Quote:
Originally Posted by Shilo Rune 96
Unfortunately ODOT will not allow the city to do this, because Powell is considered a freight route. ODOT did offer Clackamas county a large cash offer to take ownership of highway 43 though, but Powell is much different.
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I don't think it being a freight route makes any difference. The City owns, maintains, and controls many freight routes, such as Columbia Blvd, Lombard, and Greeley. Macadam Ave is not only a freight route, but a designated "oversized load" route and ODOT was eager to give that away. The question is how much ODOT will pay the City to take it (and all of its maintenance needs) away. ODOT didn't offer enough money for the City to accept the maintenance responsibility of Macadam Ave. I would think ODOT would offer up a decent sum of money or agree to support a federal or state grant to improve the facility in order to alleviate itself from ever improving that roadway.
While I understand everyone at TriMet and most at Metro believe it will be BRT, I think it's a mistake to do anything less than light rail. East Portland has grown substantially and still has more room to grow. In addition, it's filled with low income population that would benefit from fast frequent transit. If TriMet and Metro don't do light rail, they should expect increasingly expensive operating costs to serve that area with 50-person capacity buses. My two cents..
