What this project would do is widen from 6 lanes, to as many as 14 lanes, five miles of Interstate 5 between Portland and Vancouver. Peak hour freeway travelers commuting from homes in Washington to jobs in Oregon are overwhelmingly wealthy and white compared to the region’s average resident.Įquity? A proposed super-sized $5 billion freeway would mostly serve peak hour commuters with incomes over $100,000, 86 percent of whom are non-HIspanic whites. A quick look at Census data shows these equity claims are simply false. The project has gone to some lengths to characterize suburban Clark County as an increasingly diverse population to create the illusion that the freeway widening project is primarily about helping low and moderate income households and people of color travel through the region. While it is branded the “ Interstate Bridge Replacement” or IBR, replacing the bridge is less than a quarter of the total cost most of the expense involves plans to double the width of the freeway to handle more peak hour traffic. The proposal to spend $5 billion to widen a 5-mile stretch of I-5 between Portland and Vancouver is being marketed with a generous dose of equity washing.
#Peakhour enabler drivers#
Peak hour drivers are half as likely to be people of color (14 percent) as are residents of the region (28 percent).Ĭlark County is less diverse than the rest of the Portland metro area its residents of color are vastly more likely to work at jobs in Clark County than to commute to jobs in Oregon.
Some 86 percent of peak hour, drive-alone commuters are non-HIspanic whites, according to the 2019 American Community Survey only 14 percent of these peak hour car commuters are persons of color. More than 53 percent of peak hour drive alone commuters are from households with incomes over $100,000 fewer than 15 percent of these peak hour car commuters have incomes under $50,000 annually. The median income of peak hour, drive alone commuters to Oregon from Clark County is $106,000 significantly higher than for the region as a whole (about $78,000). The proposed $5 billion widening of I-5 between Portland and Vancouver is purportedly being undertaken with “an equity lens,” but widening Portland’s I-5 freeway serves higher income, predominantly white workers commuting from Washington suburbs to jobs in Oregon. Widening freeways is no way to promote equity.
0 kommentar(er)
