
given the trains will be on dedicated
track, there will not be any changes
in travel time if the Barbur alignment
is chosen!
Everything I read suggests that
Metro is pushing to put the light
rail alignment on Barbur Boulevard
rather than a route near Interstate 5.
Doing so will constrain the ability of
the Oregon Department of Transpor-
tation to make changes to Barbur Bou-
levard to accommodate the increased
traffic we all know will happen when
congestion pricing is implemented.
If Barbur Boulevard is not able to
handle the additional traffic, guess
where the spillover will happen? The
traffic will crowd onto our two-lane
arterials like Capitol Highway, Tay-
lors Ferry Road, and even our local
streets.
If Metro chooses the Barbur Boule-
vard alignment without studying the
diversion impact of traffic, and then
comes to the citizens of the region
for a huge bond measure to fund the
project, the fact that they did not even
do an analysis of the impact of con-
gestion pricing on Barbur Boulevard
and other Southwest traffic will be a
major issue.
The Feds may not require the
analysis, but voters will want to see
a thorough unbiased analysis of the
impact of the diverted traffic on the
street and on light rail operations
before we invest in a project that will
be around for 100-plus years.
Alternatively, Metro can choose the
Interstate 5 route and dramatically
reduce the risk of voters rejecting the
bond measure.
Don Baack is a Hillsdale neighborhood
activist, SW Trails board member, and
longtime advocate for active transporta-
tion.
The Post welcomes reader response.
Please email guest columns (500 words)
or letters (300 words) to editor@mult-
nomahpost.com. We reserve the right to
edit all submissions for brevity, clarity,
punctuation, and libel concerns.
Spring Garden Park
(Continued from Page 1)
cluding increases in accessibility, the
lower meadow, added improvements
to frontage parking on Dolph Court
and a variety of contemplative areas.
“I was pleased to see that the on-site
staff worked with many neighbors
as concerns came up,” said Sara
Childers, who lives near the park.
“We’re very excited about the devel-
opments and the addition of hybrid
nature play elements.”
Park construction is on-going. Al-
though there is still considerable work
ahead, Yocum said the park bureau
is on track for a grand opening event
scheduled for June 16.
The park bureau has a goal of open-
ing the park to the public even earlier
than that June date but exact timing is
to be determined, due to weather and
landscape establishment.
Subscribe to The Post and
help us keep the presses rolling
Get The Southwest Portland Post delivered
to your mailbox every month and help
support your local newspaper at the same
time. Why not send a subscription to a
friend or relative. Makes a great gift!
Mail us a check or money order or call
503-244-6933 with your credit or debit
card. We accept Visa, MasterCard,
American Express and Discover.
April Subscription Special
One year (12 monthly issues)......................................... $14.00
Two years (24 monthly issues) ....................................... $24.00
Three years (36 monthly issues) .................................... $36.00
Please send check or
money order to:
Subscriptions, The Southwest Portland Post,
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509, Portland, OR 97206.
Name
Address
City/State/Zip
Phone
E-mail
Celebrating
4207 SE Woodstock Blvd #509, Portland, OR 97206
Years in
Business!
Phone: (503) 244-6933; Fax: (866) 727-5336
general email: news@multnomahpost.com
web address: www.swportlandpost.com
25
Editor & Publisher .........Don Snedecor
Reporters / Writers .........KC Cowan, Jack Rubinger,
................Erik Vidstrand
Copy Editor ......................Janet Goetze
Advertising Sales ...........Don Snedecor
Graphic Design ..............Leslie Baird
Printing ............................Oregon Lithoprint
Circulation .......................Rick Hepper
© 2018 by The Southwest Portland Post. All rights reserved. The opinions of the
artists and authors contained herein are not necessarily shared by the publisher.
Deadline for news and advertising is generally the 20th of the month prior to
publication. Please call for current deadline information. Advertising rates are available
upon request. Subscriptions are $24 per year.
The Post has a circulation of 7,000 in Multnomah Village and the surrounding
neighborhood business districts including Burlingame, Capitol Hill, Garden Home,
Glen Cullen, Hillsdale, South Portland, Raleigh Hills, West Portland and Vermont
Hills. The Post is published on or about the 1st of every month. Back issues are $2.50
each when available. All major credit cards accepted.
The Post is printed on recycled
newsprint using soy-based inks.