Cornelius Pass Road's Future Potholed by Congestion
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The Portland area’s guide to green living It’s the buzz THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013 YOUR ONLINE LOCAL Remembering Alex JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES Portlanders taking the sting Gasoline prices would jump if Friends, family pay tribute Oregon adopts a carbon tax, but greenhouse gas emissions DAILY NEWS would fall. Beekeeper James Fitzgerald (at right and below) transfers a new hive of bees to the rooftop of the New Seasons Market in Happy Valley. The Portland Taxing grocery chain is educating customers about the vital role that bees play in the food chain. out of bee crisis carbon to tennis legend Alex Rovello gets new www.portlandtribune.com scrutiny Portlanders add bee crisis — See SUSTAINABLE LIFE Greenhouse gases — See SPORTS, B10 would fall as state fi nances stabilize to area’s honey-do list By STEVE LAW ou’ve heard of eco-roofs line from the grocery store’s roof. Pamplin Media Group and rooftop gardens, but “It’s a great environment here. PortlandYth l t t t i t t hit P t Th ’ l t f f d ” “They’ll go to all these neighborhoods Tribune THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED THURSDAY Port balks at Cornelius Pass Road’s future Hayden potholed by congestion price tag City planners outline land-use demands to annex, rezone island By STEVE LAW The Tribune The Port of Portland, turn- ing up the political heat be- fore its proposed West Hayden Island annexation goes before the City Council, says the environmental con- ditions suggested by the city Planning and Sustainability Commission render its pro- posed marine trade termi- nals fi nancially “undevelop- able.” The newest planning com- mission terms would cost $69.6 million to $84.2 million just to prepare a 300-acre site for an outside developer to build two trade termi- nals, says Bill Wyatt, port executive di- rector. That WYATT amounts to $10.38 to $11.84 per square foot, he says, when the going price for Columbia River port land is $5 to $7 a square foot. “This has got to make eco- nomic sense,” Wyatt says. At TRIBUNE PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT that price, “we wouldn’t pursue Heavy trucks from construction projects in Hillsboro and other parts of Washington County are busting up Multnomah County’s portion of Northwest Cornelius Pass Road. But annexation.” they are only part of the traffi c increase that is expected to grow as the economy recovers. The port is particularly con- cerned about a new proposal requiring it to shell out $18 ■ “If this is million to re- Increase in traffi c strains Multnomah County side of route going to be place lost fl oodplains on he debate on the need for a patch asphalt that is breaking down such an the island. new major roadway to serve because of increased heavy truck traf- economic Wyatt is western Washington County Cornelius Pass Road average daily traffic counts fi c. driver for banking on Tis not over. Multnomah County portion County spokesman Mike Pullen says convincing Recent emergency repairs on North- many of the additional trucks are the new Mayor west Cornelius Pass Road proves mo- 12 working on the new semiconductor community, Charlie Hales torists are creat- 11 9,575 fabrication plant on Intel’s Ronler and the rest of ing their own 10 Acres campus in Hillsboro. The work, STORY BY it ought to the Portland version of the 9 12,797 which is scheduled to end May 17, is City Council JIM REDDEN Westside Bypass, 8 5,965 estimated to cost around $40,000. pay for its 7 to override the the name given a But those trucks are only part of the impact.” 6 planning com- proposed free- 5 story. According to fi gures provided by — Bob Sallinger, mission’s ex- way project through the county that 4 2,661 Multnomah County, annual average Audubon pected condi- was killed by environmentalists and 3 1,151 daily traffi c counts on its section of the conservation tions, lured by mass transit advocates in the 1990s. 2 road are skyrocketing. They jumped director the 2,300 to Cornelius Pass Road runs north counts in thousands Traffic 1 from 5,945 vehicles a day in 1991 to 4,000 jobs the from the Southwest Tualatin Valley 10,378 vehicles a day in 2011, the most port estimates Highway in Hillsboro over the West 62 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 82 84* 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 95 97 98* 02 04 06 08 11 recent year for which such fi gures are will be created at the trade Hills to U.S. Route 30. Multnomah 1962 through 2011 