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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 02/10/2026

Last week, ODOT breathlessly congratulated itself on completing a highway expansion project near Salem "on time and on budget." only problem is, the project was actually $20 million over budget. They just lied about it. @cityobservatory.bsky.social reports: cityobservatory.org/this-is-what...

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 19/09/2026

Don't want to spend your life stuck in traffic congestion? Turns out, the best way to prevent traffic congestion is to stop building billions of dollars of miles of freeway and instead invest in transit.

This matters because this is an important lesson, a potential teachable moment for all of us, about how the transportation system works. Expanding highways in urban areas results in what is called “induced travel”–the greater supply of road capacity prompts people to take more and longer trips than they would otherwise. That’s why widening roads to solve congestion never works–roads, no matter how wide, fill up and become congested, like Houston’s 23-lane wide Katy Freeway which actually is slower after its most recent expansion than it was before. This is what economists now call the “fundamental law of road congestion.” And this fundamental law also works in reverse: take away some of the capacity, and as everyone of these supposed Carmaggedon’s shows, traffic evaporates. Once we understand that traffic responds to supply, we can recognize we can limit traffic by not building so much capacity.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 14/08/2026

"How much is too much?" No More Freeways co-founder @chrissmith.us testified today to the Oregon Transportation Commission about the latest $3 billion cost estimate for ODOT's proposed Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 12/08/2026

Beating up on ODOT might be the one bipartisan tradition left in Oregon (Fact check: Rep Diehl is wrong - the project is expensive because ODOT is in fact doubling the width of the freeway to make space for a third and potentially fourth and fifth lane) #orleg #orpol

Rep Diehl beating up on the rose quarter on instagram

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 08/07/2026

here we go again www.opb.org/article/2026...

Lawmakers and workgroup members also agreed that a new transportation funding package shouldn’t commit to projects before having an accurate cost estimate, pointing to the uncompleted Interstate 5 Rose Quarter and Interstate 205 Abernethy Bridge projects met with staggering cost overruns surpassing initial legislative estimates.

“I’d like to see that to make sure that we can really make sure we’re preserving our existing road system first before we overcommit our state and then our debt and bond capacity,” Phạm said.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 17/06/2026

None other than @cityobservatory.bsky.social will be testifying tonight at Oregon's Joint Transportation Oversight Committee: olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025I1/D... #orleg #orpol

The mega-project problem
Large and persistent cost
overruns, excessive revenue
optimism, expanded debt and
reliance on consultants are
driving ODOT’s multi-billion
dollar financial crisis

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 15/06/2026

officially on this morning's docket.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 25/05/2026

Tomorrow’s the OTC vote on the IBR amendment - have you submitted testimony yet? www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/ibramendment

Please reject the Interstate Bridge Replacement amendment to the STIP.

The project is not a bridge replacement: it is a freeway widening project. A wider freeway has NEVER resulted in reduced traffic congestion. And current traffic/tolling projections indicate traffic volumes will actually decline in the future.

ODOT has not been held accountable in any way for its cost overruns and failed mega projects. No more money should be allocated to such a dysfunctional organization that fails to maintain the roads we already have.

Don't forget the opportunity costs: this is money that could be better spent on passenger rail service connecting Oregon communities. ODOT should serve the transportation needs of all citizens: not just the ones with cars.

Just say NO to more freeway expansion. This is an opportunity to demand financial accountability in providing statewide transportation solutions.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 21/05/2026

we're close to 100 comments to the Oregon Transportation Commission demanding they reject the STIP amendment to write a blank check for the multibillion dollar IBR - can you submit a quick comment today? www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/ibramendment

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 20/05/2026

ACTION ALERT: We need your help to tell the Oregon Transportation Commission to vote NO on the STIP Amendment for the $15 billion, oversized, polluting Interstate Bridge Replacement. Oregon simply cannot afford this reckless megaproject. Submit testimony today: nomorefreewayspdx.com/ibramendment

Action Alert! Tell the OTC to VOTE NO on the IBR Blank Check!

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 29/04/2026

This Willamette Week review of Rep McLain's tenure as Chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation is pretty devastating www.wweek.com/news/2026/04...

