American Dream

The Portland area spends about $630 million on transportation projects each year, about half for transit and half for roads. Congestion is getting worse and businesses are complaining that it is dramatically increasing their costs. Yet the city and region say they have no money to build new roads to relieve congestion.

Yet they seem to have money to build light-rail lines, streetcar lines, and other transit boondoggles. In 2003, transit carried just 2.3 percent of passenger travel in the Portland area, about 0.9 percent of which was rail and the rest bus. Of course, transit carried virtually none of the region's freight. Why should the region spend half its money on 2.3 percent of travelers?

A study paid for by the Portland Business Alliance and various government agencies found that every dollar spent on congestion reduction in Portland would return $2 in benefits. But that is a gross generalization: some dollars will produce far more benefits than others.

• According to estimates made by the Federal Highway Administration, a dollar spent on traffic signal coordination can return as many as $40 in benefits.
• A dollar invested in rail transit returns no more than 50 cents in benefits and traffic calming produces negative benefits (i.e., increases congestion).
• Nor are all highway construction projects worthwhile: some might return $10 to $20 dollars of benefit per dollar spent while others produce less than a dollar.

Before seeking more money from taxpayers, planners should make sure the money they have is spent effectively. They should estimate the benefits and costs of all potential congestion-reducing projects and rank them, funding only those that reduce the most congestion per dollar. But this would rule out the rail lines that Portland planners love, many of which actually increase congestion because they occupy lanes formally open to autos.