available. Pullen says many, if not terminals and related spinoff County is closing its stretch of the Source: Multnomah County *Partial data PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP GRAPHIC: PETE VOGEL work. road on three consecutive Fridays to See ROAD / Page 2 The average West Coast longshoreman earns $130,000, Wyatt says, with a benefits package of $97,000. There’s also growing demand for river- bound trade in the Columbia River, he says, citing a vora- cious appetite in China for soy- Sunday Parkways roll into new era beans, as one example. Wyatt says he’ll be “pretty comfortable” with Hales’ ulti- from the general fund, another mate decision on the project Six-year-old PDX $50,000 from the Portland Bu- because the mayor “really tradition now has reau of Transportation’s out- gets” the need to attract jobs. reach funds for alternative State land-use laws also re- ongoing city funds transportation). quire the city to maintain a The rest of Sunday Parkways 20-year supply of developable By JENNIFER ANDERSON is covered by sponsorships, led land to meet future needs, and The Tribune by Kaiser Permanente, as well a recent analysis found the city as vendor fees and individual needs 635 more acres of indus- Most Portlanders are famil- donations. trial lands. iar with Sunday Parkways, So Sunday Parkways is here Annexing West Hayden Is- the six-year-old city tradition to stay. land could help the city fi ll half of shutting down auto traffi c What does that mean for the of that shortfall, and closing in a neighborhood so resi- city? that gap may be necessary to dents can play in the streets For Linda Ginenthal, the Port- win state approval of the city’s on foot, by bike and other ac- land Bureau of Transportation revised comprehensive land tive means. program manager who helped use plan, Wyatt notes. This year, for the fi rst time create Sunday Parkways, it’s a “This City Council, I suspect, since the program’s inception in dream come true. will be more sensitive to that 2008, Sunday Parkways has “Portland has Forest Park, a industrial land gap,” Wyatt been written into the city’s bud- huge amount of land devoted to says. get as an ongoing event, rather parks,” she says. “But we’ve got than being supported with con- this enormous amount of real Paying for fl ooded land tinuing “one-time” money. estate here with our roads that Former Mayor Sam Adams The series of five Sunday we open up to play once a month mounted a failed, frenetic ef- Parkways this year will cost a on a Sunday. It’s a linear park. TRIBUNE PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT fort to get West Hayden Island total of $475,000. The city foots That’s what we’re creating, a Seven-year-old Thalen Abadia and his dad, Teos, were among 12,000 residents who participated in the the bill for just under a third of See HAYDEN / Page 4 city’s Sunday Parkways festivities on Mother’s Day. that, $150,000 ($100,000 coming See PARKWAYS / Page 5 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune Sheriff agrees to ■ Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton told a Corbett town hall that he will not enforce a county deliver balanced news that refl ects the disagree on county gun ordinance when it takes effect in May. Search: Staton. stories of our communities. Thank you for reading our newspapers.” Online gun ordinance Read it fi rst at portlandtribune.com — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, May 16, 2013 Road: As traffi c increases, so do safety worries ■ From page 1 he says. The cost of asphalt sealing oil has gone from $182 a ton in 2001 to $240 a ton in most, of the vehicles are con- 2006 to $624 a ton in 2012. The tinuing into Washington Coun- cost of maintaining a paved ty, drawn by its booming econ- road is about $30,000 per mile a omy. year. The cost of maintaining a Washington County’s por- gravel road is about $5,000 per tion is not breaking down, how- mile a year. ever, because it has been re- “Oregon county roads are a peatedly improved. More than vital link in the state’s trans- $55 million has been spent on it portation system and a big since the 1980s, creating a piece of the economic infra- modern four-lane thorough- structure,” McArthur told law- fare through much of Hills- makers. “Today’s hearing shows boro. Drivers are using Mult- the need for a collaborative nomah County’s portion to work group on road fi nance.” complete their vision of the Westside Bypass. Funding falls short And traffi c counts could in- County road and public safe- crease substantially as the ty offi cials had been meeting economy continues to improve.