In August this year, Governor Kotek's "Transportation Vision Working Group" heard testimony from several other states about how they fund their transportation systems and structure their state transit agencies. The presentation is worth watching in full: the working group has a lot to learn about Utah&
Everyone is talking about social housing. Seattle is building it, Portland is funding it (and studying it), and Maryland has supposedly been doing it for years. The issue can seem nebulous, but I'd like to lay out the argument that in fact it's an important opportunity
2025 was a big year for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) on the US West Coast. Washington and California both passed major bills that set statewide standards for zoning around transit stations: * SB 79 in California required cities to legalize 6-9 story buildings near transit, with different standards for higher
On Tuesday this week, Governors Kotek and Ferguson announced a major change to the Interstate Bridge Replacement (IBR) Program: Washington and Oregon are officially taking a new approach to tackling a pair of aging bridges that carry Interstate 5 over the Columbia River, putting off plans for highway widening and
The case for streetcar pessimism
The new year finds Portland in an uneasy position on housing: our pipeline of new construction is drying up, our housing safety net is under attack from all sides, and covid-era population trends that have depressed prices are beginning to reverse. Governor Kotek and Mayor Wilson's slate