Co-chairs give two transport packages $350 million
by Libby Tucker
03/26/2007
Alternative transportation scored big in the Ways and Means co-chairs’ recommended budget released by the Oregon Legislature on Thursday.
“There are two key investments we’re proposing,” Rep. Mary Nolan, D-Portland and co-chair of the joint Ways and Means committee said, “subject to the whole deliberative procedure.”
Included in the $15.3 billion budget for the state’s general fund and lottery fund in 2007 to 2009, was the proposed $100 million ConnectOregon 2 multimodal transportation funding package.
The lottery-bond-backed transportation package comes on the heels of the $100 million ConnectOregon package passed by the 2005 Legislature for aviation, rail, transit, and marine infrastructure.
The $250 million Milwaukie light rail project also received an official nod from the co-chairs for lottery-backed bonds slated for 2009 to 2011.
Portland to Milwaukie light rail “has been on the drawing board for quite a while,” said Olivia Clark, TriMet’s executive director of governmental affairs. “The people in inner Southeast Portland and in Clackamas County have been waiting a long time for this.”
Now ten years in the making, the proposed Milwaukie light rail extension project was recently revived by the regional government Metro. If approved, the 6.5-mile line will be completed in 2014, connecting an estimated 20,000 riders to the existing MAX system.
The state allocation will cover 40 percent of the project cost, with the remaining 60 percent provided by the Federal Transit Administration, according to TriMet.
“We need to take advantage of all the planning and preparation for the Milwaukie line,” Nolan said.
Overall, transportation and economic development received $238.7 million of the ’07 to ’09 co-chairs’ budget. The co-chairs’ budget also recommended the creation of a $50 million fund for county roads to supplement money lost from federal timber harvest receipts.
Missing from the budget, however, was any additional allocation for much-needed road maintenance or repair and capital improvement projects. Neither was the proposed Wilsonville to Salem commuter rail extension included.
The Portland Business Alliance, for example, had lobbied for a $350 million transportation funding package to increase freight mobility and decrease highway congestion.
“There’s probably some additional flexibility (for funding) in the transportation subcommittee,” Nolan said. But “probably nothing that would compare in magnitude to those that have already been proposed.”
To view the full budget online visit:
www.leg.state.or.us/comm/ lfo/home.htm.
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