Congressman Peter DeFazio discussed a proposal to invest $760 billion into infrastructure over a five-year period at the University of Oregon Ford Alumni Center ballroom last Wednesday.
DeFazio, who chairs the congressional committee leading that proposal, was joined by a panel of community leaders including Eugene and Springfield mayors, Lucy Vinis and Christine Lundberg, respectively, as well as University of Oregon Provost Patrick Phillips and UO professors who research the architecture and policy surrounding urban and environmental planning.
The “Moving Forward” framework is a very ambitious proposal, DeFazio said, that was revealed on Jan. 29, with nearly half of the funds going to modern highway and highway safety investments. The other half of the $760 billion is spread between investments in rail, transit, water treatment, clean energy and communications.
“It’s very complex, and we are still taking input from people,” DeFazio said. “We’ve held 20 hearings on the subject around the country, traveling around the country, but we are still taking feedback and input because nothing is set in concrete or asphalt or whatever.”
DeFazio visited UO to do just that: get feedback from community leaders about what parts of this spending proposal would be most impactful. Members of the Oregon Department of Transportation, Lane Transit District, Amtrak and the Port of Coos Bay were also a part of the forum to add to the conversation the ways in which this federal funding would affect their industries.
UO architecture professor Nico Larco also introduced DeFazio after Phillips did. Larco is the director of Urbanism Next, a research center that focuses on advances in technology that affect urban centers. Urbanism Next has helped inform some of DeFazio’s ideas surrounding building infrastructure to better accommodate the use of electric cars. The framework includes certain pieces that would directly fund the construction of more charging stations and roads that better suit electric trucks and personal vehicles, according to DeFazio.
“Part of this transportation plan is to put together a national clearinghouse on the impacts on autonomous vehicles and new mobility,” Larco said. “The U of O is uniquely positioned to do a lot of this work, and great thanks to Chairman DeFazio.”
While UO doesn’t have an engineering program, it was a recipient of some earmarked funds coming from a transportation bill passed in 2006 to create a grouping of schools that would address problems within the transportation industry, according to DeFazio. The official name of the program that gives money to these universities is the National Institute for Transportation and Communities — it includes Portland State University, UO, Oregon Institute of Technology, The University of Arizona, The University of Texas at Arlington and The University of Utah.
NITC’s goal is to research the growing need for accessible transportation and the effects of mass transportation on the climate. These universities are “yielding tremendous benefits,” DeFazio said. In 2018, NITC funded four research projects being conducted by UO professors, according to a 2019 progress report.
