Every few years, the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) deliberates how to spend billions in statewide transportation funds by determining funding categories, such as investing in roadway maintenance, highway widening, or bike/pedestrian/transit/safety. For the past several months, the OTC has heard from the public and made a decision on how to invest more than $2B in transportation funding via the 2024-27 Statewide Transportation Investment Program (STIP).

We are proud to be founding members of the Getting There Together Coalition, and recently joined with other community leaders to analyze the recommended list of projects and put forward our own recommendations that lead with the values of equity, safety, affordability, and climate. 

The City of Salem has launched the Safer Pedestrian Crossings Program, a new online tool for requesting improved crossings. Earlier this year, we participated in the Safer Crossings Project Advisory Committee to help develop this system for community members to request pedestrian crossing facilities, and track the status of those projects. We provided feedback on best practices for equitable scoring of infrastructure projects, to be included in the Safer Crossings Program.

We’ve been supporting efforts in Eugene-Springfield to explore “tactical urbanism” options for the region. In other words, we’re interested in quick, affordable solutions to make conditions for people walking and bicycling, safer and more convenient.

11/26/19 Update:

On Monday November 25, Salem City Council approved the “sidewalk behavior” ordinance without the “sit-lie” element. Essentially, the ordinance has been narrowed to ban camping on sidewalks or public spaces, and restricts leaving personal items unattended for more than 24 hours. 

In the greater Portland region, Metro is in the middle of a process to shape a regional transportation funding measure that could go before voters in November 2020.