PBOT on Portland traffic safety and budget cuts

The Portland Bureau of Transportation is managing a budget shortfall of about $32 million. Meanwhile, traffic deaths in Portland remain high with about 68 deaths recorded for last year, according to PBOT’s preliminary data. We hear more from Millicent Williams, the director of PBOT, on the agency’s future and managing traffic safety in the city.

Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Sixty-eight people died on Portland streets last year. They died on bikes and in cars, on foot and while waiting for public transportation. It was the most traffic-related deaths in 30 years. It comes at a time when city transportation leaders have already been sounding a separate but related alarm. They say they don’t have enough money for all of the routine maintenance, safety, improvements and future projects that Portlanders need. Millicent Williams joins us now to talk about all of this. She is the director of PBOT, the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Welcome to the show.

Millicent Williams: Good morning. Thank you so much, Dave.

Miller: I want to start with that number. According to your data, 68 people died on Portland Streets last year. The highest number in three decades, despite so much focus on safety, on “Vision Zero.” How do you explain this?

Williams: Well, Dave, it’s a great question, it’s a really hard question to answer. There are any number of factors that are contributing to the numbers that we’re seeing, now on a pretty regular basis. The increase is not unique to Portland, but we do need to address what our challenges are here.

I attribute it to a number of things. First of all, please know that PBOT staff work tirelessly and around the clock to make sure that they’re addressing safety in all instances, on all projects. No project is considered to be anything other than a safety project. So we’re working on it all the time, and we’re giving focused attention to those areas where there are perhaps the greatest concerns, the greatest speeds, fewer crossings. Some of the width of the roadways are also challenges. We focus there, and we focus on education and ensuring that people understand what their responsibilities are as they’re traversing the city.

But we aren’t able to address it alone. We really do need to work in partnership with those who can support the work happening. We have to make sure that we’re enforcing. We have to make sure that we’re causing people to slow down. We have to ensure that we’re considering some of the other societal challenges that we have right now, especially in this moment, as we look at those numbers. So, it’s a staggering number, but one that we can trace back to certain things: distraction, intoxication or otherwise impaired. All those things are factors but we hope to work together to make sure that we bring those numbers down into the other direction.

Miller: Statewide traffic deaths dropped something like 10% last year, while they went up in Portland. And to me, when I look at those numbers, it makes me think that you can’t say that this is, for example, because of the statewide drop in gas taxes or the versions of PBOT that are in Corvallis or Salem or wherever, because I assume that everybody is seeing a more or less similar drop in that statewide part of your revenue, which is a big part of your discretionary funding. Do you think something is different in Portland?

Williams: The way that the city is designed is different. The way that the population has grown is different, and that’s not to take ourselves off the hook or absolve us of the responsibility of attending to the needs of community. But those are very real factors. As we see the population continue to grow and shift, the way that people are using the roadways shifting, we anticipate that we’ll continue to need to address those challenges in really systematic ways.

I don’t want to suggest that we aren’t doing everything that we can to make sure we’re bringing the numbers down. But the numbers do reflect a difference in the ways that cities are built and designed. We have a really intricate network of streets and sidewalks and roadways that sometimes lend themselves to people showing up in ways that are less than helpful. So, we continue to work on that on a daily basis. We work on that. We are trying to not engineer our way out of a problem, but really apply smart engineering to the designs that we have on the streets. We’re really working to make sure that we’re educating users of all modes in ways that help us to bring those numbers down. But I do think a lot has to do with the way that the city is populated, the way that the city is designed and the size of the city.

Miller: The demographics of traffic deaths are pretty striking. According to your website, Black and Indigenous community members die in traffic crashes at about twice the rate relative to their proportion of the population. Males ages 26 to 55 are overrepresented in traffic deaths, and more than half of pedestrians who are killed are unhoused when they die. What are you doing to focus on these particularly vulnerable populations?

Williams: Sure. One of the things that we do acknowledge is - as you’ve said, on our website and we talk about it every day at the office - is the demographics of the folks who are affected. We do know that in many instances, people who are in those classifications, those demographics, live in areas where streets are wider, speeds are faster, fewer crossings. And so there are intentional efforts that we use to make sure that we’re focusing on those areas. We use an equity matrix to help to inform where we make investments and build projects because we recognize that every community needs to be served, and served well. And there is this glaring difference in the ways that people are represented in those unfortunate numbers that says that we need to be doing something different.