But he faces an incumbent whose latest term has been a fiasco. As chair of the House Transportation Committee, McLain played a key role in fumbling the top priority of the 2025 legislative session: a funding bill for the Oregon Department of Transportation whose last-minute failure embarrassed Democrats. She failed to build enough support for her package, even as her party held commanding supermajorities in both chambers. (The compromise version is about to die via the ballot box.) She tells us she couldn’t have worked harder or talked to more people, which isn’t exactly reassuring. If this was the best she could do, we wonder if McLain is any longer capable of forging the connections needed to push meaningful policy through the Legislature.
26BNB 728x90

Worse, McLain co-chairs the Joint Committee on the Interstate 5 Bridge—perhaps the only project going worse than the ODOT funding package. In less than four years, as the Oregon Journalism Project revealed, the estimated cost of the project has more than doubled, from $6 billion to $13.6 billion. The replacement bridge may never span the Columbia River, but McLain appears to be in denial. She says the project has been “successful” because “we’ve met every target and goal we’re supposed to.” She refuses to concede costs have ballooned, or admit that her fellow committee members were outraged at project officials for keeping the new numbers under wraps. Discussing the bridge with her is like watching The Office’s Michael Scott drive his car into a lake on the instructions of his GPS.

McLain’s detachment may explain how Watson amassed an impressive number of local endorsements, including from all three mayors of cities in his House district, and all three city council presidents. “I think she’s lost the community,” he says of McLain. “We can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.” (McLain, for her part, brushed off the loss of those endorsements, and offered little insight as to why she thought…

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 17/03/2026

Plenty of need for continued skepticism, oversight and accountability, but Governors Kotek/Ferguson have essentially acknowledged there's no way in hell to build a fifteen billion dollar freeway expansion and should instead just replace the bridge + add transit www.interstatebridge.org/CostEstimate

Building with $5.5 Billion in Available Funding

Major infrastructure programs are often constructed in phases over time to align with available funding and workforce, and to minimize disruption to the local communities.

With the updated cost estimate, the Program has identified a core set of projects to advance with available funding while working toward building the full five-mile program:

Replacement Columbia River Bridge
Bridge connections to I-5
Extension of light rail to Waterfront Station in Vancouver
Removal of existing bridge

The cost estimate for this core set of projects is $7.65 billion, leaving a funding gap of $1.2 to $2.2 billion depending on the availability of funding from the Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grant.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 17/03/2026

Fittingly, when you click on the link for the cost estimate, the IBR press release sends you to a 404 page

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 02/02/2026

Helluva lineup for Tuesday's Joint Oversight on Transportation Committee meeting. Seems like a pertinent discussion as the legislature determines whether to continue to throw hundreds of millions to the Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion! #orleg #orpol olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2026R1/C...

02/03/2026 5:00 PM , HR F

This notice provides the meeting schedule and topics for this meeting. The official meeting agenda will be posted on February 2, 2026.

Organizational Meeting
Adoption of Committee Rules

Informational Meeting
Inivited Speakers Only
Mega Projects – Costs, Opportunity Costs and Mitigations
Dr. Zachary Liscow, Yale University
Dr. Erick Gurerra, University of Pennsylvania
Tony Dutzik, Associate Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Frontier Group
Joe Cortright, City Observatory

For committee meetings with no public hearings:
For information about Language Access Services/Para más información sobre los Servicios de Acceso Lingüístico: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/lpro/Pages/language-access.aspx

To access links to a livestream or recordings of legislative meetings:
https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/citizen_engagement/Pages/Legislative-Video.aspx

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 16/01/2026

Republican Senator (and Vice-Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee) Bruce Starr, in an interview with @wweek.com: #orleg www.wweek.com/news/state/2...

