Group of Black Contractors Criticize Albina Vision Trust, Delays to Rose Quarter Expansion, in Letter to Governor Published: 16 June 2021
A controversial plan to expand a major freeway through a historically Black neighborhood has not changed in the year since the city and community leaders walked away from the discussion table in protest. But with advisory committees slated to make recommendations about the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project’s highway caps to the Oregon Transportation Commission at the end of the month, some minority contractors and members of the Black community are criticizing any additional delay.
“For us the opportunity we have to change the plight of our community now is through living-wage employment and small business and entrepreneurship,” Jeff Moreland, president of Raimore Construction in Portland, told
Readers respond: Empty promises on I-5 expansion
Updated 6:00 AM;
Why do claims that the Interstate 5 improvement project will provide restorative justice to the neighborhood I grew up in ring hollow? In 2019, the Audubon Society of Portland, Opal’s Environmental Justice and several other groups asked for the Oregon Department of Transportation to conduct a complete Environmental Impact Statement, but ODOT refused to.
Now, Neighbors for Clean Air, Eliot Neighborhood Association and No More Freeways have decided to sue to get a full study. This $800 million freeway expansion project will sit right at Harriet Tubman Middle School’s back door, and the school already reduces student time outside because of poor air quality.
Opponents file suit against Rose Quarter project April 05 2021
According to court documents, the group will be citing alleged environmental laws that ODOT s project would be violating under the plan.
Three groups announced they have filed a lawsuit against the Rose Quarter Freeway Expansion project, a congestion-reducing effort in that would add lanes in the Interstate 5 Rose Quarter.
The group comprised of No More Freeways, Neighbors for Clean Air, Eliot Neighborhood Association said the Oregon Department of Transportation s proposed $800 million freeway expansion intrudes on Harriet Tubman Middle School and the surrounding community.
According to court documents, the group will cite to show that environmental laws that ODOT s project would be violating under the plan. The National Environmental Protection Act would require the agency to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement to study alternatives to adding more lanes to I-5, according to the filings.
Portland Environmentalists, Neighborhood Group Sue Federal Government to Stop I-5 Widening portlandmercury.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from portlandmercury.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Updated 1:19 PM Portlanders living near the Rose Quarter sued two federal transportation agencies Monday morning, demanding they force Oregon officials to look closer at the environmental effects of a contentious plan to expand Interstate 5. Three Portland advocacy groups, including a neighborhood association, filed the lawsuit in federal court this morning against the U.S Department of Transportation and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. In the lawsuit, they accused the feds of failing to hold the Oregon Department of Transportation responsible for conducting a thorough environmental impact analysis of a highway project that would widen I-5 to at least 120 feet as it passes Moda Center and Harriet Tubman Middle School.