Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar

Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon          

When anti-mobility people claim that Portland removed a freeway to build a park - they usually forget to mention that Portland had just built new, better freeways!

 

Here is the true story from the Portland Mercury:

 

When the state began buying up land next to Harbor Drive to widen the waterfront freeway in 1968, a citizen alliance against the expansion found open ears at city hall and the governor's office. Old-school traffic engineers said closing the freeway would be a disaster, but Governor Tom McCall, Mayor Neil Goldschmidt, and County Commissioner Don Clark heard the citizens' opinion that most car traffic could be rerouted to the city's newly built freeways, like the I-5. Throughout the summer of '69, Portlanders organized "consciousness-raising picnics" to rally people against Harbor Drive. Three years later, a governor's task force declared that the low-traffic, 30-year-old road should be ripped out and replaced with a park.  (Bold added, by Sarah Mirk, Portland Mercury, September 24, 2009)

 

 

September 24, 2009

Portland Did Not Just Remove a Freeway To Build A Park