There was jubilation when, earlier this year, Oregon legislators decided to make active transportation projects eligible for millions of grant dollars through Connect Oregon.
So it wasn’t too surprising when the Oregon Department of Transportation announced recently bicycle and pedestrian-oriented efforts comprised the largest number of applications for the next round of disbursements —35 out of 108.
Now, we have an idea what that list looks like. ODOT posted it online [pdf] earlier today.
Eleven come from Multnomah County, and two from the City of Portland. As Willamette Week reported yesterday, the Portland Bureau of Transportation has requested $2 million to establish bike share on Swan Island and elsewhere in the city. The bureau will need to secure the sponsorship money to get a system up and running first. Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick told the Mercury last week the system has “significant commitments,” but none have been announced.
The city’s not just fishing for bike money, though. Transportation officials are also angling for $1.6 million to close a funding hole in the Portland Streetcar system. The money, according to the application [pdf], will go to”close a funding gap for the procurement of one streetcar vehicle, and the installation of automatic train stop (ATS) safety equipment on each vehicle in the City’s streetcar fleet.”
Funding has been an ongoing issue for the streetcar. Back in March, PBOT said it was expecting roughly a $1 million yearly deficit for funding from July 2014 to at least June 2018.
“It looks like it’s a problem on the horizon,” Commissioner Nick Fish said at the time. “We have a year to think that through and see how we can avoid that.”
The Port of Portland is asking the most of any entity in Multnomah County — roughly $8 million dollars for three projects. Metro’s also getting in on the action, asking for $2.2 million for a project in St. John’s.
ODOT says a decision on grant applications will come next summer, and a lot of people are going to walk away empty handed. Connect Oregon has only $40 million to work with this year—its lowest pool ever—and more than $129 million has been requested.
I read the application for the bike share grant. Question 14 is answered that funds are “secured” and “available now” for the initial start up costs.
This seems contrary to Dirk’s post on 12/9, where Mr. Novik states “I think we’re going to have serious commitments from people who do have the money.” Secured and available now and I think are not the same.
Have those commitments materialized and been memorialized over the last 4 days? If not, will the PBOT be amending the grant application, or sticking with the falsehood? Or, is PBOT going to float money for the start up costs and then hope to recoup them in the future from “contract savings” or maybe a magical pot of different colored money (taupe seems appropriate).
Hey, nice reporting, Dirk. But I don’t think it’s accurate to say that PBOT asked to spend $2 million to expand bikeshare to Swan Island. They asked to spend $2.5 million to expand it to the commercial districts on Alberta, Belmont, Hawthorne, Division and 27th, plus a few other locations including one kiosk on Swan Island.
http://www.wweek.com/portland/file-658-.pd…
Thanks, Michael. You’re right that it’s not just for Swan Island (though they seem to put a big emphasis on it in the application). I’ll modify that. As far as the $2.5 million figure, it’s true they’re asking to spend that but, as I said, they’ve actually only requested $2 million in Connect Oregon money. If it’s approved, PBOT would have to pony up $500,000 of its own to get the grant. That money would hopefully come from bike share sponsorship revenue.