When you look through a rational lens, there’s no way today that the Rose Quarter can be completed. The cost of that project is so enormous, and the resources that are available don’t equate to completion. Does it make sense to pause and make sure that we do spend money on maintenance or preservation? I’m not saying that we completely never look at fixing the Rose Quarter, because it needs to be fixed. And based on your reporting on the Interstate Bridge, holy smokes. If the cost is actually $13 billion, that project will never get built.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 07/01/2026

Notable that Oregon Transportation Commissioner Phil Chang is suggesting the legislators need to decide whether or not they want to keep pushing forward on the portland area megaprojects instead of backfilling ODOT maintenance needs in a hometown paper op-ed bendbulletin.com/2026/01/07/g... #orpol

If Oregonians want ODOT maintenance crews to keep our state highways safe and open, we need to identify additional funding for basic maintenance to prevent mass layoffs. Tax and fee increases are one option. Another option would be suspending big HB 2017 capital construction projects – like the I-205 Abernethy Bridge, I-5 Rose Quarter, or Center Street Bridge – and reallocating funds from those mega projects to basic maintenance. Whether these or other new solutions move forward, HB 3991 is effectively dead and only the Legislature has the authority to solve ODOT’s maintenance funding crisis. I’m hoping for some great legislating in 2026. Phil Chang is a member of the Oregon Transportation Commission, the governing body for the Oregon Department of Transportation. He was appointed by Governor Kotek in October 2024.

Read more at: https://bendbulletin.com/2026/01/07/guest-column-will-no-tax-oregon-become-yes-to-fatal-crashes/

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 06/01/2026

“It’s pretty devastating. It’s not like there’s not some money out there. We’re just spending it on cars.” - NMF co-founder @chrissmith.us in @wweek.com, on @trimet.org’s cuts, and the failure of Oregon th prioritize existing bus service over freeway expansion www.wweek.com/news/2026/01...

Transit advocates who spoke to WW were dismayed TriMet is cutting core services even as a pair of billion-dollar freeway projects move forward in the metro area: the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project—expected to cost $2 billion—and a plan to replace to replace two aging I-5 spans over the Columbia River, which is expected to cost between $5 billion and $7.5 billion.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 30/12/2025

“At the end of the day, No More Freeways is a grassroots movement that believes Portland will be a healthier, happier, more prosperous, more equitable, and more livable city if we stop spending billions of dollars widening freeways.” - NMF co-founder @chrissmith.us www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/donate

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 30/12/2025

Thank you to everyone who has donated so far - we're getting close to our goal! as always, if you donate, you'll get a hand written thank you card and some buttons and stickers and NMF swag. Whether you've got $1000, $100, or $10 to give, every bit helps! www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/donate

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 29/12/2025

Thank you to the hundreds of Portlanders who have submitted public testimony against endless freeway expansion this year, and to the dozens of you who have supported us this year. We're close to our $30k fundraising goal to pay for lawyers for 2026 - join us! www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/donate

Our grassroots campaign is so close to fully covering costs for our lawyers who will challenge the Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion in court this year. Join us and invest in a future with No More Freeways.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 22/12/2025

Whether you have $5000, $500, $150, $50, or $15 to donate - we'll send you a hand-written thank you card and a button and/or stickers to thank you for supporting our grassroots campaign to invest in a future with no more freeways. Thank you for your support! www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/donate

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 22/12/2025

We're not a professional org with paid staff - we're a handful of neighborhood advocates, government watchdogs, and transportation nerds that know we'll never get the clean air, livable streets, and frequent transit we deserve if ODOT keeps breaking the law to spend billions widening freeways.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 22/12/2025

This next year represents a culmination of a nearly a decade of advocacy. All our work double-checking ODOT's traffic projections, catching them lying about the width of the freeways, all of our protests and rallies - this year, judges will get to hear our case. But only with your help.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 22/12/2025

We have litigation in state and federal courts challenging ODOT's proposal to double the width of the rose quarter freeway and their unwillingness to study alternatives to endless freeway expansion. Those cases come up this next year. With your help, we can beat ODOT in court.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 22/12/2025

In 2026, we're taking ODOT to court to stop the proposed, polluting Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion. But we can't do it without your help. We're halfway to our goal to pay for our legal work - can you join us? www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/donate

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 13/12/2025

a little friday ews dump for y'all: ODOT/WSDOT announce today via posted materials ahead of Monday's bi-state IBR committee meeting that we apparently *won't* be getting an updated cost estimate for the Interstate Bridge Replacaement next week after all. olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025I1/D...

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 11/12/2025

front page of @opb.org sure tells a helluva story right now

screenshot of OPB, with stories about "oregon's ski areas still waiting for snow on the slopes", the IBR's rising price tag, and "new phase of Rose Quarter project to proceed, despite funding hole."

