The 18,000 people who ride TriMet buses between Portland and Gresham may see their commute become faster, easier and safer with the addition of a bus rapid transit line.

Metro’s Powell-Division Transit and Development Project steering committee wants the public to help shape the design of the new line, Metro spokesman Craig Beebe said, for one of the busiest bus routes in the region.

The regional governing agency is accepting public comments through March 4, Beebe said. Information on proposed routes will be available at an open house starting at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 28 at the Fubonn Shopping Center, in Portland at 2850 S.E. 82nd Ave.

“The thing about bus rapid transit is that there’s really a whole suite of options,” Beebe said. “This is a whole new form of public transportation for the area. It’s not just going to make the buses faster.”

Metro is hoping, with the open house and online public comment option, to collect citizens’ input on project decisions such as where the bus line will cross the Willamette River, where it will transition from Powell Boulevard to Division Street in Southeast Portland, how it will connect to downtown Gresham and whether it will serve Mount Hood Community College.

“The question is: Can we get to the Gresham Transit Center without backtracking and continue on an appropriate route to Mount Hood Community College,” Metro councilor and project steering committee co-chairman Bob Stacey said. “This is a real opportunity to better connect people on an east-west route between Portland and Gresham.”

The steering committee in September 2014 decided to commit to an expansion of bus service instead of light rail. Once that decision was made, the committee started looking at bus rapid transit systems in other cities, including Eugene’s Lane Transit District EmX line, to explore how Portland’s line might look.

“There is a possibility that in some areas there will be dedicated lanes for rapid transit like in Eugene,” Beebe said. “Other areas might have signals that allow the buses to jump ahead of other traffic at stoplights.”

On March 16, the steering committee will consider public input and other factors in making alignment decisions that will move the project forward, Beebe said.

“I don’t think they’ll make any final decisions, but they’ll be taking some options off the table,” he said. “They’ll likely make a Willamette River bridge decision and remove some of the potential transition routes between Powell and Division and in Gresham from further discussion.”

Project planners hope to have the rapid transit line ready for riders by 2020, which means the steering committee needs to move forward quickly.

“They want to finalize a lot of decisions by the end of this year,” Beebe said. “So we’re on a pretty fast timeline as far as projects of this size go.”

The size of the project has yet to be determined, though Metro has capped the budget at $250 million, Beebe said.

“The federal funding program the committee is trying to get funding for – called Small Starts – caps the project cost at $250 million,” he said. “So they’re starting there, but after some of the decisions are made on March 16 they’ll be able to fine-tune the (projected) cost.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Starts Program provides grants to cover capital costs associated with new systems, extensions and improvements to bus corridors. The program has $200 million available annually and entertains grant requests for projects costing between $75 million and $250 million, according to the Federal Transit Administration site.

“What we’ve heard is that, with the level of work we’ve achieved so far, we’ve probably done enough to enter ourselves into consideration for the federal grant program,” Stacey said. “Until we get into the design process, we won’t know how much the project will cost, but we’re not going to go over that $250 million.”

Over the next several months the steering committee will determine where and how they can increase rider safety while decreasing commute time and traffic congestion, Stacey said.

“This process is raising a pretty exciting set of questions,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out how much of the benefits of light rail we can get with the bus rapid transit method. It’s something that’s not been done before.”

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Aspects of the soon-to-be mothballed Columbia River Crossing project could still have life if an amended four-year Regional Transportation Plan is adopted by Metro.

Metro Councilor Bob Stacey is the agency take a phased, incremental approach to the project, taking on issues such as congestion, seismic safety and high capacity transit. He released the eight-step amendment to the Regional Transportation plan last week.

The Regional Transportation Plan for 2014-2018 is a federally required process that ensures long-range transportation plans that have a realistic chance of being funded. The plan also is designed to meet state requirements that ensure transportation goals are in alignment with land use plans, according to Metro.

“I was never in support of (the) CRC design, but I am firmly committed to the object of increasing freight across the Columbia,” Stacey said. “It’s almost a universal view. Something has to be done.”

Details of the amendment include adding a lift to the middle of a railroad bridge one mile west of the Interstate Bridge.

The railroad bridge’s lift is currently closer to the bank of the river. That forces some barges to perform essentially an “S” turn to navigate under the Interstate Bridge’s highest span in the middle of the river.