So we’re focusing on those areas. As it relates to those who are unhoused, I think the challenge that we have as a city and as a county and as a country, is to make sure that we’re treating people with dignity, and helping them to find options that move them away from the roadway. I don’t want to suggest that I’m blaming anyone for their condition or their situation. But what we can do is work hand in hand with community members to make sure that we are providing them with safe passage, that they do have wide enough sidewalks, that they are able to go to places that are safe and clean and protected from potential vehicular traffic that could potentially be a fatal crash for them.

Miller: We could spend this whole time talking about your serious budget problems. But can you give us a short version of where the bureau is right now?

Williams: Sure. As has been reported, we had a $32 million budget shortfall. Because of the kindness and generosity and strategic thinking around the Portland Clean Energy Fund, we were able to realize some support because of our intersection with the work that they do, the climate investments that they make. Transportation is a key contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and so it was an easy partnership to forge between PCEF and the Portland Bureau of Transportation. So with the funding that we’ll receive from them over the course of five years, $112 million, that does help to reduce some of that budgetary burden. But as we look at fiscal year ‘24-25, we still need to address a roughly $20 million shortfall and are considering the ways that we’re going to make sure we are able to fill that gap.

Miller: I want to talk in more detail about what that gap means and how it might be closed - what has to be cut. But just in terms of this Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, the idea of it, it’s a newish tax, and it brought in more money than the city was expecting, which was a great windfall for you. It means that transportation projects will have more money. But the idea of it is for things like green jobs, home improvements, for energy efficiency and renewable energy. How does PBOT fit into it?

Williams: Well, as we’ve understood the definition, it is a little bit more expansive, extensive, than just the things that you’ve mentioned. And again, because of the intersection, the nexus between the greenhouse gas emissions and our ability to help to produce those things to create a livable space, is where we find the opportunity to connect to those resources.

Miller: What kinds of things that you were already planning to do, can money from PCEF go towards? And then other money that you already have, what can that be spent on? Because it seems like there’s a little bit of money shuffling going on.

Williams: There is the opportunity for us to fill the gaps, to replace what we otherwise would use from the general fund with PCEF dollars. And so some of the things that we’re focusing on is sweeping and cleaning of 400 miles of bike lanes. One of the ways that we want to see people shift their modes of transportation is to consider cycling. And in order to do that safely, we need to not only make sure we have the facilities available, but those facilities are clean and passable. And so the investment is there as may be mentioned in another conversation, there’s been a huge investment from PCEF in e-bikes for community members. And again, we found the need to create the ease for people to use the different options. So that’s one of the spaces.

We’re going to be able to spend money on safety projects. They are called small-cap quick-build projects. So things that, when we see a problem, we’re able to quickly dispatch services to be able to solve those problems. That’s another space where we’re going to be able to use that investment. So not only will we be able to make whole those areas of the organization that otherwise might have had to be cut, but we are also then able to look at some of the maintenance and livability issues and challenges - spaces where we’ve had to make cuts - and be able to replace those funds because of that.

Miller: Your bureau did a number of surveys of Portland residents and PBOT employees and different constituency groups this year. The idea was to get a better sense for people’s priorities, especially given the fact that you don’t have enough money for all of the potential things you could spend money on. And there was a fair amount of overlap in the responses you got, but also some differences in the responses. PBOT employees and members of PBOT listservs, so some existing community groups, ranked maintenance as their top priority. Members of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee identified safety as their top priority. What’s your top priority?

Williams: My top priority is making sure that, as the leader for the Bureau of Transportation, that we’re serving all communities well. I do think it is important for us to be able to quote unquote “get back to basics,” make sure that the city is clean, that it is well maintained, that we are promoting livability in the ways that we’re  promoting and delivering our work. And so I want to make sure that we’re focusing on what the community has told us they’d like for us to focus on.

That maintenance category is huge. We do have, as has been perhaps mentioned, a $4 billion maintenance backlog. Will we be able to address that in a year or five years, even?  No, it would take 200 years for us to get it down to zero. But it’s a space that’s important. We do have the opportunity to be really innovative in the work that we do. We receive significant funding from outside of the city - federal funding, state funding, and other funding to do that innovative work. But it’s important to me that that innovative work has, as its foundation, safe passable roads, clean bike lanes, connected sidewalks, crossings that are connected from one side to the other, that there are signals in place, that there’s lighting in place. Those are things that are important to me. I’ve been saying here lately it should be done. We’ve got to get things done, we’ve got to get them done right.  And we’ve got to get them done well.

