In response to the City of Portland’s letter to the Oregon Department of Transportation reaffirming their commitment to the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project, Representative Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany), Co-Vice Chair of the Joint Transportation Committee, issued the following statement:

“The large tax increases in House Bill 2017 -- passed into law during the 2017 Session -- came with a directive and a promise: build the Rose Quarter. Nearly seven whole years later, the project has not made significant progress.

“I am committed to finding a cost-effective path forward that meets the needs of the entire state. The Rose Quarter was identified in House Bill 2017 as a project of statewide importance, and the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project magnifies that significance. These two projects are linked and we cannot do one without the other to solve the transportation issues that each present.”

“I am encouraged by Portland’s recent letter showing renewed commitment to the Rose Quarter project. I look forward to working with them to tackle Oregon’s transportation challenges.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Critics of the delay say that the letter -- signed by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioners Mingus Mapps, Carmen Rubio, Dan Ryan and Rene Gonzalez -- was written to deflect criticism of the delay. The letter concludes:

The City of Portland intends to build on this momentum to ensure the success of this catalytic project. We are confident that ODOT’s Rose Quarter project will not only relieve congestion, improve safety, and enhance developability of the district – but that it will do so in a way that recognizes, addresses, and prevents the repetition of the injustices suffered by communities of color throughout Portland’s history. We are optimistic that by continuing to work closely alongside other project stakeholders, we will advance this once-in-a-generation project to enhance our state’s largest event district and reconnect the Albina neighborhood.

According to the Project website. I-5 between I-84 and I-405 is the top traffic bottleneck in Oregon and the 28th worst freight bottleneck in the nation as of 2021.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2023-04-07 23:58:53