When the river is running high, however, barges need a straight shot between the two bridges, forcing the Interstate Bridge to lift. Building a lift span under the middle of the railroad bridge would give barges a straight shot under the highest span of the Interstate Bridge – and reduce the number of lifts on the Interstate Bridge by an estimated 95 percent.

Fixing the railroad bridge has been a central part of a plan called the “Common Sense Alternative II,” proposed by local architects George Crandall and Jim Howell, Stacey said.

“We shouldn’t ignore fact that circumstances have changed for the CRC,” he said. “We should still be thinking about the consensus parts. The rest is detailed and would have to be worked out in a collaborative process between state and local governments, and the feds.”

Stacey also added another aspect of the Common Sense Alternative II plan – extending light rail from the Expo Center to Hayden Island, which he said could be done without interstate approval.

Additionally, he proposed focusing on seismic issues of bridges that cross the Columbia River, and would like to identify the most cost-effective way to provide emergency and recovery transport over the river in the aftermath of a major earthquake.

“There is a great concern about bridge stability following an earthquake,” he said. “We don’t know when that Big One would occur. What are the lifelines? Most of the bridges on the west side of the Cascades are vulnerable.”

The Metro Council will look at the RTP – and Stacey’s recommended amendment — in a work session Tuesday. The Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation, which serves in an advisory committee to Metro, will make recommendations to the regional government agency by May, Stacey said.

The Council is scheduled to make a final decision on the RTP in June. The final four-year plan would be submitted to the federal government by July, Stacey said.

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Bob Stacey, who in November lost a close election for Metro president, decided recently to withdraw his name from the race for the open Metro councilor position.

In a on Monday, Stacey, the former executive director of land-use advocacy group 1000 Friends of Oregon, stated that he pulled out of the appointment process because of a phone conversation he had with another candidate, ex-Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts. Her comments led him to believe the present council would appoint only Roberts, and none of the other seven candidates.

“It’s clear that there’s no reason for me to continue to seek the appointment,” Stacey said in the letter. “I certainly don’t want to waste the time and effort of the many friends who planned to appear and testify on my behalf at this week’s hearing before the Metro Council.”

Supporters and opponents of candidates will be able to voice their opinions at a public hearing, scheduled for 5 p.m. tonight at the David Douglas School District headquarters in East Portland.

Councilors usually are elected by voters in their districts; however, because Robert Liberty vacated his seat, only a majority vote by Metro Council is needed to select a replacement. Liberty, who recently accepted a position at the University of Oregon, represented District 6, which covers mostly central and southern Multnomah County.

Councilors could choose to vote after tonight’s hearing, but they also left a day open next week so that a few candidates could be brought back before the council.

Stacey was one of the eight applicants for the position and was considered an early favorite because of his narrow loss to Metro President Tom Hughes. But Stacey, who received an overwhelming number of votes in District 6 in November, didn’t believe he could beat Roberts.

Before the deadline to apply, Roberts called Stacey and let him know that she was going to apply. Roberts told him that on deadline day, she received several phone calls from Metro councilors urging her to run because none of the other applicants, including Stacey, would get majority support from the council.

“I had not intended to apply for this position until I started receiving phone calls from councilors,” Roberts said. “It wasn’t even on my radar, but I promised to submit my name because they needed me to open up the field and clear the logjam.”

Stacey said he is disappointed that Metro’s thorough public process is being circumvented.

“I don’t think there is anything illegal about this or unethical about it. It’s just frustrating because it seems like they didn’t like the applicant pool, so they just decided to augment it,” Stacey said.

Roberts, who was governor from 1991 to 1995, has served on numerous boards. She said it’s fairly common for boards as small as Metro Council to know how it is going to vote in advance.

“I can’t speak to the inside workings of this council, but in these sorts of things I feel like it’s fairly commonplace to know how you are going to vote in advance,” she said.

Another one of the front-runners for the position, consultant Bob Shiprack, said he would stay in the race despite the news.

“I wouldn’t have applied if I didn’t think I had a shot and if I didn’t think I could do this,” said Shiprack, former executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council. “I think I can be a valuable voice in treading through all these projects Metro is involved in and getting them done.”

While Shiprack isn’t concerned by the phone calls from the councilors to Roberts, he is concerned that she has stated publically that if she were appointed, she won’t run for the position when it comes up for election in May 2012.

