http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/2009/11/16/crc-proposes-cuts-to-reduce-i-5-project-cost/ The BTA : Opening minds and roads to bicycling Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:58:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/2009/11/16/crc-proposes-cuts-to-reduce-i-5-project-cost/comment-page-1/#comment-17253 Doug Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:33:16 +0000 http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/?p=4889#comment-17253 The CRC's new proposal is fundamentally dishonest. Rather than better managing demand, they are cutting costs by deferring some of the freeway expansion projects that undoubtedly will be kept on the drawing boards--a classic bait and switch tactic. The work being done by Oregon's Metropolitan Planning Organization Greenhouse Gas Emissions Task Force makes clear the absolute necessity of reducing VMT substantially if we are to meet the state's GHG reduction goals. (Electric cars have about 30 percent of the GHG emissions of petroleum-fueled vehicles when the emissions from the generation of the electricity are included. They are not virtually non-polluting.) The CRC's new proposal is fundamentally dishonest. Rather than better managing demand, they are cutting costs by deferring some of the freeway expansion projects that undoubtedly will be kept on the drawing boards–a classic bait and switch tactic. The work being done by Oregon's Metropolitan Planning Organization Greenhouse Gas Emissions Task Force makes clear the absolute necessity of reducing VMT substantially if we are to meet the state's GHG reduction goals. (Electric cars have about 30 percent of the GHG emissions of petroleum-fueled vehicles when the emissions from the generation of the electricity are included. They are not virtually non-polluting.)

]]> http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/2009/11/16/crc-proposes-cuts-to-reduce-i-5-project-cost/comment-page-1/#comment-17245 Pete Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:28:49 +0000 http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/?p=4889#comment-17245 Greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks crossing the Columbia will almost certainly be reduced no matter the size and configuration of the bridge they use to get from one side to the other. That's because cars are becoming more efficient and less polluting. The new EPA standards will require an overall reduction in average U.S. fleet CO2 emissions per mile from 295 grams to 250 by 2016. So *before a new bridge is even completed*, passenger vehicles (cars and light trucks) will be producing 15 percent less greenhouse emissions. You'd have to be amazingly foolish to believe that by 2030 the reduction in greenhouse gases from automobiles and light trucks isn't going to be far, far greater. What are we going to then? We're going to get to 2030 and automobiles are going to be virtually non-polluting. Let's make sure we have a bridge that can accommodate those vehicles. Greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks crossing the Columbia will almost certainly be reduced no matter the size and configuration of the bridge they use to get from one side to the other. That's because cars are becoming more efficient and less polluting. The new EPA standards will require an overall reduction in average U.S. fleet CO2 emissions per mile from 295 grams to 250 by 2016. So *before a new bridge is even completed*, passenger vehicles (cars and light trucks) will be producing 15 percent less greenhouse emissions. You'd have to be amazingly foolish to believe that by 2030 the reduction in greenhouse gases from automobiles and light trucks isn't going to be far, far greater. What are we going to then? We're going to get to 2030 and automobiles are going to be virtually non-polluting. Let's make sure we have a bridge that can accommodate those vehicles.

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