At the same time that Mayor Leavitt delivered his State of the City address and Oregon State legislatures met to hear testimony on the Columbia River Crossing Light Rail Tolling project, the Regional Transportaion Avisory Committee met in relative obscurity. The meeting was captured on video, though, and while most of it rankled with transportation-ese, there were some highlights.

Road construction dollars
In 2000 if an item cost $100 — with inflation factoried in, the 2009 the cost is $125.

Regional Transportation Council environmental costs include:

• 18th street – overall 7 percent and 12 percent of construction costs
• 88th street – overall 14 percent and 20 percent of construction cost
• Salmon Creek – overall 7 percent and 9 percent of construction cost

Biggest expenditure: labor costs
C-Tran’s Public Affairs Director Scott Patterson said that costs have increased and labor is the biggest component; 10 years ago labor was about 12 percent of the overall budget where today it is about 20 percent.

The video is in two parts. Part one is above and part two is at the bottom of the post.

 

Regional Transportation Advisory Committee Part II

 

RTRAC Meeting 3-16-12. PDF 18 pages.