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 09/12/2025

“Funds that might be available for this project should be used to address urgent maintenance and safety needs elswhere in our state's road system.” www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/option3

The Rose Quarter expansion project was misconceived from the start. ODOT studies on the impact of this project have never taken adequate account of the pervasive problem of induced demand. Experience elsewhere indicates that any relief of congestion from the proposed freeway widening would be negated within a few years as more vehicles take advantage of the intended improvements. Furthermore, the increased traffic would aggravate the air pollution already emanating from the freeway in the project area and beyond. Funds that might be available for this project should be used to address urgent maintenance and safety needs elswhere in our state's road system.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 08/12/2025

The few worthwhile elements of the project, like the caps and the Albina Vision Trust work, are now jeopardised by the project’s own financial collapse. It is not honest or transparent to act as if this is still a viable path." submit testimony by noon tuesday! www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/option3

i Commissioners,

I’m writing from the Boise neighborhood, and I'm also on the board of the Boise NA and one of the Land Use & Transportation leaders. I strongly support Option 3 because continuing to put money into the Rose Quarter freeway expansion no longer makes fiscal or practical sense.

ODOT is in an operational crisis. The agency cannot afford to keep enough staff to handle the basics: fixing potholes, running snowplows, and keeping our roads safe. These are the core services people actually rely on. Redirecting limited funds toward those essential functions is the only responsible choice.

At the same time, the Rose Quarter expansion has become an unworkable project with years of cost overruns, lost federal support, uncertain timelines, and outcomes that do not meaningfully improve congestion, climate goals, or neighborhood quality of life. The few worthwhile elements of the project, like the caps and the Albina Vision Trust work, are now jeopardised by the project’s own financial collapse. It is not honest or transparent to act as if this is still a viable path.

Option 3 acknowledges the reality we are facing. Oregonians need their transportation system to function today, not in a distant future tied to a multibillion dollar highway expansion that the state cannot afford. Choosing Option 3 is choosing fiscal responsibility, safety, and the wellbeing of state workers who keep our transportation system running.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 08/12/2025

"We don't need an expanding highway, we need ground level support!" Nearly 75 public comments submitted to the Oregon Transportation Commission already - have you sent yours? It's due tomorrow by noon, so head over to our website and drop a note: www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/option3

I want OTC to choose Option 3 because I am tired of hitting the same potholes year after year, seeing pedestrians attempt to cross the same intersections with no crosswalks, and trying to navigate roads within the city of Portland that are either unfinished or don't have sidewalks! We don't need an expanding highway, we need ground level support!

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 08/12/2025

“We already know that the Rose Quarter Expansion can't solve congestion and will worsen air quality and safety — now is the time to refocus on things that will help all Oregonians instead.”

The funding crisis at ODOT means we have to take a hard look at all spending. The Rose Quarter Expansion is wildly expensive and harmful to our community's land and air. We need to choose Option 3 and direct money away from the proposed expansion to focus on important and urgent needs like safety, transit, maintenance, and capping the freeway to reestablish land that was destroyed by the highway. We already know that the Rose Quarter Expansion can't solve congestion and will worsen air quality and safety — now is the time to refocus on things that will help all Oregonians instead.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 07/12/2025

So much good testimony sent in last night! Have you sent *your* email to the Oregon Transportation Commission? we need as many Oregonians as possible to email the OTC before Tuesday at noon. We made it easy for you: www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/option3

As a taxpayer, road user, and citizen directly impacted by the proposed Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion project, I urge ODOT to choose Option 3 and reallocate critical funding to other transportation priorities that will better serve people traveling through Portland. The budgetary crisis at the agency does not inspire confidence in taxpayers that large infrastructure projects can be responsibly funded and implemented, when basic maintenance, staffing, and smaller projects fall by the wayside. Proceeding with the Rose Quarter expansion would signal disregard for the hard working people of Oregon who fund the agency, disrespect for members of the community who have consistently voiced valid opposition to the project for the past eight years, and a lack of leadership in managing state resources to address other transportation needs.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 07/12/2025

Action Alert! Join No More Freeways in demanding that the Oregon Transportation Commission vote to redirect Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion funding to serve ODOT's myriad other needs. Testimony due by Tuesday - RT and help us spread the word! www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/option3

Action Alert! Tell the Oregon Transportation Commission to redirect Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion funding to cover ODOT's statewide needs!

