Nice: Commuters try bikes

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080623/NEWS/806230331/1001

Funding airport expansion at the dawn of peak oil: looking reality in the eye and denying it

Thanks to a transportation watcher, you can see a table showing that the folks deep in denial gave a much higher priority (6th in the region) to "improved baggage processing" and "expanded passenger drop-off/pick-up areas" and "additional parking" at Salem's airport than they did to helping Cherriots serve Salem (23rd).

In other words, our transportation experts believe that, as we are on the cusp of peak oil, we should pour more money into amenities that will be completely worthless when scheduled service stops, which it will inevitably do soon. Not to mention the even greater sum to be squandered on expanding a runway.

Funny how, when people are complaining about all the traffic, this sort of thing is never mentioned as a giveaway to airlines or a subsidy.

A	2	City of Salem - McNary Field	Passenger Terminal Expansion – Salem’s airport activity has picked up with the addition of daily passenger service. This project will expand the terminal waiting area to allow improved baggage processing, additional restrooms, expanded passenger drop-off/pick-up areas and additional parking.	$ 1,200,000	9
T	2	Lane Transit District and City of Veneta	Veneta Transit Center – Eugene – A new Veneta Transit Center will stimulate economic activity, reduce congestion on busy Oregon 126 and offer residents more options for commuting. It includes an enhanced Park and Ride facility in the city’s growing downtown area.	$ 656,000	14
R	2	Albany and Eastern RR	Mill City Branch Bridge Rehab and 286k Rail Upgrade – Bridges on the critical “Mill City Branch” will be rehabilitated in this project, supporting several key industries and improving safety along the line. The new bridges will better accommodate today’s heavy rail loads and enhance the area’s economic appeal to businesses.	$ 3,777,280	18
A	2	City of Newport-Port of Astoria	Coastal Oregon Air Service – Scheduled passenger air service, funded through this project, will provide important connections from two major coastal communities to the Portland International Airport. It will reduce travel time and costs for people needing to get to and from Oregon’s northern and central coast.	$ 3,600,000	22
T	2	Salem-Keizer Transit District	Keizer Transit Ctr. – This project will create the Keizer Transit Center, a new facility designed to improve connections, provide options and reduce congestion, with parking spaces, bike facilities, room for eight buses, a pedestrian plaza and more.	$ 2,516,000	23
A	2	City of Salem / McNary Field	Runway / Safety Area Extension - McNary Field – This project will extend the primary runway/safety area for aircraft by up to 1000 feet. As growth continues at the facility, runway extensions give a greater margin of aircraft safety and growth capacity and make the airport a more viable option for travelers and businesses.	$ 2,600,000	25

Insanity: Lottery dollars to fund airport upgrades

Both the source of the money (gambling, mostly by those who can least afford it) and the use of it (pouring money into an airport to attract bigger jets just as the days of mass travel by air are ending) are equally productive. This is truly the perfect illustration of the fantastic depth of the local leadership's state of denial. Oil is $140 a barrel and will likely hit $200 soon -- and never see $80 again -- and we're planning for more aviation -- even as our bike infrastructure is woeful and our local bus system doesn't offer Sunday service and has 1-hour gaps between buses on most routes.

Lottery dollars will help pay for $4.75 million worth of improvements at Salem Municipal Airport, including a longer runway and a larger terminal that could position the airport to attract more passenger flights, city officials said Friday.

Salem's airport has received a grant from the Connect Oregon II program, which provides money for transportation projects other than highways. The Oregon Transportation Commission met Friday in Enterprise and approved grants for the Salem airport and 29 other projects across the state.

. . .

"For us to ever grow and get another airline, we've got to have more terminal space," Alexander said.

. . .

Salem's 5,800-foot runway is the shortest in the state that receives commercial jet service, Alexander said. The airport's master plan has called for extending the runway up to 1,000 feet on its south end.

. . .

1. Runway extension, $3.25M -- Connect Oregon II funds: $2.60 million

Matching funds: $650,000 ($617,500 from federal funds and $32,500 from local sources)

2. Passenger terminal expansion, $1.5M -- Connect Oregon II funds: $1.20 million

Matching funds: $300,000 ($285,000 from federal funds and $15,000 from local sources)

Carmaker knows most efficient freight system: trains

(Well, barges actually, but where rivers don't flow ...)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HONDA LAUNCHES AUTO-MAX RAILCAR FLEET: MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY-
RESPONSIBLE PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION WITH INDUSTRY-FIRST FLEET

TORRANCE, CA, June 19, 2008 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Honda (http://www.honda.com) has fully deployed its fleet of Auto-Max® railcars, achieving a significant reduction in the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions associated with its automobile distribution activities in the United States. The 400-car fleet of more space-efficient Auto-Max; railcars is the only such automaker-operated fleet in use in the United States. Including the Auto-Max fleet shipments, American Honda currently transports about 82 percent of its Honda and Acura automobiles across the country by rail, achieving the highest rail-shipping rate of any automaker.

