A regional advisory committee signed off Wednesday on a series of changes to the Portland region's long-term transportation plan, moving the proposed amendments closer to a vote by the Metro Council.
The changes, including some road widening projects that got a chilly reception from the Metro Council, were approved unanimously without much substantive discussion at Wednesday's meeting of the Metro Policy Advisory Committee.
Meanwhile, a public comment report on the projects showed little opposition to the proposals that received the most attention from the Metro Council – road widening projects in Hillsboro and freeway widenings on interstates 5 and 205 in Tualatin and East Portland, respectively.
Proposed road widening projects received a combined 13 comments, with three of those in opposition to the efforts to widen Cornelius Pass Road and Brookwood Parkway to three lanes in each direction.
"A significant number of workers travel on these two roadways to commute to and from their jobs, and businesses rely on these two roadways for the efficient movement of products and goods," wrote Westside Economic Alliance director Pam Treece. "As existing businesses continue to grow and expand and new businesses are attracted to the area, it is critical that these two roadways and the surrounding network provide the necessary mobility for workers and freight movement."
Hillsboro and Washington County have argued the road widenings are needed to support job growth in the north Hillsboro industrial area, particularly at the rapidly-expanding Intel chip factories south of U.S. 26.
But at a meeting earlier this month, Metro councilors expressed doubts about the road widening projects.
Those concerns were echoed by one Hillsboro resident, who wrote in to say that he or she worried about wider roads increasing speeds in those north Hillsboro areas.
"Widening roads will encourage drivers to go even faster," wrote the commenter in an online form that didn't ask for names but did ask for ZIP codes. "More lanes = more distraction = more danger. Also this increased traffic will negatively impact nearby farmland."
One Washington County resident also chimed in on a proposed freeway widening in East Portland. There, the Oregon Department of Transportation is calling for widening Interstate 205 in between Interstate 84 and Division Street.
"I'd rather see Allen and 217 fixed," wrote one Cedar Hills area resident.
A Northeast Portland resident also opposed the widening, because he or she said the $7 million ODOT has budgeted for the southbound I-205 widening should instead be spent on bike projects.
"You could complete miles and miles of bike boulevards instead, so I wouldn't encounter dozens of stop signs on my 4-mile, 1-way bike commute in NE Portland," the commenter wrote.
Three people wrote in opposition to a proposed project to reconfigure Portland's North Williams Avenue, one Gateway-area resident saying the money should instead pay for upgrades to Powell Boulevard in outer East Portland, one inner Southeast resident saying the proposed left-side bike lane would create unsafe conditions for cyclists, and a Cedar Hills-area resident saying the project has become a boondoggle. A West Hills resident wrote in favor of the project, saying it made sense.
In total, Metro received 17 online responses to the proposed changes, which would impact hundreds of thousands of the region's drivers, cyclists and transit users daily.
The full slate of proposed changes to the Regional Transportation Plan is scheduled to be considered by the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation and Metro Council in May.