OREGON ECONOMIC

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OREGON ECONOMIC BRIDGE OPTIONS STUDY
The problem is not just the bridges, or the
freight system, It is about Oregons economy and
quality of life.
FHWA Freight Seminars Tara Weidner, PB
Consult May 19, 2004
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TACKLING OREGONS BRIDGE PROBLEM

• Cost to fix over 500 cracking bridges 4.7B
• Reasons for cracking design, age, loads
• Used ODOTs Statewide Land Use-Transport Model to
  evaluate alternatives
• State regional economy
• Communities livability
• Environment
• Investment strategy based on
• Bridge costs
• Economic costs
• Community regional Impacts

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OREGON ECONOMY2000 Production of Goods Services

• By Industry
• One third service-based
• 15 Agriculture/wood, low growth
• Hi-tech, concentrated high growth
• By Area of the State
• Half of state production in Portland Metro
• One quarter in larger Willamette Valley
• Portland end market/access to external markets

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ECONOMY
2000-2025 Growth in Production of Goods Services
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WITHOUT BRIDGE INVESTMENT

• Industry lightens trucks, makes more trips
• 80,000 lb restriction impacts 30 truck tons
• 64,000 lb restriction impacts 90 truck tons
• 8-fold increase in state economic impacts
• Economic impact 14B in 2025, 122B over 25 years
• Potential employment loss of up to 88,000 by 2025
• Safety maintenance costs from trucks on local
  roads
• Increased truck miles on unsuitable roads
• Local roads and city streets
• Restrictive roadway geometry
• Motor Carrier restrictions for oversize vehicles
• Environmentally sensitive areas

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REGIONAL FINDINGS

• Most impacts to those already paying high
  shipping costs
• Low shipping costs decentralizes activity --
  longer trips, more truck VMT
• Any investment improves state economy
• Portland is market/link to external state markets
  
• Investment location has regional consequences
• Large urban areas and borders (southeast,
  northwest) are advantaged by restricted
  transportation system
• Rogue Valley/Southwest have bulk of cracked
  bridges
• Fixing interstates alone benefits state economy
  but ignores connections to central/coastal Oregon
  economies

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OTHER KEY FINDINGS

• No crisis today but immediate action necessary to
  avoid a future crisis
• Improve routes parallel to the interstates to
  accommodate detoured heavy freight loads
• The order in which roads are opened to heavy
  loads affects regional economy and livability
• One deficient bridge impedes the entire corridor
  ODOT shifts from worst-first to corridor
  approach

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ODOT RECOMMENDATION

• 2.5B, initial 10-year strategy to 4.7B bridge
  problem
• Addresses detour routes before interstate
  construction
• Over 90 percent of the statewide economic benefit
  of repairing all bridges
• Often better livability than repairing all bridges

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STAGE 1
92M, 48 bridges
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STAGE 2
657M, 161 bridges
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STAGE 3
567M, 147 bridges
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STAGE 4
234M, 94 bridges
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STAGE 5
116M, 46 bridges
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LESSONS LEARNED

• Input-Output based model is a great tool for
  evaluating long-distance truck flows
• Model is economically driven, so transport cost
  increases have economic and land use implications
• Model quantifies economic tradeoffs and provides
  valuable perspective to the decision process
• Integrated analysis is a good process to inform
  high profile policy discussions
• Non-technical communication and good
  visualization is critical

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FUNDING PACKAGE

• 2003 legislature approved 10 year 2.5B program
  Oregon Transportation Investment Act (OTIA) III
  
• 1.3 billion for state bridges
• 300 million for local bridges
• 361 million for local maintenance preservation
  
• 500 million for state modernization
• The greatest investment in our transportation
  infrastructure since World War II"
• Governor Kulongoski

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PROGRAM STATUS

• Environmental Engineering baseline studies
• Prepared for all OTIA III bridges - targeted
  completion April 2004
• Environmental regulatory compliance strategies in
  place
• Stage 1A begun with existing funds
• Targeted for construction by 2005
• 37 bridges to accommodate heavy/oversize trucks
• Stage 2 construction begins in 2005, using Stage
  1A as detour

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PROGRAM STATUS

• Program Management (PM) firm hired to manage
  overall OTIA III program
• 91 OTIA III costs to be managed by PM Firm
• 9 (42 bridges) managed by ODOT Regions
• OTIA III will coordinate with other programmed
  projects
• On-going bridge evaluation and corridor
  staging/prioritization

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END
Economic Bridge Options Report (Dec 2002)
http//www.odot.state.or.us/comm/bridge_options/i
ndex.htm Oregon Modeling Improvement
Program http//www.odot.state.or.us/tddtpau/modeli
ng.html