Modern Infrastructure is Possible
Transportation & Infrastructure
My Policy Values
Navigating our city is a key part of daily life, but in East Portland it can be confusing and dangerous. Whether it be the lack of sidewalks and safe ways to cross streets, unpaved roads, or poor lighting, East Portlanders never got the improvements they were promised. Crumbling infrastructure isn’t just inconvenient, it’s costly and potentially deadly. Transportation systems are the connective tissue of society, and in East Portland those systems are on life support. We need to rebuild our infrastructure, not just repair it with bandaid solutions. Our kids deserve safe routes to school and for our streets to be prioritized for upgrades and improvements. We need to invest as aggressively on East Portland’s infrastructure as we do other critical issues. Transportation investments are good for everyday people, small businesses, and our growing East Portland community.
More than two-thirds of the people who died on Portland streets in recent years were killed east of 82nd Avenue, and 28 of the 30 highest-crash intersections are located in East Portland. This is unacceptable. We must aggressively fund projects that increase safety for all types of transportation, especially for bikers and pedestrians. We need to lean into Vision Zero status with more lighting, better crosswalks and ramps, barriers to protect bikers, and marked bus only lanes. The rate of injury and death decreases drastically as driving speeds decrease. We need to redesign our streets to reduce the speed at which people drive through our neighborhoods. East Portland deserves safe streets for our children walking to school, our elders getting groceries, and everyone in between.
Yet, East Portland’s streets stretch for miles without a single sidewalk in sight. Where sidewalks do exist, they are often narrow, cracked, and treacherous for those navigating them in wheelchairs, carrying groceries, or struggling to keep their balance. This unacceptable neglect must end. We must ensure that every resident can make safe, easy trips by walking or rolling, transforming our streets into accessible, welcoming pathways for all.
Decades of neglect and disinvestment have left East Portland with poor transit service, making trips by bus or train long, difficult, or infeasible. I would push TriMet to invest in more frequent buses and dignified stations so people don’t have to wait for a long time without shade, seating, or protection from cars. We also need more north-south connections so people can get where they need to go. And, we need to fully fund transit for our youth, who rely on it to get to school, to jobs, and back home safely.