Following a competitive call for projects, last week the Oregon Transportation Commission approved a list of 24 recommended Safe Routes to School (SRTS) infrastructure grants. These projects will invest more than $15 million across the state to create safer ways for students to get to and from schools via walking and rolling.
As cities across the country take steps to address equity, traffic congestion, and reduce climate emissions, many are looking to bike and scooter share programs for possible solutions. New mobility programs seem to make headlines each week, with announcements of new transportation technologies hitting our streets. Last year, Portland held a fourth-month pilot program to test out e-scooter share programs in the City. And in recent weeks, the City of Salem has been gearing up for a new bike share and contemplating its own e-scooter deployment.
The Oregon Autonomous Vehicle (AV) Task Force reconvened this week, kicking off phase two of its work. For the last 6 months, the Task Force has been focused on developing recommendations for an AV testing policy framework. These recommendations can be found in the 2018 Final Report, and we can expect this report to inform legislation in 2019. A draft bill was shared with AV Task Force members at this week’s meeting, but has not yet been shared with the public.