Investing in infrastructure
By John Mohlis of Oregon City, Oregon. John is a bricklayer who serves as the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council.
This summer, the nation celebrated fifty years since the Interstate Highway System opened new markets and possibilities for America 's farmers, salespeople and dreamers.
Fifty years from now, Oregon will benefit from Govenor Ted Kulongoski's equally smart investments in bringing our state's transportation system into the 21st Century.
As an advocate for sound public policy, I'm impressed by the Governor's common sense leadership in breaking longstanding gridlock in Salem. It wasn't easy to garner bipartisan support for two much-needed transportation bills.
And as a bricklayer who worked with tools on job sites for many years before taking on the job of representing thousands of Oregon working families in the construction trades, I'm equally proud of the men and women who will work hard in the coming decade to turn the Governor's legislative victory into reality.
The two transportation packages -- $2.5 billion in 2003 to upgrade our roads and bridges, and another $100 million in 2005 to modernize our ports, railways and aviation -- will encourage growth, reduce the cost of congestion and inefficiency, and provide a gateway to the global economy.
And they make good sense: Consider an ODOT report from three years ago. It showed that hundreds of our middle-aged concrete bridges have been weakened to the point that truckers with heavy loads are forced to waste time and gas finding alternate routes. The aging bridges could cost Oregon 88,000 jobs and $123 billion in lost productivity over the next 20 years. In that light, 2003's $2.5 billion upgrade passed to improve our roads and bridges is a bargain.
Gov. Kulongoski's subsequent ConnectOregon package last year dedicated another $100 million without raising taxes. It uses lottery-backed bonds to improve the connection between highways and other transportation types, like railroads, airports, port facilities and public transit. The 43 recently-approved projects include more than $4 million to the Port of Coos Bay for marine and rail improvements, an expansion of the Redmond airport's terminal, and a $6.8 million improvement to the Ramsey Rail Yard in Portland.
More than ten thousand of Oregon 's construction workers, operating engineers, cement masons and other skilled workers will be tapped to build this infrastructure. These workers will receive fair pay and health and retirement benefits for their work, thanks to Oregon 's Prevailing Wage law. That means that they will not only have enough money to feed and clothe their families, but they will have cash in their pockets to shop on Main Streets across Oregon. This is good news for small business owners and employees from Astoria to Ashland, and Portland to Pendleton.
Along with the Governor's transportation commitments, several companies that he recruited to Oregon – including Genentech, Google and Harry and David’s, as well as a $500 million commitment to build and improve Oregon’s higher education buildings – are putting Oregon to work. Three years ago, unemployment in the building crafts varied from 15-35%. Now, everyone’s at full employment and starting new apprentices every month.
The Governor has announced that if re-elected, he will work to pass ConnectOregon II: another $100 million of lottery funds toward rail, aviation, transit and marine projects. He is also proposing another investment in our higher ed buildings. To be sure, in an age when American workers are losing their jobs to bad trade deals, Oregon's investment in our infrastructure is a wise one that will pay off both in the long run for our improved economy and education -- and in the week-to-week sustenance of Oregon's hardworking families.
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Sept. 25, 2006
Posted in guest column. |
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connect with blueoregon
Sep 25, '06
I'm happy to see these investments. They are some of the only good wage jobs still growing out there anymore.
Sep 25, '06
Same song I heard from Bumbling Bud when Portland Ponied up for Swan song dry dock , biggest loser west of the Pecos. It went to Korea... for cheap.Than we should talk about the Convention Center, another loser...cept for the high paid brick-layers and such. And now A convention Center Hotel? Phil Stanford hits the nail on the head [ pun intended] in Friday's Trib.
Aside sorry for bold mistake. I did preview looking for mistakes...I don't go back to read what I have written..
Sep 25, '06
Did Ted pay for this Ad?
Sep 25, '06
Jeremy--You insult Kari by asking whether the Governor paid for this post. Instead of insults, try tipping your hat to the Governor who, in a deep recession, worked with the legislature to fund these needed transportation projects and the good jobs that go with them.
Sep 25, '06
The money for Ramsey Rail Yard is not for improvements to an existing rail yard... Ramsey will be a totally new rail yard providing much needed additional capacity to the rail system in the Rivergate Industrial District. The new rail yard will benefit dozens of Portland businesses (and thousands of employees at those businesses) that depend on rail to move their freight by adding 6 addtional tracks for storing, staging, and building trains.
Sep 25, '06
Sellwood Bridge replacement?
It ranks as the worst bridge in Oregon. Please tell me it's on the list.
Sep 25, '06
"Sellwood bridge, It ranks as the worst bridge in Oregon. Please tell me it's on the list."
No it's not, because the replacement would primarily help car & truck traffic if it is built as it should be.
We can't have that you know.
