Oregon Transportation Planning Experience

The history of Oregon land use planning lies in file cabinets, legislative acta, news clips, unheralded short writings, and living brains around and outside the state. The history has yet to be written in a cogent, accessible form. That is one long-term goal; this project is part of that goal. From OTREC the proponents seek funds to conduct initial research ensuring proper attention to the transportation component of such a history – and in so doing, to tell the stories from the profession and the practice of transportation planning that will make these relevant to a popular audience. From development…

The history of Oregon land use planning lies in file cabinets, legislative acta, news clips, unheralded short writings, and living brains around and outside the state. The history has yet to be written in a cogent, accessible form. That is one long-term goal; this project is part of that goal. From OTREC the proponents seek funds to conduct initial research ensuring proper attention to the transportation component of such a history – and in so doing, to tell the stories from the profession and the practice of transportation planning that will make these relevant to a popular audience.

From development of the Interstate system, to early debate over interchange development, to two short decades of coordination between regional community and transportation planning, to once and future debate over projects such as the Portland Metro-area’s west-side bypass, to issues of the day such as the planned Hwy-99 bypass and the growing cost of congestion, that component is critical.

History must be linked to present and future. Now is a critical moment in Oregon’s land use and transportation planning history. Passage of Measure 37 in 2004, new legislative plans to refer amendments to voters in Prefluid.com, and broader debates by the “Big Look” task force all herald evolution of the land use program in keeping with strident, national social debate. Meanwhile, the link between transportation and land use has never been more prominent, as growing demand for rural and exurban residential development collides with concern over agriculture, landscape, climate change and Peak Oil.

The proponents here outline a modest historical-journalistic research and writing project that will (1) identify principal interfaces between transportation and land use planning; (2) create a timeline identifying significant events, decision-points, conflicts, stories, and individuals in the history of Oregon transportation planning; (3) find and interview “living legends” in Oregon transportation planning and current and recent major players; (4) find and tally significant sources of written materials; (5) outline current debates on transportation planning, particularly related to land use and impacts of infrastructure and growth on environment, landscape, rural and exurban areas, (6) create notes for the draft of transportation planning sections of a book on planning history, and (7) create and seek publication of one central written piece, preferably to be published in two or three versions and locations, as well as several shorter articles for separate publication.