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  #3081  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2012, 11:54 PM
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Shilo Rune 96 Shilo Rune 96 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Derek View Post
I own an automobile so I can go where I please, but I also ride the MAX in the city since it gets me where I'm going and I don't have to waste gas. Some people just don't get it.
We should all stop riding max & busses and exclusively drive automobiles. Then he'll see how much gas would cost!
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  #3082  
Old Posted Mar 16, 2012, 6:06 AM
RED_PDXer RED_PDXer is offline
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I want freedom from the automobile.. these jerks want everyone to do as they do and not be given a transportation choice. guess we should all choke in traffic together. what a bunch of a forward thinkers.
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  #3083  
Old Posted Mar 16, 2012, 7:25 AM
bvpcvm bvpcvm is offline
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Originally Posted by RED_PDXer View Post
I want freedom from the automobile.
i fully agree. they claim to support "freedom of choice" but it's only freedom of choice as long as you choose what they do.
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  #3084  
Old Posted Mar 16, 2012, 6:18 PM
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I believe in freedom, too, and I own a bike, use public transit, and have a Zipcar membership.
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  #3085  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2012, 1:56 AM
bvpcvm bvpcvm is offline
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listen, buddy, that's the wrong kind of freedom. we don't like that kind of freedom 'round here.
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  #3086  
Old Posted Mar 18, 2012, 3:41 AM
davehogan davehogan is offline
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Originally Posted by bvpcvm View Post
i fully agree. they claim to support "freedom of choice" but it's only freedom of choice as long as you choose what they do.
I could make so many freedom of choice jokes, but I'll try to keep it on topic and just post nothing of value instead.

Heh...
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  #3087  
Old Posted Apr 6, 2012, 6:19 PM
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Wow. If it was April Fool's Day I'd be suspicious.


Mayor Sam Adams revisits idea of rejiggering Interstate 5

Published: Friday, April 06, 2012, 10:21 AM Updated: Friday, April 06, 2012, 10:50 AM
By Beth Slovic, The Oregonian

An expensive idea that first gained traction in Portland in the 1980s, flared again in the 1990s and resurfaced in the 2000s could rise again in some fashion under Mayor Sam Adams, who has nine months left in his term.

But city officials are so far keeping mum about the recent $11,000 study that shows a rejiggered Interstate 5 near Portland's Central Eastside Industrial District, declining this week to release "a draft concept-level diagram" of the interstate to The Oregonian.

Nonetheless, Adams has reached out to former Mayor Vera Katz and Nohad Toulan, dean emeritus of the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University, who in 2004 led a committee that, among other things, supported burying about one mile of I-5 near the Central Eastside Industrial District. Both Katz and Toulan confirmed this week that Adams asked them to meet, although no date has been set.

Katz, for her part, said she was told that Adams wanted "to share a plan to bury the section of the freeway."

Jonna Papaefthimiou, a sustainability adviser to the mayor, said Adams instead wanted Katz and Toulan to know that their work eight years ago "had not been forgotten."

Back in 2004, Katz and Toulan studied how changing the freeway would create space for new development and strengthen Portlanders' connection with the east side of the Willamette River. Detractors, on the other hand, worried aloud about changing the nearby property's industrial character.

The concept of remaking Portland's waterfront on the east side is even older than that, however.

In 1988, Riverfront for People pushed a plan to remake the area guided by the image of Tom McCall Waterfront Park (which used to be Harbor Drive until the 1970s). "Our gem of a river is overwhelmed by concrete superstructures," a website for the group still reads today.

(As an aside, mayoral candidate and state legislator Jefferson Smith is listed as a former Riverfront for People member along with his father, R.P. Joe Smith. These days, Jefferson Smith says the east side of the river still has untapped potential, but he doesn't see any available money to execute new plans.)

Charlie Hales, another 2012 mayoral candidate, has also been part of reworking the freeway. In 1993, as a newly elected city commissioner, he asked a citizen commission to study the area and it recommended moving the freeway. Today, Hales also says he doesn't see how the city would have the resources to undertake such a huge task.

That's not a new problem, either.

"Why not conduct a study on how to grow a money tree?" barked one critic of the plan, according to an article in The Oregonian on Nov. 18, 1993.
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  #3088  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2012, 12:33 AM
zacaway zacaway is offline
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How great would that be for the east side. With all the redevelopment going on in that area, this might actually go somewhere!

The concept plan for this is here: http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/...49522&a=392837
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  #3089  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2012, 6:15 AM
RED_PDXer RED_PDXer is offline
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I pretty sure this concept will be shelved for quite some time. It was only done to appease the industrial property owners in the area and assure them that there was an option to underground the freeway without impacting private property. The cost of $11,000 means that virtually no serious engineering work went into the study.