While we have a huge agenda ahead, I think we have the opportunity to make sure that we’re, in this moment, focusing where the community has said they’d like for us to focus, where the city council has said they’d like for us to focus. But maintenance is safety. Maintenance is asset management. Maintenance is livability. And I often say that I think that people underestimate the impact of transportation on their quality of life, the transportation infrastructure that we’re responsible for managing and maintaining. We’re so present that we’re almost invisible. And when I’ve explained it to folks and said, you know, every roadway, every crossing, every signal, every streetlight, every stop sign, people are really actually stunned. They don’t think about it. And so we have to focus on all of those things and make sure that they’re operating well so that we can do some of that more futuristic thinking about how we can transform our city for what’s coming ahead.

Miller: What is going to be cut? Let’s say that in May, Portlanders vote to continue the 10 cents a gallon local tax that can go for safer streets. And then you “only,” quote unquote, have a $20 (or so) million dollar budget gap for this year. How do you cut that much?

Williams: We’ve gone through a series of exercises. Senior leadership has looked at the overall budget to determine spaces where we can maximize efficiencies, where we can make some cuts that won’t cause irreparable damage to the bureau. And so I don’t want to suggest that there’s just a singular, 5% or 10% across the board, but we’re looking at areas where we perhaps can reduce our focus so that we can make sure we’re focusing in other areas.

Miller: What are examples?

Williams: Some examples are - and then this is a fairly unpopular one - matching funds for street lights, landslide abatement for emergencies, some street sweeping and cleaning would potentially be impacted. So the things that people think are important are the things that we would potentially need to cut.

There will potentially also be a series of layoffs, that we don’t know yet. We don’t want to over-emphasize the fact that that is something that we might need to consider, but it is. If we’re cutting programs, we might need to also cut staff.

Miller: What do you see as a long-term solution to your budget problems? I mean, this has been going on, a version of this - it’s the worst that it’s been in a while, but we’ve been talking about backlogs and deficits for something like five years now. We’ve also been hearing about a drop in statewide gas tax revenue because of a good thing, because of an increase in fuel efficiency. What do you see as a long-term solution?

Williams: Well, if we do our jobs well, we do put ourselves out of business. If we create the opportunity for people to use different options to get around town, we do make the gas tax null and void. So we do have to look at alternatives to ensuring that we’re funding the bureau. And we’ve had a series of conversations internal to the bureau with city partners about what we might do differently, how we can realize some of the funding that’s necessary for the bureau.

It’s going to be a series of things between parking management, we’re going to be looking at VMT (vehicle miles traveled) as an option for funding and how we attach fees to that. We have to have a serious conversation about the fundamental funding for transportation and infrastructure across the city. That’s something that folks do need to take seriously because without the work that we do, we can be a very different city and we’ll potentially be a very different city anyway, given those budget shortfalls.

There is a utility licensing fee that was established 35 years ago. Right now, the transportation bureau is not receiving any of that funding. However, if we have the opportunity to begin to recoup some of the funding - the percentage of that funding that has been reallocated to other interests in the city - we would be able to fill at least some of those gaps. But again, we are using the moment this year as we move into new city organization, as we do have the budgetary concerns that we have, to reimagine the bureau and determine how we can best focus on the things that are within our mission and our scope.

Miller: Just briefly, soon after you became the head of PBOT, the bureau got a lot of flak for an effort to revert a section of protected bike lane on NW and SW Broadway downtown. You apologized, saying that you moved too fast, but there were a lot of bad feelings from cyclists and other members of the community at the time. What are you doing to build back trust?

Williams: Well, that was a challenging moment for me personally and for the bureau, I recognize that it did cause harm. One of the things that I’m doing is connecting directly with the folks who were most affected, continuing to have the conversations and continuing to show up and be in the spaces that are important.

I don’t fear having conversations. I don’t fear conflict, and I recognize that we won’t always agree on things, but the way that we get to resolution is through coming together. And so that’s what I’m committed to doing. That’s what the bureau is committed to doing. And I know I have plenty of work to do to continue to restore the faith and trust. But that’s what I’m here to do. I don’t want to say I’m human. I am, but I don’t want to suggest that that’s the reason why things happened. But the humanity in me is what’s causing me to want to make sure that we’re doing what we do right and well. And that the relationships that we have that we fostered and built over the course of many years remain intact.

Miller: Millicent Williams, thanks very much.

Williams: Thank you so much.

Miller: Millicent Williams is the director of PBOT, that’s the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

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