“Not a single person that applied for this position, including myself, knows what the day-to-day operations of it are like,” he said. “It takes time to develop this and I don’t think it can be done entirely with the remainder of the term.

“Just when the councilor learns everyone’s name and where the bathrooms are, they are willing to walk away? I’m offended that the people of District 6 are being treated like this.”

Stacey, meanwhile, plans to run for the position in 2012.

“… I’m shifting my efforts from the members of the Council to the ultimate decision makers: the voters of District 6,” Stacey said in the letter. “I received strong support from voters in this part of Metro in the 2010 election, and I’m eager to ask for their votes again.”

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Next month, voters across the country will decide who will guide their states and communities into the future. But in Oregon, one office on this year’s ballot is unique to the state. Voters will be able to choose their next Metro Council president.

The position oversees Metro – a governmental body that makes land use and transportation decisions for greater Portland. Oregon is the only state in the country with an elected regional governing body. With Oregon facing its largest deficit ever, the new Metro Council president will play an important role in the Portland area’s economic future.

This year’s candidates, Tom Hughes and Bob Stacey, are well respected and possess vastly different resumes.

• Read Bob Stacy’s Q&A with 91��Ƶ reporter Nathalie Weinstein.

•Read Tom Hughes’ Q&A with 91��Ƶ reporter Nick Bjork.

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Bob Stacey gets a kick out of public policy.

After graduating from law school in the 1970s, Stacey was hired by 1000 Friends of Oregon as a staff attorney. He helped develop and tweak state policies that determine how cities should grow.

In 1987 he was chief of staff for Earl Blumenauer, then a commissioner with the city of Portland. In 2001, Stacey again served as chief of staff for Blumenauer, this time in Congress.

Stacey also helmed Portland’s planning bureau from 1989 to 1993 and was TriMet‘s executive director for policy and planning from 1997 to 2000.

Stacey’s career came full circle in 2002, when he returned to 1000 Friends of Oregon to become its executive director.

91��Ƶ: With the current economic situation, what are some good alternatives for financing capital projects?

Bob Stacey: The big problem we face as a region is our infrastructure needs. The cities, counties, sewer districts and other entities have come up with a now to 2035 estimate of the cost of maintaining our current infrastructure. And we’re identifying a shortfall between $17 billion and $30 billion for maintaining what we have.

There will be a big challenge identifying an investment strategy for the region. Metro has begun that dialogue, but it hasn’t attracted public attention. The new president will need to bring that discussion to the public and identify the mix of strategies to raise money locally and address whether we can reduce the size of that number by using existing urban land more efficiently. It is a question that will be answered by talking to the public.

91��Ƶ: What is Metro’s goal in regional politics?

Stacey: Metro’s charter adopted by the people says the council’s primary role, aside from solid waste and recycling, open space and parks, and management of  the zoo and convention center, is ensuring the environment is protected and quality of life is improved as this region grows. We will double our population by 2050. Our goal is to work with cities and counties to be sure as we grow we are building better communities. That’s the focus the Metro Council should have.

91��Ƶ: With the present economic situation, how useful is long-range planning, such as the urban and rural reserves process Metro is currently undertaking?

Stacey: When you look at the economic landscape, you see 27 percent vacancies in the Sunset Corridor and 30 percent vacancies in the I-5 corridor. You look at millions of square feet of empty buildings and the more than 10,000 acres of vacant employment land. Nobody is putting up thousands of houses. We’re trying to build up our job base again with unused capacity.

But state law requires us to look at the next 20 years of growth. Our analysis indicates the downturn has kept our region’s population in the range of growth that will result in one million people still moving here over the next 20 years. Every five years, Metro is required to expand the boundary unless they can ensure the existing supply will last for the next 20 years. It’s always better to plan ahead then be caught flat-footed down the line.

91��Ƶ: How should one government entity meet the needs of such geographically and ideologically different communities?

Stacey: There’s no question there is great geographic variety from Troutdale to Forest Grove and from St. Johns to Wilsonville. We have wonderful neighborhoods with different economic strategies and development patterns.

I don’t think these communities have different ideologies. There are some common objectives. They want their neighborhoods protected. They want open space and farmland that is accessible. They want to get into countryside without hours of traffic. They want alternative transportation choices and safe routes to school.