The City and ODOT should just dump this freeway section, add a lane to I-405 and re-designate it as I-5, and institute congestion pricing on it through downtown. May cap a few blocks of the I-405 could be part of it.. who knows.
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  #3090  
Old Posted Apr 7, 2012, 6:20 AM
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Wow. What a phenomenal, and expensive, idea. The east side esplanade is really more of an extension of the west side than it is a part of the east side. How sad is that? The I-5 pushes inner SE away from the river rather than toward it, turning some of the best land in the entire city into a wasteland in the process. Fixing the I-5 will be insanely expensive... but, again, wow. SE Portland would gain a river. How amazing would THAT be? I can't even imagine it. But I'd love to try!
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  #3091  
Old Posted Apr 9, 2012, 11:36 PM
davehogan davehogan is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RED_PDXer View Post
I pretty sure this concept will be shelved for quite some time. It was only done to appease the industrial property owners in the area and assure them that there was an option to underground the freeway without impacting private property. The cost of $11,000 means that virtually no serious engineering work went into the study.

The City and ODOT should just dump this freeway section, add a lane to I-405 and re-designate it as I-5, and institute congestion pricing on it through downtown. May cap a few blocks of the I-405 could be part of it.. who knows.
Removing I-5 won't fly, too many powerful interests would not be happy if they had to take I-5 north to go south on I-405. I can't see the feds being enthusiastic about funding it either, and widening I-405 would be nearly impossible without a bit of property acquisition, which again I can't see being a real possibility. I just can't see downtown accepting widening I-405 just to remove a freeway that's across the river from them, and downtown will win that fight fairly easily.

I do think selling air leases to build over I-405 would be a great idea, but I'm not sure if developers would find that to be a cost effective solution in Portland. I'm not sure if the extra costs of building in that style would be worth it for a developer to pay much versus just buying land elsewhere in Portland.

I have a feeling I-5 won't be a tunnel for a long time though. I doubt any local politicians will seriously push for it until the CRC is completed, and that doesn't sound like it'll be anytime soon. I'd have to guess a tunnel of the size and length they're talking about would end up being at least the price of the CRC, and even with the land that could be sold, I doubt if Portland's real estate is valuable enough to really make a huge dent in the overall cost.

Maybe by the time they get around to it they'll have Central and South Waterfront figured out, and the ConWay site might be finished, and the east side street car may have paid off. If all of that has happened, then I'd think burying I-5 might start looking a bit more worthwhile, and by then it would be a good excuse to replace the Marquam Bridge with a tunnel as well.
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  #3092  
Old Posted Apr 25, 2012, 3:33 PM
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  #3093  
Old Posted May 1, 2012, 5:25 PM
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Boltbus Arrives In Portland And Seattle

Here's a fun piece of news: Boltbus, which is owned by Greyhound, is coming to the Pacific Northwest with 1 way tickets between Portland and Seattle for $6 to $8 (plus $1 service fee). Each bus apparently has one ticket available for only $1. Service begins May 17th. I can attest to the fact that $1 tickets really do exist. I scored a round trip for a grand total of $3 (two $1 tickets plus the $1 service fee).

Apparently, the busses are new and have wifi.

There's more Boltbus info on Portland Afoot.

All in all, this is cool.
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  #3094  
Old Posted May 1, 2012, 9:26 PM
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Grantenfuego Grantenfuego is offline
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That is cool. If I'm not mistaken it will be the first long distance travel option that can be taken directly from the center of downtown.
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  #3095  
Old Posted May 1, 2012, 9:46 PM
tyroneshoelaces tyroneshoelaces is offline
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If Tri-Met ran it the cost would be $100+ per ride.
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  #3096  
Old Posted May 1, 2012, 10:26 PM
jaxg8r1 jaxg8r1 is offline
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Originally Posted by tyroneshoelaces View Post
If Tri-Met ran it the cost would be $100+ per ride.
Thanks for the brilliant insight
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  #3097  
Old Posted May 2, 2012, 2:39 AM
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Shilo Rune 96 Shilo Rune 96 is offline
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Wow! I'll be going to Seattle more now
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  #3098  
Old Posted May 2, 2012, 6:51 PM
aajn1983 aajn1983 is offline
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please excuse my apparent illiteracy.

but, does this mean:

i can go from portland to seattle for 9 dollars?

is that what this is?
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  #3099  
Old Posted May 2, 2012, 11:20 PM
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Originally Posted by aajn1983 View Post
please excuse my apparent illiteracy.

but, does this mean:

i can go from portland to seattle for 9 dollars?

is that what this is?
A one way ticket on Boltbus from Portland to Seattle costs between $6 and $8, plus $1 for a service fee (whatever that is). So, yeah, $7 to $9 is the price for a one way bus ticket from Portland to Seattle, depending on when you go. A round trip ticket is really just two one-way tickets, so the price is whatever the two one-way tickets end up being. It's cheap! And their busses have wifi.
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  #3100  
Old Posted May 5, 2012, 8:35 PM
davehogan davehogan is offline
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Originally Posted by Grantenfuego View Post
That is cool. If I'm not mistaken it will be the first long distance travel option that can be taken directly from the center of downtown.
What about Amtrak? That's just a few blocks off Burnside.

I hope this is a good deal. I'd still prefer Amtrak, but if I can get a $3 round trip I might suffer with not having the space to spread out in a dining car.
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