Submit written testimony ASAP - by Tuesday Dec 9, 12pm

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 18/11/2025

Should be an interesting evening in the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee - this new entity, chaired by Senator Khanh Pham and Representative Mark Gamba - is bringing in ODOT's top brass to discuss status of the agency's megaprojects #orleg olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025I1/C...

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 17/11/2025

Thank you to Representatives @djgrayber.bsky.social, Thuy Tran, Mark Gamba and City Councilors @counciloravalos.bsky.social @councilordunphy.bsky.social, @councilortkl.bsky.social and @councilorkanal.bsky.social for attending and speaking. We must stop this deadly epidemic on our streets. #wdor

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 17/11/2025

Honored to support Oregon Families for Safe Streets this weekend in their World Day of Remembrance event. Every traffic fatality is a preventable, tragic policy failure, and every dollar spent on highway widening is a dollar not spent on safer roads, more sidewalks or better crosswalks.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 13/11/2025

Good morning from the Oregon Transportation Commission! The gang's all here once again in public testimony - @1000oregon.bsky.social's @wilsonxcassie.bsky.social, Verde's @indinmkng.bsky.social, @cityobservatory.bsky.social, @chrissmith.us + @aortarail.org's Doug Allen all speaking

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 29/10/2025

Packed house for the @opb.org / @wgbh.org live taping of the cross over Big Dig / Stop Requested podcast! NMF co-founder @chrissmith.us is on tonight’s panel

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 28/10/2025

NMF co-founder Joe Cortright @cityobservatory.bsky.social spoke to KGW about the latest updates on the Interstate Bridge Replacement - turns out the project is not doing so hot! Where’s the accountability from the Oregon legislature and the Governor? #orpol #orleg

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 12/09/2025

We’re excited to be in Connecticut for @yimbytown.bsky.social but a welcome note from AASHTO at the train station is quite an ominous start

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 24/08/2025

Nice of the Oregonian to cite NMF co-founder and @cityobservatory.bsky.social’s Joe Cortright in their Sunday editorial chastising ODOT’s lack of accountability for spending www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2025...

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 21/08/2025

Joe's remarks get to the heart of why we founded No More Freeways. Oregon faces many challenges, and continuing to give ODOT a blank check for reckless spending of billions of dollars on proposals for polluting freeway expansions that don't even solve congestion just makes everything worse.

OJP: A lot of state agencies could use some outside scrutiny. Why have you focused so much on ODOT?

Joe Cortright: A lot of things that we’re trying to achieve in Oregon—livability, economic development, dealing with climate—revolve around investments we make or don’t make in the transportation system. And I think we are spending money on the wrong things and we’re not spending money on the right things. ODOT in particular.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 21/08/2025

Hope you had a chance to check out @wweek.com's interview of @cityobservatory.bsky.social's Joe Cortright. Is anyone in the Governor's Office or the Oregon Legislature willing to hold ODOT accountable? #orleg #orpol www.wweek.com/news/2025/08...

So if we are spending about the same as other Western states, why is ODOT broke?

ODOT staff advances projects with shoestring funding, wildly optimistic lowball budget forecasts, and generous estimates of where the revenue will come from to pay for the project. And then when they experience cost overruns, they go back to the Transportation Commission and say, gosh, gee, sorry. And the commission gives ’em more money. Everybody at ODOT has seen that happen. The Abernethy Bridge is an example. In 2017, ODOT told the Legislature that a new bridge would cost about $250 million. The Legislature gave ODOT $50 million for the bridge to get it started. Then the bids came in at $500 million and the cost has since gone to $815 million. It’s a management axiom that you get the behavior that you reward.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 12/08/2025

Milwaukee tore out their urban freeways to make room for more housing Portland wants to spend billions doubling the width of I-5 through North Portland. #orleg #orpol

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 11/08/2025

unreal they keep showing this video despite the fact it pretty much gives away that this seven billion dollar, five mile freeway expansion is masquerading as simple bridge replacement.

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No More Freeways @nomorefreewayspdx.com · 31/07/2025

Thank you for your continued support. www.nomorefreewayspdx.com/donate

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