Metro’s job is to give assistance to every community in the region in local efforts for better downtowns and city centers. Those intentions are shared by every city in the region, and Metro’s job is that communities trying to implement strategies to strengthen their communities and economies get to do that.

91��Ƶ: How would you work to move forward the Columbia River Crossing and the Sellwood Bridge projects?

Stacey: Those are two examples that share something: resources are a challenge. The Sellwood Bridge project is a dire need. The county has been working diligently to have a new design. But for too long, Metro and the state didn’t do enough so that resources would be there to support the county’s need to replace that bridge. Multnomah County has never had the resources from the gas tax or any other source to maintain this many bridges. The state Department of Transportation’s current commitment for the bridge is less than 10 percent of the cost. Ninety percent will have to be picked up locally.

Metro has a role in both projects as a coordinating body for federal funds. We need greater partnerships to be sure our budgetary needs are reflected so there isn’t a shortfall when it comes time for improvements.

There is the same issue with the Columbia River Crossing. It’s good to have ambitions, but it’s important to temper those with a good dose of economic frugality. $3.5 billion for a single project is more than has ever been spent on a single project in the history of Oregon. Our leaders are wisely asking what that will do to our capacity to address other transportation needs in the next 20 years. I believe we need to build some relief for transportation across the Columbia River. But we need to do it in a way that reduces greenhouse gases and in a way that’s affordable.

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With Oregon’s unemployment numbers a whole percentage point above the national average, politicians in the state are emphasizing jobs during their campaigns for upcoming elections.

Even the two candidates running for Metro council president are focusing on how the regional government body can help create jobs.

But while Bob Stacey and Tom Hughes agree the issue needs to be a priority, they differ on how the tri-county area and its 1.5 million residents should make it happen.

“Quality of life is Metro’s job if you (were to) put it on a bumper sticker,” said Stacey, a land-use attorney whose resume includes past stints as executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon and chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer. “And quality of life for most in the area right now starts with finding a job for themselves or a loved one.”

Stacey wants to create jobs by removing the barriers to using land already within the urban growth boundary, like brownfield sites and other plots where reuse is financially infeasible.

“We need to address the land we already have,” he said Tuesday night during a candidates’ debate sponsored by the Oregon chapter of the Urban Land Institute. “That want doesn’t come from starry-eyed dreams. It comes from over 35 years experience looking at the problems of this area from four different government positions.”

Hughes, on the other hand, said he thinks the Metro president should play a significant role in attracting businesses to the area. That’s what he did as mayor of Hillsboro, where he helped attract SolarWorld, Pacific University’s Health Professions campus, an Intel development facility and a Genentech facility.

“Recruiting companies isn’t something the Metro president has had to do, but I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Hughes said. “In Hillsboro it helped so much to have the mayor, the political figure, making those calls and making those visits.”

Besides job creation, the two candidates also spoke about one of the bigger issues in the region right now: the proposed Columbia River Crossing project.

“The CRC is going to be subject to tolls; there’s no question about that,” Hughes said. “But where we are proposing to toll is wrong.”

Hughes said he thinks the tolls should be on the interchanges north and south of the actual bridge. Considering that the bridge accounts for only $900 million of the project’s $3 billion to $4 billion cost, bridge users shouldn’t be the only ones responsible for paying for it, he said.

Hughes also suggested that one of the first things he would look into is finding a way to make sure that everyone is paying a fair share of the toll.

“I don’t want the guy that has a family and has to be at his job at an exact time to bear the brunt of this (as) opposed to someone who has a little more flexibility and can avoid a toll time,” he said. “This just needs to be fair, and I want to help make sure of that.”

Hughes believes the project is ready to move forward, and that Metro could help with him at the helm.

Stacey, on the other hand, is less convinced because of the scale begin considered.

“The problem is the CRC project is not achieving the takeoff velocity it needs,” Stacey said. “As the independent review panel set up by the governors suggested, this project has deep issues.”

Instead of building a bridge with 10 or 12 lanes, for example, Stacey has suggested building one with only six.

“If you build a bridge that big, more people are going to use it and, in turn, the interstate and nearby roads in North Portland will become even more congested than they already are,” he said. “If you are going to build a bridge that big then you are going to need to redo Interstate 5 from the bridge to the south edge of Portland. And that isn’t on anyone’s radar or in anyone’s checkbook.”

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