Each multi-level Auto-Max railcar holds up to 22 vehicles and can hold both trucks and cars to reduce unused space. The result is less fuel usage per vehicle shipped and no compromise to quality. An average bi-level railcar can transport only 10 trucks, generally of a single vehicle type. Honda's Auto-Max railcars have a 50-year estimated lifespan versus standard railcars, which typically require a major overhaul after just 20 years of service. Honda participated with the Greenbrier Companies (NYSE:GBX) in designing Auto-Max, which is exclusively manufactured by Greenbrier.

"Honda is adopting a holistic approach to minimizing its greenhousegas emissions, addressing not only the production and on road use of our products, but also new, more fuel-efficient strategies for how we transport our products to dealers," said Dennis Manns, assistant vice
president, Sales & Logistics Planning for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "Rail is the most environmentally responsible method available to move our products, and our Auto-Max railcar fleet can make a good system even more fuel efficient."

To further support Honda's strategy to increase product distribution by rail, Honda this year invested approximately $7 million to redesign the rail infrastructure at its automobile plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio. The redesign added rail capacity, enabling American Honda to ship more units via rail. Further, inbound and outbound trains at the plant can now operate at a faster pace; pull easier on upgraded tracks; and, require less railcar switching in the yard, reducing fuel consumption, CO2, and other air pollutants emissions that are produced while engines are left idling.

According to CSX, which serves Honda's rail operations in Ohio, the
infrastructure improvement contributes an annual savings of 2,436
gallons of fuel and 54,432 pounds of CO2 per year. . . .

The best 12-minute video you're likely to see this year

A concise, calm, easy-to-follow explanation of why it is so urgent that Salem and Marion County wake up to the new reality.

Delta Scales Back in Salem -- "may be temporary" say city official ... uh-huh.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080617/NEWS/806170339/1001

Excellent rundown on "The Biofuel Circus"

Nice article explaining why we should STOP subsidizing biofuel production immediately and spend that money on real research instead.

Who could have predicted? Oh, that's right ...

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/NEWS/806160330&s=d&page=2#pluckcomments

The inimitable Tom Toles

Another gem from the best editorial cartoonist in America.

Oregonian Wakes Up, Remembers Peak Oil Task Force

This is Portland-focused, but the thrust is even more applicable in Salem, where we are in a far worse position to meet the new reality on energy. There have not even been any mentions of peak oil in the Statesman Journal, the City Council chambers, or the County Commissioners' meeting room. The local transportation planners, SKATS, has heard about peak oil but has chosen to adopt the fingers-in-the-ears-and-shout-"I can't hear you" strategy.

Step program for gasoholics

One year ago, the Peak Oil Task Force delivered a report to the City Council, but the whole region needs to mobilize

Think of it as a commuter version of "Some Enchanted Evening." At a recent graduation party in Cedar Mill, two neighbors squint at each other across a crowded kitchen island. Kinda scary, isn't it, they agree, about those gas prices headed toward $5 a gallon. Then a bit shyly, they circle a new question. Maybe it's time to take it to the next level. Both, they know, work downtown. Both leave home and return each day at roughly the same time. Turns out, they even park right next door to each other. Maybe this is a match made in post-Peak Oil Heaven.

All over the metro area, people are flirting with new transportation hookups. Bus and train ridership are soaring; interest in car-sharing is, too.

That should help Zipcar (formerly Flexcar), which has 202 cars available in Oregon. Except the same spikes in fuel costs that help the company attract new customers also eat into its profits and limit its ability to expand. (It has only three cars in Vancouver, three in Beaverton, none in Hillsboro.)

In fact, many businesses, governments and families are in the same fix: They must ride the ice cube while it melts. We need to fuel a transformation, and it may ultimately improve our lives. But only if we can fuel it fast, while supplies last -- of diminishing fuel.

Two years ago, when Portland created the Peak Oil Task Force, it sounded apocalyptic. Not anymore. Summer of 2008 may be remembered as the moment we awoke from our long national gas binge. Whether oil production has peaked or will do so in a few decades is almost academic. Every fill-up knocks home the realization that we can't afford to go on like this.

With oil prices headed toward $150 a barrel, the Peak Oil Task Force's key recommendation -- that the city must cut its oil consumption in half by 2030 -- seems ever more prescient and prudent.

The report belongs on Mayor-elect Sam Adams' bedside table. But it deserves an equally close reading by business and community leaders in car-oriented suburbs. There, some residents face a triple trap: a decline in housing values because they're so far out, an inability to buy anything closer in and too little income to keep filling the tank -- at least all on their own.

Never has the wisdom of the region's investment in TriMet been clearer. The key is to maximize it, in part by persuading businesses to stagger their hours of operation or go to four-day workweeks, so everyone isn't scrambling into a train at once. Another key is educating people, not just with maps but with one-on-one advice.

As of last week, 10,000 people had signed up for Metro's CarpoolmatchNW.org, an increase from 9,000 in April. No doubt at summer potlucks, some neighbors will figure out on their own that one plus one equals a carpool.

But the research also shows that intensive hand-holding and "green guidance" of the sort Portland's SmartTrips offers can alter behavior. Gas prices have sparked a desire to change. Door-to-door help on a massive scale could ignite regional transformation.

Will they, won't they? The neighbors part for the night, promising to rendezvous again soon. No worries. No big deal, except that it actually would be huge if they could align their lives even once or twice a week.

The party's over.

But a deeper community connection has just begun.