So it's delay delay delay.
11:25 p.m.
Sep 25, '06
Well said, John. The Governor rarely gets the credit he deserves for successfully expanding our infrastructure investments during these four years.
Now we need to take further steps. We need to pass an OTIA 4 for our roads and bridges. We also need to invest in a Connect Oregon 2 for our rail, marine, and air transportation.
Community colleges across Oregon also need capital construction investments to adequately serve their students and prepare our future workforce. Reps. Vicki Berger, Larry Galizio, Bob Jenson, and I introduced legislation last year to provide state matching funds for capital construction projects at each of Oregon's 17 community colleges. The colleges had carefully selected and prioritized one project on each campus. It had been 30 years since our state had invested in such projects.
Despite broad, bipartisan support, House Republican party bosses shredded the project list and killed our bill. We must do better next year.
Our state must also step up and help local school districts fund K-12 capital construction projects, especially in high-growth districts. Oregon has never funded K-12 capital construction, but it's time to do so. Especially since we direct population growth to certain parts of our state, we must step up and help local districts to build the facilities they need to meet the educational needs of these students.
Sen. Ben Westlund and I introduced legislation last session to do so, which won support from all nine members of the House Revenue Committee (5 R's and 4 D's). But House Republican party bosses stepped in and killed this K-12 capital construction legislation -- leaving local school districts to fend for themselves and leaving students jammed in over-crowded classes and portable buildings. We must do better next year.
All these projects provide great short-term family wage job benefits -- and long-term educational and workforce benefits. The Governor and Senate leadership stand ready to invest -- we simply need a change in House leadership to get the job done.
Sep 26, '06
It's going to cost a hell of a lot more money than $2.5 billion. The Columbia River bridge alone - if built - could cost $1.5 billion. Decent rail service from Eugene to Portland could cost another couple of billion. Washington state alone is dumping between $1-2 billion on its mainline railroad tracks from Portland to the Canadian border, while we have done what, piss in a bucket?
Our rail system here in Oregon - as the rest of the US - is decades out of date as compared to the rest of the developed world (Japan, Europe, China, Taiwan, etc). Perhaps its time to grow up?
Of course, that being said, the best investment we can do is on education. How about Portland State? Oregon's largest college, growing rapidly, has the lowest % of on-campus housing in the state for any state school, and desperately needs new buildings. It is so bad, in fact, that science labs are scheduled on a 24-hour clock - some students need to go in at 3am on Sunday to use them because there simply aren't enough! Not only that, but most of the buildings are between 20-50 years old! They had to get FEMA grants just to do a seismic upgrade on Ondine, because the state wouldn't get them the funds to potentially save students from dying in an earthquake (after sewage flooded the entire building)!
If this isn't a crisis, I don't know what is!
Sep 26, '06
Of course infrastructure investment has suffered in a climate where we can't fund basic services. Of course, poor infrastructure decreases economic activity, which decreases government revenue, which...well, you get the picture.
Whe we do develop the will to invest in infrastructure, I hope we build infrastructure for the future not the past. Energy is going to get increasingly expensive. We need infrastructure for an energy conserving society. Superhighways and airports don't fit the bill. Efficient schools, rail, and infrastructure for localized economy do.
Sep 26, '06
Superhighways are the backbone of our economy, and will remain so into the next century and beyond. Unless you are prepared to build a railspur to every grocery store, manufacturing plant, shopping mall, and business park, trucks will continue to be a vital link in our transporation network.
The fuel consumed by the trucks of the future will likely evolve (ultra-low sulfur diesel, biofuels, natural gas, and hydrogen) and their energy efficiency will continue to improve.
Without trucking, America stops.
Sep 26, '06
So is Ted going to clamp down on illegal aliens who take away sheetrocking, painting and roofing jobs from union workers? This might help the union guys' wages and job opps just a little.
Sep 26, '06
"So is Ted going to clamp down on illegal aliens"
that's a hoot. Fat chance of that. Just the opposite in fact.
Just as there won't be any road expansions to accomodate growth coming from the TK administration.
I'll wager that the status quo Governor K lead ODOT will help kill the Dundee-Newberg bypass, kill the I=5/99 connector, delay forever a 217 expansion, prevent a new Columbia Crossing for vehicles, thwart any plans to build a new four lane Sellwood bridge, expand the region's chaos in SoWa etc, and deliver a Sunrise corridoor plan that chokes traffic.
Sep 28, '06
Mister Tee:
Peak Oil = fossil fuel too expensive for truck freight carrying.
Peak Oil = energy use in highway construction too expensive for taxpayers
Biofuels = higher priced because of fossil fuel higher priced
Hydrogen = a fuel, but not an energy source. The energy to produce H2 from H2O must come from somewhere.
America better learn how to do without massive trucking, or we're sunk.