...and I want to travel from Portland to Milwaukee for wha?

@1: Hmm, I wonder if a pro-"free market"/libertarian think tank will selectively use numbers to present a one-sided condemnation of a rail project. [Reads linked article] Yeah, that was predictable. Why can't these people be at least as loud when it's freeways and oil companies being subsidized?
Putting aside job creation and lower longterm operating costs... Those who can't think beyond transportation reliant upon inexpensive liquid fuels probably are not paying attention to issues of energy security and the future outlook for those fuels and their costs.

@3: BECAUSE THEY ARE FUNDED BY KOCH MONEY AND THE LIKES OF LOREN PARKS. THEY ARE THE SAME PEOPLE THAT WERE UP IN ARMS ABOUT TRIMET REMOVING TREES ALONG THE ROUTE WITHOUT ACKNOWLEDGING TRIMET WAS REMOVING 800 AND PLANTING 1400.

THEY ARE WELL-FUNDED WATER-CARRIERS FOR ASSHOLES WHO DON'T CARE A WHIT ABOUT ANYTHING BUT MAKING THEMSELVES RICHER.

@2: THEY MIGHT GET SEMI-PRO BASEBALL.

@ALEX: YOUR HEADLINE IS AN AWKWARDLY CONFUSING FRAGMENT. YOU MIGHT CHANGE THE END TO BE "...TO THE MILWAUKIE LIGHT RAIL PROJECT."

Portland gets what it deserves

@D: Didn't you say you were leaving?

I think it's funny when people who reflexively support light rail criticize opponents for being reflexive.

Here's something to think about: if the feds are paying $742 million of a $1.5 billion project, then our broke-ass state is paying ______.

"Those who can't think beyond transportation reliant upon inexpensive liquid fuels probably are not paying attention to issues of energy security and the future outlook for those fuels and their costs. "

What exactly do you think is going to happen to the price of electricity when there's no more "inexpensive liquid fuels" around? Here's a hint, it's going to go up exponentially.

Yes, but rising costs of electricity will spur the development of new generating capacity, and electricity-based transportation infrastructure will be far, far more adaptable to all these changes than liquid-fuel-based vehicles will be, which are relatively inefficient in the first place.

Why are you reporting this as if it was news? This money was promised years ago. They just made it official. It's certainly not going to have any political influence on the controversy surrounding the line, because this is exactly what was in the funding plan from the beginning. It's not new money that just fell from the sky. If you're going to be a reporter, try to inform yourself about the things you write about, please.